Mario Party DS

Mario Party DS
North American game cover. For alternate box art, see the game's gallery.
Developer	Hudson Soft CAProduction Nintendo SPD Group No.4
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS, Virtual Console (Wii U)
Release date	Nintendo DS: Template:Release Virtual Console (Wii U): Template:Release[?]
Language(s)	English (United States) French (France) German Spanish (Spain) Italian Japanese Korean
Genre	Party
Rating(s)	ESRB: - Everyone PEGI: - Three years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: - Parental Guidance USK: - All ages GRAC: - All ages
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer (single card)
Format	Wii U: Digital download Nintendo DS: Game Card
Input	Wii U: Wii U GamePad Nintendo DS: Gamepad Stylus Microphone
Serial code(s)	Template:Serials

Mario Party DS is the fourteenth installment in the Mario Party series, the third for handheld consoles, and the only one for the Nintendo DS. This is the last Mario Party game to be developed by Hudson Soft, which was succeeded by Nintendo Cube in 2012. This Mario Party game is unique for having the characters to be shrunken down to a very small size and competing in a "mega world" for the majority of the game. It includes more than 70 new minigames and five new game boards. Its functions include touch control, microphone control and dual-screen challenges. It is possible for up to four players to play in wireless mode using only one game card. This would be the only handheld installment to feature the traditional Mario Party gameplay and the last installment overall to feature it until Super Mario Party, released for the Nintendo Switch (which is both a home console and a handheld console) eleven years later.

Mario Party DS was re-released for the Wii U through the Virtual Console on April 21, 2016 in North America and Europe, in Australia on April 22, 2016, and in Japan on April 27, 2016. It is the third and final Mario Party game to be rereleased for the Wii U's Virtual Console; the others being Mario Party 2 and Mario Party Advance.

Story

Mario seeing a Sky Crystal fall from the sky

From the instruction booklet:

The Mario crew's adventure begins late one night when five Sky Crystals fall to earth. Mario finds one, then shows it to all of his friends!

Just then there's another surprise. Bowser sends party invitations to the whole crew: "Hey, chumps! I'm throwing a Big Bowser Bash to apologize for being such a big jerk!"

Of course, they're all suspicious! But free eats can't be beat, so everyone goes to Bowser's Castle to get first crack at the snacks. And, of course, it's a trap! Bowser steals the Sky Crystal, then shrinks everyone with his new Minimizer. So tiny in such a big world!

Bowser doesn't want Mario and company in the way, since he has four more Sky Crystals to find. So he flings them to the far side of the kingdom!

And there our party begins, with our wee heroes lost in a world full of gigantic challenges...

One night in the Mushroom Kingdom, five Sky Crystals in the sky fall to the land. One falls near Mario, who explains it to his friends the next day. Suddenly, Kamek flies overhead the gang, dropping invitations to a feast in Bowser's Castle to apologize for his bad behavior. Unintentionally, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong get invitations as well.

Curious, the crew sets off for the castle, but upon their arrival, they find it was a trick as Bowser and Bowser Jr. trap Mario and his friends in a cage when they enter. With the group trapped, Bowser uses a magic wand called the Minimizer to shrink them all down to the size of chess pieces, and they are thrown out to a distant location by Kamek. This leaves Bowser to look for the five shining objects, the Sky Crystals, in peace. Displeased by the outcome, the gang wakes up outside and decides to head for the castle to settle the score with Bowser. The desire to be the one Superstar that defeats Bowser and his cronies causes Mario and his other seven friends to pit themselves against each other for the title along the way.

Bowser drops a cage on Mario and friends.

At the beginning of their journey, Wiggler begs the crew for help, as a Piranha Plant has infested his garden. The Piranha Plant is eventually defeated by the character who becomes the Superstar, leading to Wiggler rewarding them with a Sky Crystal that landed in his garden.

Soon after, Toadette finds and requests the group to defeat a Hammer Bro that was abusing her instruments in her music room. The Hammer Bro is defeated in a drum-off by the Superstar, and Toadette gives a Sky Crystal she found to the gang as her thanks.

Afterwards, they set off for the jungle, where they find Diddy Kong, who shows the heroes that Donkey Kong was turned to stone by a Dry Bones. The Superstar manages to defeat Dry Bones in his arena, leading to Donkey Kong's restoration and Diddy Kong rewarding them with a Sky Crystal he found. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong quickly recall the free food promised at Bowser's Castle, and eagerly head off towards the castle.

