Mario Party: Star Rush

Template:Infobox Mario Party: Star Rush is a party game for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the second Mario Party game released for the system after Mario Party: Island Tour, and the fourteenth game overall. The game, as with most entries of the Mario Party series, is a multiplayer-oriented party game, where up to four players compete in an interactive, digital board for the most stars. What sets this game apart from its precedents in the Mario Party series is its main mode, Toad Scramble, where, instead of players using designated Mario characters from the start, take control of a color-coded member of the Toad species and collect Mario characters around the board. Also unlike other Mario Party games, all players move at one turn, streamlining the gameplay. The board designs are non-linear as well, also unlike previous boards in the Mario Party series, where players travel in a straight line around the boards. It was released on October 7, 2016 for Europe, October 8 for Australia and New Zealand, October 20 for Japan, and November 4 for North America. The game is compatible with amiibo. The game uses up 3018 blocks for a digital download from the Nintendo eShop.

Gameplay

File:MarioPartyStarRush-ToadScramble.jpg

Gameplay of Toad Scramble, the main mode.

Mario Party: Star Rush's board gameplay is the main focus of the game. Players traverse around a board, using a Dice Block numbered from 1-6. Due to the nature of the boards, most spaces landed on the boards in Mario Party: Star Rush do not trigger a special effect, while there are very few spaces that do: for example, specifically landing on a ? Block space grants the player a random item for use. Minigames can be collected from playing Toad Scramble and Coinathlon, with both modes having different ways play a minigame; in Toad Scramble, for example, players need to pass a Coin Balloon to trigger a minigame.

Toad Scramble is the only mode where players cannot choose a designated Mario character, instead, starting out with a colored member of the Toad species, corresponding to a player; said Mario characters can be used only when collected in the board, set as the leader, or with a use of an amiibo. In all other modes, however, players can choose and play as a specific Mario character, including Toad himself as an option if players wish to play as a Toad in other modes.

Game modes

Ten game modes are confirmed to appear in Mario Party: Star Rush. At the beginning, the Toad Scramble mode is the only mode players can play, however, players unlock other modes as they play the game.

Toad Scramble

File:MarioPartyStarRush -ToadScramble2.jpg

A player acquiring Yoshi in Toad Scramble.

Up to four players can enjoy Toad Scramble, the central mode of Mario Party: Star Rush. Each player in the beginning starts out with a member of the Toad species, where their colors correspond to each player: red being Player 1, blue being Player 2, green being Player 3, and yellow being Player 4. Players are then notified of the appearance of a boss character in the map, as well as potential ally characters that the Toads can recruit. The goal of the game is to amass the most Stars, where players can retrieve Stars by placing first in boss minigames. Players can face off against bosses by landing on the space in front of them. Every time a boss minigame is completed, a new boss appears on the board on a different spot. Up to five bosses can appear on a board. When a player plays against a boss, other players need to tap to travel to the boss space to participate as well.

When players recruit ally characters, the ally characters help out by increasing dice roll amounts with their own special Dice Blocks and helping the players earn points simultaneously in video games. Ally characters have certain field abilities unique to them as well; for example, Mario can stomp on Goombas in grass while Princess Peach can make flowers bloom. Whenever a player recruits an ally character, they can switch characters before the start of any turn in order to directly use them. Up to four ally characters can be recruited for each team, having five characters in total at play. Players can duel each others' ally characters by participating in an Ally Duel, either by landing on the same space as another player or by using a Duel Glove. When an Ally Duel is triggered, one of the several events happen. One event is a Dice Block roll: the two players roll a die; whoever rolls higher wins. Another event has players choose cards with numbers facing upside-down; whoever picks a higher numbered card wins. The last even is stopping a shown, then hidden timer for 5 seconds: whoever stops closer to 5 seconds wins. When players win the Ally Duel, they steal an ally from the losing player. If the losing player does not have an ally character, the winning player earns coins instead.

