Minigame

An in-game screenshot of Catchy Tunes, a mini-game from Mario Party 7.

Mini-games (alternatively spelled as "minigames") are usually optional short games which may reward coins or items. However, some must be completed for high scores or access to a new area.

Mario Party series mini-games

The Mario Party series has many types of mini-games. Most award ten coins while some award items. In Mario Party, a few mini-games can cause a player to lose coins, although this system was changed in later Mario Party games.

1-player mini-games

1-player mini-games are mini-games played alone. These mini-games are usually accessed by landing on the Star Space. If the player fails, he loses 5 coins but if he or she wins, the player wins 10 coins.

4-player mini-game

4-player mini-games are mini-games that pit all four players against each other. These mini-games are made in a sense of equality between all players. This system has remained unchanged since the first Mario Party.

1 vs. 3 mini-games

1 vs. 3 mini-games are games that challenges a single player against the other three.

2 vs. 2 mini-games

2 vs. 2 mini-games are mini-games that have the player paired-up with another, random player. Players often need to work together and cooperate to beat these games.

Item mini-games

Item mini-games are games that a player can play to get an item. If the player gets Koopa Kid, they get nothing. They only appeared in Mario Party 2 and 3.

Bowser mini-game

Bowser mini-games are Bowser's own mini-games, Bowser mini-games are often extremely unfair to the players as Bowser makes all the rules. Bowser mini-games are also similar to 4-player and 1 vs 3 mini-games (where the 1 is the player who landed on the Bowser Space), except that the winner gets nothing and the losers lose coins, Stars (if they had one), or items.

Donkey Kong mini-game

Introduced in Mario Party 5, Donkey Kong mini-games are mini-games run by Donkey Kong which are often short. They usually have players focus on collecting as many bananas as possible. After the Donkey Kong mini-game is finished, players can trade their bananas to Donkey Kong for coins. They can also gain more depending on the DK Roulette.

Duel mini-game

Duel Mini-Games are mini-games that involve two players to play a mini-game against each other. Most usually have high stakes, some are common in various Duel modes. The challenging player can choose to either play for coins or Stars. This is provided that the challenging player himself has enough to wager. From Mario Party 7 onwards, the winner's prize was decided by a roulette wheel.

Mini mini-game

Mini mini-games are a type of mini-game in Mario Party 4. It can only be played by a partier that has used a Mini Mushroom on themselves. There are two types of Mini mini-games, those that involve winning items, like Item-Go-Round and Item Poker, and those that involve winning coins, like the Coin Slots and Tropical Fishing.

Battle mini-games

Battle Mini-Games are mini-games that allows all four player to face each other. Unlike other mini-games, the rank is important so for example, a player can still win coins for being in second place. Like the 4-player mini-games, most mini-games are evenly matched between the four players. The challenges can go up to 10 (later 5) to 50 coins per player. The scoring for Battle games up to Mario Party 7:

1st: 70% of the total no. coins
2nd: 30% of the total no. coins

If the total number of coins is not a multiple of 10, one random player gets a bonus coin.

In Mario Party 8, the scoring was changed slightly:

1st: 70% of the total
2nd: 25% of the total
3rd: 5% of the total

Super Mario 64 DS Mini-games

Super Mario 64 DS features a grand total of 36 mini-games, which are divided among the game's four playable characters. Two of each character's mini-games are unlocked along with the characters themselves, while the remainder are unlocked by catching Rabbits. All of the mini-games utilize the DS's touch screen.

Yoshi's Games

Yoshi's mini-games are puzzle based.

Mario's Games

Mario's mini-games are action themed.

Luigi's Games

Luigi specializes in "table" games, also known as gambling games.

Wario's Games

Wario has the most diverse collection of mini-games, almost no description applies to all of them.

New Super Mario Bros. mini-games

New Super Mario Bros. featured mini-games in much the same vein as Super Mario 64 DS. Indeed, some of the more popular Super Mario 64 DS mini-games are copied exactly for New Super Mario Bros. However, most of the mini-games are new, and many are multiplayer, something never seen in Super Mario 64 DS's games.

Action

Puzzle

Table

Variety

1-on-1

As their name suggests, all the 1-on-1 games are multiplayer exclusive. Many of them are multiplayer versions of Variety games.

Super Paper Mario mini-games

Super Mario Galaxy mini-games

Also see