Upon nearing the castle, the crew find a Koopa Troopa from a library asking for help, as Kamek has trapped his grandfather, Koopa Krag, in one of his library books. The Superstar defeats Kamek at the end of a long hallway, and Koopa Krag is freed from the book, giving them a Sky Crystal as thanks.

Eventually, they reach Bowser's Castle, where they are promptly stuffed in a pinball machine by Bowser and Bowser Jr., the latter using it to mess with them. The one revealed to be the Superstar is taken from the pinball machine to be shrunk again and crushed by Bowser, but Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong arrive, the former unintentionally smashing the Minimizer by knocking it out of Bowser's hands and stepping on it afterwards, the actions reverting the playable characters back to their original states.

The cast enjoys a game of Triangle Twisters.

Reluctant to give up, Bowser reveals one more surprise: the Megamorph Belt. The device transforms Bowser into Blockhead Bowser, and the aforementioned Superstar does battle with him. Upon Bowser's defeat, Bowser and his son are tied up, Mario taking back the final Sky Crystal he initially found from them. Now in close proximity of each other, they are magically formed together to make a crystal DS, allowing play of Triangle Twisters, the fun challenge mentioned by Bowser, whose desire to have the Sky Crystals being to try the fun challenge. After hearing this, Mario decides to untie the two, and they all play Triangle Twisters together, thus ending the story. Nearby, it is revealed that Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have eaten the entire feast by themselves, being quite satisfied.

Gameplay

Each of the boards in Story Mode.

Unlike other handheld Mario Party games, Mario Party DS features the same gameplay style as the series' home console entries. Up to four players take turns to roll a Dice Block that shows numbers from 1-10, which decides how far players move across boards. The goal is to acquire the most Stars through the conditions decided on each of the boards. After all players have had their turn, the type of minigame is determined by what color space the player lands on (red or blue). If the player landed on a green, duel or friend space, the player's color is randomly red or blue. Landing on a Bowser space results in the player's color turning red. For instance, if one player lands on a red space while three other players land on a blue space, a 1 vs. 3 minigame is held, with the red player on the solo side and the three players on the other side. The players then engage in a minigame, and whoever wins the minigame earns 10 coins.

When a Battle Minigame occurs, all players pay a certain number of Coins into a "pot" before the minigame, with any players who have insufficient Coins only paying what they have on them. After the minigame, each player gets back 65, 30, 5, or 0 percent of the Coins in the pot, depending on where they rank in the minigame. If the Coins cannot be divided up equally, the leftovers are awarded to a random player. The number of Coins a player must pay is determined by the formula [current turn number × 2]; for example, if the Battle Minigame is triggered in Turn 7, all players must pay 14 Coins.

The turn ends afterward, the process repeating until the set number of turns have passed. The game ends once the set number of turns have passed, and the total number of Stars and coins the players have collected are tallied, Stars being the primary factor for rankings while coins are the tie-breakers.

When there are five turns remaining, Bowser helps the player who is in last place in an event called the Final 5 Frenzy. That player is given a prize determined by spinning a roulette. For the remaining five turns, all Friend Spaces are changed to Duel Spaces.

At the end of a Party Mode game, Bonus Stars may be rewarded to the players who have excelled the most at certain criteria. If there is a tie between three or less players, the Stars are awarded to all of the tied players. Three of these six bonuses are chosen at random:

• Mini-Game Star - Awarded to the players who have won the most minigames.
• Green Star - Awarded to the players who have landed on the most ? Spaces.
• Running Star - Awarded to the players who have moved the most spaces using Dice Blocks.
• Item Star - Awarded to the players who used the most items.
• Hex Star - Awarded to the players who laid down the most hexes.
• Friendship Star - Awarded to the players who landed on the most Friend Spaces.