Dotted throughout the board are coins that can be collected by running through them. Players can land on special spaces as well, such as a ? Block, which gives players an item that can help players and hinder their opponents. Players can land on a Lakitu space, where at a fee of one coin, players can travel to another player's space.

When a player passes through a Coin Balloon, the player earns coins, as well as starting a minigame. Similar to the Battle minigame of previous Mario Party installments, the player who landed on the space can choose a minigame out of four randomly selected, rather than traditionally letting a roulette decide which minigame to play.

Coinathlon

Toadette participating in Coinathlon with three other players.

In a mode that up to four players can play, players must collect as many coins as they can in 60-second designated coin minigames to progress three laps around a map. As players collect coins in minigames, they proceed through the map as the minigames happen. Players can earn a variety of items via collecting coins; when characters collect enough coins, a transparent box containing an item shows up. Players can retrieve the item by touching the box, and when players press , they can momentarily use that item to stun their opponents. The items available are Coin Trio, Blooper, Lava Bubble, Lightning Bolt, Kamek, Double Medal, and Money Bag, and the frequency of these items change depending on the placement of the players. Whichever player crosses the finish line first wins the game.

In longer games, Bowser can show up to force players to play Bowser's Gauntlet minigames; players first receive a warning when a Bowser's Gauntlet minigame will occur, which occurs the next minigame. Players need to survive the minigames; when players get eliminated, they get sent back a number of spaces, depending on how early they got eliminated. If players survive the minigame, they receive no penalty.

Coinathlon comes in two modes. One mode is Free Play Mode, where players can choose the number of players, laps, and minigames available. The other mode, Rival Race, players can take on a series of challenges to try to earn 10 consecutive wins. The further the player gets on, the harder the challenges get.

In multiplayer versions of this mode, players cannot play against computer opponents.

Mario Shuffle

File:MarioPartyStarRush -MarioShuffle.jpg

Mario Shuffle in play.

Mario Shuffle is a two-player oriented game mode that focuses on amiibo functionality. Players race across a linear, one-way board to a goal with amiibo. The red team tries to make it to the very right of the board, while the blue team tries to make to the left side of the board. Players roll two dice, and allow the outcome of the dice to affect two figurines. When a player crosses an opposing piece, the player jumps over the piece, making that piece unable to move for one turn. If a player lands on an opposing piece, the player knocks the piece back to the start of the board. Players can land on spaces that either make the piece continue further or moving back, depending on the directions on the space. If players do not have amiibo, a cardboard cut-out of a player character is used instead. A total amount of six characters can be used, each split into two teams of three. The first team who makes it across the board to their goal wins the game.

Balloon Bash

Gameplay of Balloon Bash.

Up to four players must collect coins and stars on a mini board with 10, 20, or 30 turns and minigames after a player touches a coin balloon. The gameplay is very similar to Toad Scramble, except players navigate through smaller boards and are able to use designated Mario characters rather than a player Toad, and the main goal of the game is to collect the most Stars from Star Balloons that can appear in parts of the board. Players can earn Stars if they spend 10 coins on arrival with a Star Balloon. Star Balloons can come in twos or threes, and players can purchase multiple of them at once if they have the funds. When a Coin Duel is initiated, just as an Ally Duel for Toad Scramble, whichever player wins the Coin Duel earns coins.

Rhythm Recital

Players in Rhythm Recital.

Up to four players can cooperate and play classic Mario tunes using the touchscreen. Players can choose an instrument from an instrumental set. There are ten songs in total:

• Overworld Theme from Super Mario World
• Main Theme from Super Mario 3D Land
• Overworld Theme from Super Mario Bros.
• Super Bell Hill from Super Mario 3D World
• Overworld Theme from New Super Mario Bros.
• Slide from Super Mario 64
• Castle Theme from New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• Underwater Theme from New Super Mario Bros. U
• Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy
• Chill from Dr. Mario

Challenge Tower

Luigi in Challenge Tower.