Spaces

Image	Name	Description
	Blue Space	The most common space, the Blue Space gives players three coins if they land on it. There is also a small chance of a Hidden Block appearing. It gives their section in the heads up display a blue color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames.
	Red Space	A fairly common space, the Red Space takes three coins from players that land on it. It gives their section in the heads up display a red color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames.
	Green Space	This space causes certain events to happen that can benefit the player, harm the player, benefit a number of players, or harm a number of players. It gives the player's section in the heads up display a green color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames. In this case, the green color eventually flashes to red or blue.
	Friend Space	When they land on this space in Battle Royale, players can select one opponent to be a friend. Both then receive 5 coins. In Team Battle, the player and one of the two opponents get 5 coins. It gives the player's section in the heads up display a green color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames.
	Duel Space	Engages with an opponent of the player's choice into a duel minigame. The winner gets to use a roulette that determines the reward from the opponent. It gives the player's section in the heads up display a green color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames. It replaces the Friend Space in the Final 5 Frenzy.
	Bowser Space	Any players that land here causes Bowser to arrive. Bowser causes a series of events that harms usually whoever landed on the space. It gives their section in the heads up display a red color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames. Bowser can cause these events: Gimme Coins!: The player gives 20 coins to Bowser. If the player does not have 20, Bowser takes 10 coins away instead. If the player has less than 10 coins, Bowser takes all of the player's coins anyway. Gimme Stars!: Bowser takes one star from the player. Gimme Charity!: Bowser forces the player to give 10 coins to all opponents. In Battle Royale, the player loses a total of 30 coins. If less than 30, the highest amount divisible by three would be the basis (depending on how many coins the player has that can be given out to the other players equally). In Duel and Team Battle, 10 Coins is all the player has to give away. If less than 10, the player has to forfeit all coins. Gimme Equality!: Bowser redistributes every player's coins so they all have the same amount. This is the only event that can potentially benefit the player.
	Star Space	Once players reach this space, they can pay 20 coins to receive a Star. Other boards may have different conditions players need to fulfill to earn a Star. Unlike other spaces, this space cannot be landed on (unless a Star spawns directly on a player), and this space does not subtract from the dice roll.

Items

The Item Shop of Mario Party DS

Alongside normal items seen in earlier Mario Party console titles, Mario Party DS introduces a new type of item that is also used during board gameplay: Hexes. The normal items are most often acquired through purchase at an Item Shop, and may be used by players to gain an advantage. Alternatively, Hexes can be found only at Hex Areas and can be placed on the board to usually hinder the player who lands on the space where it was set. Each player may only carry three items/hexes at one time.

Normal items

Mario Party DS is the first Mario Party game to have standard items since Mario Party 4. These items function like (and are based on) the standard items from the first four installments in the series. They can be bought at shops on each board, run by a Monty Mole. In addition, for the first time in the series, players can purchase more than one item in one stop.

Image	Name	Price	Note(s)
	Double Dice Set	3 Coins	Allows the player to roll two Dice Blocks.
	Triple Dice Set	7 Coins	Allows the player to roll three Dice blocks.
	Halfway Dice Block	1 Coin	Allows the player to roll a Dice Block with the numbers 1 through 5.
	Warp Dice Block	2 Coins	Causes the player to warp to a random space on the board, then roll.
	Snag Bag	8 Coins	Allows the player to steal a random item from an opponent of their choice.
	Star Pipe	15 Coins	Warps the player directly to the Star Space, allowing them to buy the Star if they wish and if they have enough coins, then roll.
	Block Sensor	20 Coins	Causes the next space the player lands upon to contain a Hidden Block.
	Grab Bag	25 Coins	Removes all of the player's current items and hexes and gives them a Star Pipe, Block Sensor, and Triple Dice Set.

Hexes

Main article: Hex

Hexes are items that typically act as traps when placed on spaces, similarly to Character Spaces from previous Mario Party titles. They only obtainable by passing through a Hex Area. Most Hexes negatively affect the character who lands on it (unless they are its owner), but the Coin Block and Star Block allow for anyone to gain coins or stars respectively. Hexes can be replaced by other hexes, and they expire after being landed on.

Daisy is about to pass a Hex Area.

Image	Name	Description
	10-Coin Hex	Causes the player who lands on the Hex to give 10 coins to the one who set it.
	20-Coin Hex	Causes the player who lands on the Hex to give 20 coins to the one who set it.
	Coin Swap Hex	Causes the player who set the Hex and the player that lands on it to swap coin totals.
	1-Star Hex	Causes the player who lands on the Hex to give one Star to the one who set it.
	2-Star Hex	Causes the player who lands on the Hex to give 2 Stars to the one who set it.
	Space Swap Hex	Both the player who lands on the Hex and the one who placed it swap positions on the board.
	Star Block	The player who lands on this Hex can hit a block with a 1 through 3 on it to gain that many stars.
	Coin Block	The player who lands on this Hex is able to hit a block containing coins, by pressing the A button repeatedly, to gain as many as possible in 10 seconds.

Characters

Mario Party DS has eight playable characters and five board hosts, with a boss for each board. Other characters with little to no role are also present. Though no new playable characters are introduced to the series, this is the first Mario Party game for a handheld console to have Toad as a playable character.

Playable characters

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Board hosts/bosses

	Wiggler's Garden	Toadette's Music Room	DK's Stone Statue	Kamek's Library	Bowser's Pinball Machine
Board hosts	Wiggler	Toadette	Diddy Kong	Kamek	Bowser
Bosses	Piranha Plant	Hammer Bro	Dry Bones

Supporting cast

• Donkey Kong (appears in DK's Stone Statue)
• Koopa (appears in Kamek's Library)
• Koopa Krag (appears in Kamek's Library)
• Bowser Jr. (appears in Bowser's Pinball Machine)

Minigame enemies

• Goomba
• Scuttlebug
• Cheep Cheep
• Boo
• Shy Guy
• Whomp
• Bob-omb
• Monty Mole

Boards

Picture	Name	Description	Boss	Boss Mini-Game
		The player must find the star and buy it for 20 coins. Once the player claims the star, it goes to another location.	Piranha Plant	Feed and Seed
		Players must find the Music Notes and buy stars from them for 5-30 coins.	Hammer Bro	Hammer Chime
		The star on this board is always located on the second-to-last space. Players can buy up to 99 stars at once on this stage, depending on how many coins they have at the time. A star always costs 20 coins.	Dry Bones	Hexoskeleton
		On this board, there are three magic jars to find. The player needs to pay 10 coins to open a magic jar. One contains a star, one 5 coins, and the other sends them back to the start. This is completely random and changes once someone finds the star.	Kamek	Book Bash
		The player must find the star and buy it for 20 coins. Once the player claims the star, it goes to another location.	Bowser	Bowser's Block Party

Team names

For the Tag Battle setting in Party Mode, each combination of playable characters create one unique team name. The list of possible results are shown below:

	Mario	Luigi	Peach	Daisy	Wario	Waluigi	Yoshi	Toad
Mario		Mario Bros.	Fan Favorites	Flower Players	Foe Bros.	'Stache Stars	Old Buddies	Fungus Friends
Luigi	Mario Bros.		Green Peaches	Shy Sidekicks	'Stache Clashers	Lean Meanies	Green Machines	Green Mushrooms
Peach	Fan Favorites	Green Peaches		Power Princesses	Rotten Peaches	Black Peaches	Sweetie Pies	Peachy 'Shrooms
Daisy	Flower Players	Shy Sidekicks	Power Princesses		Wilted Flowers	Skinny Stars	Cutie Pies	Button Mushrooms
Wario	Foe Bros.	'Stache Clashers	Rotten Peaches	Wilted Flowers		Bad Boys	Unlikely Pals	Poison Mushrooms
Waluigi	'Stache Stars	Lean Meanies	Black Peaches	Skinny Stars	Bad Boys		Purple Dinos	Bad Mushrooms
Yoshi	Old Buddies	Green Machines	Sweetie Pies	Cutie Pies	Unlikely Pals	Purple Dinos		Star Supporters
Toad	Fungus Friends	Green Mushrooms	Peachy 'Shrooms	Button Mushrooms	Poison Mushrooms	Bad Mushrooms	Star Supporters

Modes

Story Mode (1 Player)

A single-player mode that follows the storyline of the game. It puts the player through the five boards of the game, requiring them to win a Battle Royal on each board and defeat the boss of it in a minigame to progress. CPU characters are chosen at random, each board lasts for 10 turns, and Bonus Stars are not awarded. If a CPU player wins the board, they attempt to face the boss, but lose, and the player has to play the board again. If the player and a CPU are tied for 1st place, the player wins. Completing the mode unlocks the expert difficulty for CPU players.

Party Mode (1-4 Players)

The main mode of the game, where the player competes against several human-controlled or computer-controlled players on a party board in either a Battle Royale, Tag Battle or Duel Battle.