A single player game where a player climbs a tower with LED spaces on it. Players need to pay attention to the color of the spaces as they ascend, while also avoiding Amps on their way up the tower. Blue spaces are safe to proceed in any direction, yellow means that there is an Amp in one direction, red means there are two Amps in two directions, and purple spaces mean that the space is surrounded by Amps. Black spaces are spaces not climbed on at the moment. X spaces means that space cannot be climbed on. Players can mark spaces with a checkmark using ,, , and to help mark locations with Amps in them. Finally, Amps cannot be adjacent to each other. At first, players have the options to climb the following towers: Beginner, which has 30 floors, Intermediate which has 50 floors, and Expert, which has 70 floors. If all are played, players can unlock the 500-floor Master Tower.

Boo's Block Party

Boo's Block Party.

A puzzle game that involves spinning sides of a number block to earn points. Points are earned when 3 or more sets of numbers match. When players break enough blocks, the blocks get sent to the opponent's screen. The game ends when the blocks reach the top of the screen. In single-player mode, players can face off against Boo in an endless mode to compete for a high score.

Character Museum

Main article: Character Museum

Viewing Princess Peach in the Character Museum.

The character museum allows players to view characters collected in the game. The playable characters can be chosen as the hub character. amiibo options are also found here: when players use amiibo, they unlock stamps. The quality of the stamp is dependent on how long players touch the touch screen. Players can choose to reapply stamps if the outcome is not desired. When players unlock stamps, they earn an extra set of points to increase their Party Level. If players have unlocked the Staff Credits, it can be viewed in here. Players can also play minigames from here, by viewing the minigame appearances tab for respective enemies.

Minigames

Players can play Free-For-All, Boss, Bowser, and Coinathlon minigames in this mode.

Multiplayer

Players can use the Nintendo 3DS's Download and Local Play features to play with their friends. The following table illustrates which features are available in each mode, leaving out Challenge Tower, as Challenge Tower is a single-player only game.

Play modes
Mode	Local Play	Download Play
Toad Scramble
Coinathlon
Balloon Bash
Mario Shuffle
Rhythm Recital
Boo's Block Party

However, new to the Mario Party handheld titles is the Mario Party: Star Rush - Party Guest feature. Similar to Download Play, it enables up to four players to play the game with only one game cartridge, but it gives players who do not have a copy of Mario Party: Star Rush to play with modes that only Local Play users have access to. Players need to download the Mario Party: Star Rush - Party Guest app off the Nintendo eShop into an available SD card slot and then hook up with systems that have a copy of Mario Party: Star Rush to enjoy. Additionally, progress such as unlocked characters and minigames are saved, and if players buy a full Mario Party: Star Rush copy, they can transfer the data into the copy.

amiibo features

amiibo can be used in Mario Party: Star Rush for the benefit and bonuses of the player, with each game mode supporting the Super Mario line-up of amiibo figures as well as the Mario characters in the Super Smash Bros. line up of amiibo. amiibo can be used to unlock locked characters as well. However, each mode has different effects for each amiibo when used on, as described in the following table.

On a side note, nonMario amiibo can be used at the main menu screen. If used, they cause a variety of effects to appear, such as many balloons floating up.

amiibo effects
Image	Mode	Effect
	Toad Scramble	The character on the figure becomes an ally first turn. They are more powerful than characters encountered regularly during play. The amiibo character cannot be snatched from other players via Ally Duel, nor can they abandoned if the character roster gets full. They are the leader by default, but players can switch to Toads if they wish. The character also brings a special Dice Block with them. If Mario Party 10 data is saved on it, players receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Dice Block depending what is saved on the amiibo.
	Coinathlon	Players can use the character on the figure as well as using the same item twice in a row.
	Balloon Bash	Players can use the character on the figure. The amiibo grants a special Dice Block at the start of the game. If Mario Party 10 data is saved on it, players receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Dice Block depending what is saved on the amiibo.
	Mario Shuffle	The character joins the game as part of the player's team, giving the player a special Dice Block. Players cannot use more than one of the same character, however. If Mario Party 10 data is saved on it, players receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Dice Block depending what is saved on the amiibo. Tapping the Boo, Bowser, and Bowser Jr. amiibo allows players to use them.
	Rhythm Recital	Tapping the Dr. Mario amiibo unlocks the "CHILL" music track from Dr. Mario that can be played.
	Challenge Tower	The character on the amiibo continues the moment the player has failed. Players can use the same character only once per day, however.
	Boo's Block Party	Tapping the Boo amiibo causes Boo to appear in the background.
	Character Museum	Players can unlock stamps. Each character comes with a different stamp design.

Compatible amiibo

• 

  Mario

• 

  Luigi

• 

  Princess Peach

• 

  Yoshi

• 

  Toad

• 

  Bowser

• 

  Princess Daisy

• 

  Wario

• 

  Waluigi

• 

  Rosalina

• 

  Donkey Kong

• 

  Diddy Kong

• 

  Boo

• AMIIBODEBOWSERJR..png

  Bowser Jr.

• AMIIBODEDRMARIO.png

  Dr. Mario

• 

  Gold Mario

• 

  Silver Mario

• 

  8-Bit Classic Mario

• 

  8-Bit Modern Mario

Level up system

As players spend more time playing the game, and accomplish various objectives, they gain party points, and if they get enough party points, they level up. Players start at level 1, and each level up unlocks more gameplay options.

Level	Option
1	Toad Scramble
2	Coinathlon
3	Balloon Bash
4	Toadette
5	Rhythm Recital
6	Rosalina
7	Mario Shuffle
8	Donkey Kong
9	Boo's Block Party
10	Challenge Tower
11	Diddy Kong & Dr. Mario Music
12	Master Difficulty
Star	Staff Credits

Characters

File:MarioPartyStarRush-CharacterSelect.jpg

Character select screen, with Mario Party 10 data being detected within an amiibo and thus rewarding the player.

Mario Party: Star Rush has a total of 19 controllable characters in the entire game. Four playable characters, the colored Toads, are controlled only in the Toad Scramble mode while three characters are exclusive to the Mario Shuffle mode.

Playable (Toad Scramble)

• 
• 
• 
• 

Other playable characters

These characters, with the exception of Toad, can be collected in Toad Scramble, but are the main playable characters in other modes. The four unlockable characters, Toadette, Rosalina, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong are unlocked by playing through the game. However, if players have an amiibo of the character, they can unlock the character by tapping them in.

• 

  crimson

• 

  green

• 

  hotpink

• 

  orange

• 

  gold

• 

  purple

• 

  limegreen

• 

  blue

• 

  magenta (unlockable)

• 

  DodgerBlue (unlockable)

• 

  SaddleBrown (unlockable)

• 

  Peru (new) (unlockable)

Unlocking criteria

Unlockable playable characters can be unlocked by reaching respective party levels or scanning respective amiibo.

Character	Party Level	amiibo
Toadette	4
Rosalina	6	File:AMIIBODEROSALINA.png
Donkey Kong	8	File:AMIIBODEDK.pngFile:Donkey Kong toy.jpg
Diddy Kong	11	File:AMIIBODEDIDDYKONG.png

Mario Shuffle playable characters

In addition to the above playable characters, these characters are exclusively playable in the Mario Shuffle mode when players tap their amiibo in.

• 

  red

• Bowser Jr. (Mario Party Star Rush).png

  orange

• 

  gray

Abilities and Dice Blocks

In Toad Scramble mode, each character has a unique ability and Dice Block.