Minigame Mode (1-4 Players)

A mode where the player can play six games that use the pool of minigames available in a variety of challenges that don’t take place on the game boards, those being Free Play, Step It Up, Battle Cup, Score Scuffle, Boss Bash and Rocket Rascals. The player can pit themselves against up to three other human-controlled players in the Multiplayer version of this mode.

Step It Up

“Be first to reach the top of the steps! Minigame victories get you there!”

—In-game description, Mario Party DS

Step It Up in Mario Party DS

Step It Up is a minigame competition playable only by four players. The aim of this challenge is to see who can be the first to win 3, 5 or 7 minigames, depending on the options chosen, and after each minigame played the characters who win the minigame get to climb one step of the staircase. Minigames are chosen randomly, and the first player to win 3, 5, or 7 minigames wins the mode. This contest is a reincarnation of a competition that has appeared in previous installments in the series.

The player can choose to play only 4-player, 1-vs-3 and 2-vs-2 minigames, or a randomized mix of all three. For 1-vs-3 and 2-vs-2 minigames, teams are chosen at random each time when the player chooses the random minigame type setting, unless the player specifically chooses either minigame type, where the teams would be decided at the start of the competition.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	かちぬきバトル[?] Kachinuki Batoru	Tournament Battle
French	Montée des marches[?]	Staircase run
Italian	Scala del Successo[?]	Ladder of Success
Korean	승자진출전[?] Seungjajinchuljeon	Winner Entry Game
Spanish (NOA)	Poco a poco[?]	Bit by bit
Spanish (NOE)	Escalera hacia el éxito[?]	Stairs towards the success

Battle Cup

Battle Cup

“Welcome to Battle Cup! In Battle Cup, you'll play five preselected minigames in order... And whoever wins the most of them is the victor!”

—Narrator, Mario Party DS

Battle Cup is a minigame competition playable only by four players. The objective is to win as much of the Cup Course, a collage of five consecutive minigames that the human player either selects manually or lets the game choose five randomly, as possible. Despite only 4-player and Battle minigames being playable in this contest, multiple victors are allowed at the end of each minigame, however, ties between all four players result in no one getting the minigame win. If multiple players end up winning the most minigames at the end of the Cup Course, the players roll Dice Blocks to decide the real winner, the highest roller being declared the winner.

In-game description

"Choose a specific minigame course, then battle to come out ahead!"

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	バトルカップ[?] Batoru Kappu	Battle Cup
Italian	Punta alla Coppa[?]	Go for the Cup
Korean	배틀컵[?] Baeteulkeop	Battle Cup
Spanish	Torneo por victorias[?]	Tournament by victories

Score Scuffle

Score Scuffle

“Welcome to Score Scuffle! In Score Scuffle, you'll blast through 10 minigames. Results will be converted to points. The player with the highest final score wins!”

—Narrator, Mario Party DS

Score Scuffle is a minigame competition playable only by four players. The players play ten specific minigames consecutively, converting the results for each player to points after each minigame and adding it to each player's current score. The player with the most points after the ten minigames is the winner. The highest amount a player can get in a minigame is 1000 points, with the exception of Get the Lead Out (whose highest amount is 999 points). As such, the maximum amount of points a player can have after the ten minigames is 9,999 points. The default high score for Score Scuffle is 0 points.

The minigames and the order in which they are played are as follows:

• Rail Riders
• Domino Effect
• Cherry-Go-Round
• Study Fall
• Get the Lead Out
• Whomp-a-thon
• Hedge Honcho
• Pedal Pushers
• Hanger Management
• Raft Riot

In-game description

"Compete in a series of minigames to earn as many points as possible!"

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	スコアアタック[?] Sukoa Atakku	Score Attack
Italian	Arraffapunti[?]	Grab Points
Korean	스코어어택[?] Seukoeo Eotaek	Score Attack
Spanish	Torneo por puntos[?]	Tournament by points

Boss Bash

Daisy playing Boss Bash

“Welcome to Boss Bash! You're going to battle five bosses! How quickly can you defeat them? Bash them fast to win!”

—Narrator, Mario Party DS

Boss Bash is a single-player minigame challenge, where the player must face in the following order: the Piranha Plant, the Hammer Bro, the Dry Bones, Kamek and Bowser in their respective boss minigames. The aim is to do so as quickly as possible to try and beat the current best times, as the minigames are timed in this challenge. If the player is defeated in any of the minigames, the challenge ends and the times for minigames the player did beat are not recorded. The default best times for the five bosses are 5:00:00, while the default overall best time is 25:00:00.