Character	Ability	Dice Block	Numbers
Toads	Recruits a friend.	Standard Dice Block	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Mario	Stomps on Goombas in grass.	Super Dice Block	0, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7
Luigi	Stomps on Goombas in grass.	Jumpy Dice Block	1, 1, 1, 5, 6, 7
Princess Peach	Causes flower buds to bloom.	Speedy Dice Block	0, 2, 4, 4, 4, 6
Princess Daisy	Causes flower buds to bloom.	Friendly Dice Block	3, 4, 5, ?, ?, ? (? = characters in party)
Wario	Smashes rocks that have hidden coins.	Greedy Dice Block	- 1 coin, - 1 coin, 4, 5, 6, 7
Waluigi	Smashes rocks that have hidden coins.	Risky Dice Block	- 2 coins, - 2 coins, 6, 6, 6, 6
Yoshi	Loves fruit!	Flutter Dice Block	0, 1, 3, 5, 5, 7
Toadette	Causes flower buds to bloom.	Cutie Dice Block	3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4
Rosalina	Mysteriously crushes glowing rocks.	Wondrous Dice Block	5, 6, ?, ?, ?, ? (? = current rank)
Donkey Kong	Breaks barrels.	Brawny Dice Block	0, 0, 0, 0, 10, 10
Diddy Kong	Breaks barrels.	Triple 7 Dice Block	0, 0, 0, 7, 7, 7

In addition, players can get a Peepa disguised as another character if they play on World 2-3. When this occurs, players cannot choose to use the Peepa, and the Peepa goes away after a set period of time.

Character	Ability	Dice Block	Numbers
Peepa	Makes mischief by rolling a Dice Block with negative numbers.	File:Cursed Dice Block.jpg Cursed Dice Block	0, 0, -1, -1, -1, -1

Bosses

In Toad Scramble, a set number of bosses occupy a set space on a board. Players can battle them in their specific minigame for a Star when players land on the space in front of them. In Balloon Bash, a Boss Battle starts when two Coin Balloons are popped at the same time. In this instance, the 1st and 4th players and 2nd and 3rd players are put on a team to fight the boss, which is chosen at random, except for Bowser.

Bosses and minigames
Mega Goomba	King Bob-omb	King Boo	Petey Piranha	Mega Blooper
Mega Goomba's Bad Dream	King Bob-omb's Boom D'état	King Boo's Light Smite	Petey Piranha's Shell Smackdown	Mega Blooper's Bayside Bop
Bosses and minigames
Mega Dry Bones	Mega Monty Mole	Kamek	Bowser Jr. File:Bowser Jr. (Mario Party Star Rush).png	Bowser
Mega Dry Bones's Femur Fever	Mega Monty Mole's in the Hole	Kamek's Card Tricks	Bowser Jr.'s Pound for Pound	Bowser's Space Race Bowser's Shocking Slipup Bowser's Hit-or-Missile Mania

Other

These characters primarily act as obstacles or part of the background scenery in various minigames.

Amps Bloopers Bob-ombs Boo Bullet Bills Chain Chomps

Cheep Cheeps Conkdors Fuzzies Galoombas Gold Bullet Bills Gold Cheep Cheeps

Gold Piranha Plants Goombas Goombrats Hammer Bro Huckit Crabs Koopa Troopas

Lakitu Lava Bubbles Magmaarghs Monty Moles Peepas Piranha Creepers

Piranha Plants Shy Guys Spikes Spinies Swoops Urchins

Wigglers

Board features

• ? Block
• Coin Balloon
• Lakitu
• Star Balloon (Balloon Bash only)
• Shy Guy Shop
• Cannon

Boards

Boards can be played in three modes: Toad Scramble, Balloon Bash, Mario Shuffle, and Coinathlon. Out of the four modes, Toad Scramble and Balloon Bash have differing selectable boards, each with their own layouts and gimmicks.

Toad Scramble boards

Mario Party: Star Rush features 15 boards in the main mode, Toad Scramble, the most boards out of any Mario Party game in the series. The names of the boards are based off levels in various Mario platformers.

World 0 features a grassland theme, World 1 features a tropical island theme, World 2 features a ghost house theme, World 3 features a birthday cake theme, and World 4 features a lava theme. The latter three worlds are unlocked by finishing a game on a map from the previous world.