The boss minigames played and the order they are played are as follows:

• Feed and Seed
• Hammer Chime
• Hexoskeleton
• Book Bash
• Bowser's Block Party

In-game description

"Take on the boss minigames to get the best time you can!"

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ボスタイムアタック[?] Bosu Taimu Atakku	Boss Time Attack
Italian	Sfida ai Boss[?]	Challenge at the Bosses
Korean	보스타임어택[?] Boseu Taim Eotack	Boss Time Attack
Spanish	Enemigos finales[?]	Final enemies

Rocket Rascals

Rocket Rascals

“Welcome to Rocket Rascals! Reach the rocket first! Build a bridge to the center before your rivals do!”

—Narrator, Mario Party DS

Rocket Rascals is a four-player minigame competition. The players must win minigames to acquire and place bridge pieces on the square 5x5 grid. The first to make a path from their corner of the grid to the rocket with the bridge parts is the winner. If multiple players have paths to the rocket made at the same time by a third party, the players roll Dice Blocks to decide who actually wins, the highest roller winning. If one of the multiple players finished the bridge, then the one who did wins without a Dice Block roll. Additionally, the game ends in a tie if 20 turns pass without anyone making a route to the rocket.

At the start of each turn, a roulette randomly decides which bridge piece is up for grabs in the next minigame, which gets decided by a minigame roulette. The player who wins the minigame gets the previously shown bridge piece and can place it on any unoccupied space of the 5x5 grid, and the turn ends afterwards, the cycle repeating until someone makes a path to the rocket. If the minigame ends with multiple winners, or if nobody wins, nobody gets the piece. If a player has all ways of reaching the rocket prevented for them, the blocking pieces are removed.

Occasionally, Bowser Jr. may show up after a bridge part is decided and does one of the following, as decided through a roulette spin:

• Crosspiece Crisis: Every minigame, the player plays for a Crosspiece.
• Turnaround Madness: Bowser Jr. scatters the pieces in different areas.
• Tiebreaker Trouble: Bowser Jr. gets to choose where to place the piece if a tie occurs.
• Bridge Breaker: Bowser Jr. takes away all the pieces up to that point, making everyone start again from scratch.
• Final 5 Frenzy: The game is skipped to the last five turns.

In-game description

"Build a bridge to a rocket! Win your pieces by playing minigames!"

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ミニゲームブリッジ[?] Minigēmu Burijji	Minigame Bridge
German	Raum-Randale[?]	Space riot
Italian	Tutti al Razzo[?]	Everyone to the Rocket
Korean	미니게임브릿지[?] Minigeim Beuritji	Minigame Bridge
Spanish	Carrera espacial[?]	Space Race

Puzzle Mode (1-2 Players)

Triangle Twisters

A mode where the player can play six puzzle-action games, the majority being classics from previous Mario Party games.

Those minigames and the order in which they are showcased are as follows:

• Mario's Puzzle Party
• Bob-omb Breakers
• Piece Out
• Block Star
• Stick & Spin

This mode introduces the new touch-controlled puzzle game, Triangle Twisters, which offers two play modes, Frenzy Mode and Focus Mode. Additionally, the player can pit themselves against another human-controlled player in the Multiplayer version of this mode.

Multiplayer (2-4 Players)

Using one game card, players can use DS Download Play to wirelessly play together in Party Mode, Minigame Mode (2-4 Players), Puzzle Mode and Extra Mode (2 Player) with nearby Nintendo DS users.

Extras Mode (2 Player)

A multiplayer exclusive mode that includes games designed for two: the cooperative Pen Pals and the competitive Desert Duel.

Minigames

Main article: List of Mario Party DS minigames

Mario Party DS features 73 minigames (71 in the Korean version, as two minigames, Shuffleboard Showdown and Chips and Dips, were removed possibly because of the gambling themes present in both of them) from seven different categories. There are 32 4-player minigames (29 of which are also Duel minigames), 12 1-vs-3 minigames (11 in the Korean version), 13 2-vs-2 minigames (three of which are also Duel minigames), 32 Duel minigames (29 of which are 4-player minigames and three of which are 2-vs-2 minigames), five Battle minigames (four in the Korean version), five Boss minigames and six Puzzle minigames. Of these, 58 are unique, 4 are minigames with the goal of collecting coins, and 11 are specialized. This is the last Mario Party game to feature a specific Battle minigame category, as Free-For-All (4-Player) minigames would be used instead in later installments.

Gallery

Main article: List of Mario Party DS collectibles

Includes over 120 collectibles that can be viewed at the player's discretion when unlocked. This mode also allows them to listen to the game's music and watch the cutscenes seen in Story Mode when viewed at least once in it.

Collection

Main article: List of Mario Party DS collectibles

Mario Party DS features a wide variety of collectible items. These range between figurines of the many characters in the game, features of the five boards played on in the game, trophies related to the bosses defeated in the game and various badges one of which the player being allowed to equip. There are 30, 71, 25 and 30 of these respectively, each particular collectible with a different requirement to unlock.

Quotes

Main article: List of Mario Party DS quotes

• "The Mario crew's adventure begins late one night." - In-game text
• "I need help! That grouchy Piranha Plant is making a mess of my garden!" - Wiggler
• "That dumb Hammer Bro is beating up my music instruments! Get rid of him!" - Toadette
• "Get a load of this spell. I call it Kamek Spell No. 8!" - Kamek
• "Here's my Hammer Bro drum solo! HA! My music's so MOVING!" - Hammer Bro
• "Watch ME play, Dad! I'm the big pinball pro in these parts!" - Bowser Jr.
• "OK, I got this great gadget for our final fight! Cower before the power of my new Megamorph Belt!" - Bowser

Reception

Critical reception of the game was generally mixed to positive, garnering a 72 on Metacritic and 72.17% on GameRankings. Many critics praised the game as a major improvement over Mario Party Advance and Mario Party 8, the latter which was released the same year, and was praised for returning to the traditional gameplay from the console games and its multiplayer, graphics, minigames, and board designs. Criticism tended to focus on its perceived similarity to the previous games and its absence of online multiplayer.

Reviews
Release	Reviewer, Publication	Score	Verdict
Nintendo DS	Frank Provo, GameSpot	8/10	"Mario Party DS is an outright blast when played with other people, and since you need only one cartridge to enjoy everything, the odds are good that you'll be able to entice your DS-owning friends to play with you. As a solo endeavor, challenging the computer opponents does get old eventually. However, between all of the different minigames, play modes, and puzzle games, it'll be a while before you condemn the cartridge to your storage shelf."
Nintendo DS	Ellie Gibson, Eurogamer	4/10	"Decent visuals and bonus puzzle games aren't enough to make Mario Party DS worth a purchase. It suffers from the same problems as the other games in the series. The mini-games, on the whole, are badly designed and boring. Watching other players take turns round the board is tedious. Even if you win every single mini-game, the stupid star system means you could still lose overall. It would seem there are plenty of gamers who are happy to put up with all this, however - after all, Nintendo wouldn't keep churning out Mario Parties if people didn't keep buying them. If you're one of those who has enjoyed the series on console, you'll enjoy it on DS. Otherwise, steer clear."
Nintendo DS	Craig Harris, IGN	7/10	"After ten years of playing board games with mini-games, it's honestly very difficult to get excited for yet another Mario Party; even though it's the first time it's been made for the Nintendo DS system. What's here is a solid multiplayer mini-game experience with a lot of the flaws of the previous versions. It doesn't do anything truly special than create a bunch of touch screen and microphone-centric minigames (and even then we've seen variations of them in other DS titles), but it at least comes together as a better title than the last console Mario Party design."
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
Metacritic		72
GameRankings		72.17%

Staff

Main article: List of Mario Party DS staff

Mario Party DS was worked on by both Hudson Soft and Group No. 4 of the Nintendo SPD. Its game, planning, program, visual, sound and senior directors were Kouji Matsuura, Yuka Sasaki, Hideki Nishmoto, Akhiro Shibata, Ichiro Shimakura and Kenji Kikuchi respectively. Satoru Iwata and Hidetoshi Endo were the game's executive producers.

During the credits the eight playable characters run into view periodically. The player can tap on the characters once they've run into full view on the Touch Screen with the stylus to make the tapped character jump, and can continue to do so for the remainder of the credits.