Level	Preview	Description	Bosses
World 0
World 0-1		"A simple plain that's perfect for practice."	2
World 0-2		"A walkway of ? Blocks and items galore!"	3
World 0-3		"Beaucoup balloons amid grass and flowers."	4
World 1
World 1-1		"Three islands connected by a bridge. Luxurious!"	3
World 1-2		"Star Island is shaped...well, like a star."	4
World 1-3		"A beachside boardwalk for some fun in the sun."	5
World 2
World 2-1		"A spooky manor full of spikes and switches."	3
World 2-2		"This is Peepa's house! All is not as it seems..."	4
World 2-3		"A battleground of Peepa pranks and spike traps."	5
World 3
World 3-1		"This three-layer cake is garnished with coins!"	3
World 3-2		"On this tasty confection, Gold Bullet Bills abound!"	4
World 3-3		"Tons of sweet toppings and tasty coins. Yum!"	5
World 4
World 4-1		"That magma's too hot to handle! Watch yourself!"	3
World 4-2		"Beware the ballistic Bullet Bill barrage!"	4
World 4-3		"Bowser's magma maze...BEWARE!!"	5

Balloon Bash boards

Balloon Bash features 3 boards, unlocked by playing them in succession.

Level	Preview	Description
Map 1		"A fish-shaped map."
Map 2		"A pipe-filled map."
Map 3		"A zigzagging map."

Items

Toad Scramble items

Item	Function
Dash Mushroom	Adds +3 to your roll, which lets you move an extra three spaces.
Golden Dash Mushroom	Adds +5 to your roll, which lets you move an extra five spaces.
Poison Mushroom	Subtracts -2 from a rival's Dice Block roll.
Warp Box	Warps you to the location of a rival.
File:MPSRItem -Duel Glove.png Duel Glove	Lets you select a rival to challenge to an Ally Duel.
Double Dice Block	Lets you roll two Dice Blocks instead of one.
Coinado	Steals 5 coins from the first rival to land on the space where it's hidden.
Fling Spring	Send the first rival to land on it flying to another space.
Double Card	Doubles the Coins and Stars received from a boss battle. (Toad Scramble only)
Double Star Card	This item doubles the number of Stars you can get when exchanging coins. (Balloon Bash only)

Coinathlon items

Item	Image	Function
File:Blooper MPSR.jpeg Blooper		Bloopers slightly stop players, with an ink splat on the screen that obscures their vision.
File:CoinTrioMPSR.jpeg Coin Trio		This gives players three coins.
File:DoubleMedal.jpeg Double Medal		Doubles each Coin collected for a short time.
File:Kamekitem MPSR.jpeg Kamek	File:MarioPartyStarRush -KamekHit.jpeg	Kamek traps players in chains. Players need to tap their character repeatedly to break from the chains quicker.
File:LavaBubbleMPSR.jpeg Lava Bubble		The Lava Bubble stuns players and burns up coins and floating item boxes on the screen.
File:LightningBolt MPSR.jpeg Lightning Bolt	File:MarioPartyStarRush -LightningBoltHit.jpeg	Lightning Bolts stun players, which in turn slow their gameplay down.
File:CoinBag MPSR.jpeg Coin Bag		These drop five Red Coins on the screen, which players can collect to earn more coins.

Minigames

Main article: List of Mario Party: Star Rush minigames

File:MarioPartyStarRush -DodgeFuzzyGetDizzy.jpg

Dodge Fuzzy, Get Dizzy, one of the minigames being played.