Pre-release and unused content

"X"s in Coin and Star totals and gold colored number gains/losses

Players used to have their own boxes at the top screen that have the "X" in the Coins storage and the Stars storage. In the final version, it was removed, because Coins can reach over 100. Also, the color used for the numbers that appear after earning or losing coins/Stars were gold instead of blue or red.

A debug menu can be accessed through Action Replay codes. The debug menu is displayed in the touch screen.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Party DS.

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  Mario

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  Luigi

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  Princess Peach

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  Donkey Kong

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  Dice Block

Media

For a complete list of media for this subject, see List of Mario Party DS media. For this subject's sound test, see Mario Party DS sound test.

Grand Opening - The game's main theme, which plays on the title screen and E3 2007 trailer.

File infoMedia:MPDS-Grand Opening.mp3 0:30

Here's Bowser - Plays in "Eeek, We're Tiny!", when Bowser traps Mario and his friends and shrinks them so he can steal the Sky Crystal.

File infoMedia:MPDS-Here's Bowser.mp3 0:30

Wiggler's Garden - Wiggler's Garden board theme

File infoMedia:MPDS-Wiggler's Garden.mp3 0:30

Diddy Needs Help - Plays in the cutscene "DK Has Turned to Stone".

File infoMedia:MPDS-Diddy Needs Help.mp3 0:30

Help:Media • Having trouble playing?

References to other games

• Super Mario Bros.: In the Call of the Goomba minigame, the grinder plays the overworld theme. The music for the Boogie Beam minigame is a remix of the underground theme.
• Mario Party 3: Mario's Puzzle Party returns as a Puzzle minigame, and the character icons for Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Daisy, and Waluigi are reused in it as well. The sheet music visible in Toadette's Music Room contains the melody of the minigame theme "Let's Get a Move On".
• Mario Party 4: Bob-omb Breakers returns as a Puzzle minigame, and all the characters' victory and losing animations are recycled.
• Mario Party 5: Piece Out returns as a Puzzle minigame. The winning and losing mugshots are also reused.
• Mario Party 6: Block Star returns as a Puzzle minigame. Also, Peach and Daisy's artwork are recycled from this game.
• Super Mario 64 DS: Yoshi's artwork is a modified version of his artwork from this game, which depicts him holding Mario's Cap over his head.
• Mario Party 7: Stick and Spin returns as a Puzzle minigame. Also, Toadette and Dry Bones' artwork are recycled from this game.
• New Super Mario Bros.: Hammer Bro's artwork is recycled from this game.
• Mario Party 4 to Mario Party 7: Animations from these games are recycled.
• Mario Party 8: The character select images are recycled from this game. Also, some voice clips have been reused.
• Super Mario Galaxy: Toad and Kamek's artwork are recycled from this game.

References in later games

• Fortune Street: If a player draws venture card #88, all other players swap positions. This is a reference to the Happening Space in Kamek's Library that occasionally causes Kamek to cast "Kamek Spell No. 88", which has the same effect.
• Mario Party 9: The minigame mode Step It Up and boss minigames return. Some voice clips are reused.
• Super Mario Party: The Star Pipe item returns under the name "Golden Pipe".

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	マリオパーティＤＳ[?] Mario Pāti DS	Mario Party DS
Chinese (traditional)	瑪利歐派對DS Mǎlì'ōu Pàiduì DS	Mario Party DS
Italian	Mario Party DS[?]	-
Korean	마리오 파티 DS[?] Mario Pati DS	Mario Party DS
Spanish	Mario Party DS[?]	-

Trivia

• This is the last Nintendo-published Super Mario game to use the signature red Nintendo logo on the cover/packaging.
  • Despite this, the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games uses the red logo for the packaging, making its last appearance in a Super Mario release overall.
• The North American manual has a mistake on Page 27. It states that during a 2 Player game (the player vs a CPU opponent or another player) in Free Play, only Battle or Boss minigames can be chosen. In reality, during a 2 Player match in Free Play, only Duel and Boss minigames can be chosen. This was fixed in the European manual.
• Mario Party DS was the subject of a 2020 internet hoax regarding an alleged anti-piracy screen. No files pertaining to anti-piracy measures are found in Mario Party DS.

External links

• Official Japanese website
• Official North American website
• Official European website
• Official Japanese instruction booklet