Mario Party: Star Rush has a total of 53 minigames, a considerably lower amount than its predecessors (in comparison, Mario Party: Island Tour has 81 minigames and Mario Party 10 has 75 minigames). In Toad Scramble and Balloon Bash mode, players select and play 4 out of a total of 26 Free-For-All minigames when they pass a coin balloon, whereas in Coinathlon, players play from a pool of 12 minigames under the label "Coin Chaos". Boss battle minigames are triggered when players land in a boss battle space in front of the eponymous boss in Toad Scramble. In Balloon Bash, they are triggered when two Coin Balloons are popped. The 1st place and 4th place player are put on a team and the 2nd and 3rd place players are put on another team to fight the boss, which is chosen at random except for any of Bowser's 3 battles. However, unlike Toad Scramble and Minigames, the first phase of each fight is fought instead of two phases. The 3 Bowser minigames are triggered in Coinathlon at random during a five lap or seven lap race, usually after the player has run half of the laps. This is the second Mario Party game to not feature 1 vs. 3 minigames, the first being Mario Party: Island Tour. This game is also the third Mario Party game to not have a category of 2 vs. 2 minigames.

Staff

Main article: List of Mario Party: Star Rush staff

Mario Party: Star Rush is developed by Nd Cube, who has been handling development of the Mario Party series ever since Mario Party 9, though most of the members at Nd Cube are former Hudson Soft employees, the company that handled the Mario Party series until Mario Party DS.

Reception

Critical reception

Mario Party: Star Rush has currently received generally mixed to positive reviews, receiving a 70 from Metacritic based on 24 reviews and a 66.43% from GameRankings based on 7 reviews. The game has generally been praised for the new direction in the overall Mario Party series as well as its multiplayer functionality with friends, though its weaker points is that the game is not meant for single players and the low amount of minigames has been cited. Thomas Whitehead of Nintendo Life gave Mario Party: Star Rush a 7/10, praising the new direction of the series and the Party Guest feature while saying that it is not particularly spectacular and players shouldn't rush out to buy it. In his conclusion, he stated that "Mario Party: Star Rush achieves its goals. It's entertaining, charming and offers some easy-going minigame fun." Daan Koopman of Nintendo World Report gave the game a a 7.5 out of 10, also praising the new direction of the main mode, saying that "Toad Scramble does a good job of changing up other Mario Party elements as well, which helps makes games competitive but still tests of skill." However, he criticized the low variety of minigames, the Rhythm Recital mode, and that some modes need more content.

On the lower end, Nick Gillham of God is a Geek gave Mario Party: Star Rush a 5 out of 10. He notes that while the game is initially fun, especially with other people, it wears out and the game does not have much staying power. He also criticized how the maps have too much empty space in them and that the extra modes are superfluous and not as good as Toad Scramble.

Reviews
Release	Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Nintendo 3DS	Daan Koopman, Nintendo World Report	7.5/10	"A strong package overall. It has a lot of smart ideas that will hopefully be used in future games, and there’s a good variety of modes to play with."
Nintendo 3DS	Thomas Whitehead, Nintendo Life	7.5/10	"Mario Party: Star Rush may not excel in many ways, but it addresses some complaints from past entries and delivers some harmless entertainment. We're not sure you should rush out to buy it, but it still shows that Mario and company can be stars of a party."
Nintendo 3DS	Nick Gillham, God is a Geek	5/10	"If a group of buddies all chip in Star Rush can be a cheap night or two of fun, but it’s not much more than that."
Nintendo 3DS	Dave Irwin, TheSixthAxis	6/10	"Much like the console Mario Party on the Wii U, getting the most out of the game means you probably should have a compatible Amiibo on hand. For some modes this can mean that you gain a perk, such as an extra power up collected every time in Coinatholon or an extra try in the Challenge Tower. This could be used as an unfair advantage against human players in a game where luck is the main concept, which may not sit well with some players."
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
Metacritic		70
GameRankings		66.43%

Sales

During the opening week of October 17 - October 23, 2016, Mario Party: Star Rush sold 26,473 units in Japan.

Nintendo eShop description

Think fast and have a blast with a variety of ways to party with Mario™, Toad™, and more, on-the-go or on the couch! It's always your turn as you and up to three friends roll the dice, roam the board, and recruit fan-favorite allies. The bigger your party, the faster you'll earn stars and coins in frantic minigames. It's instant fun for everyone!

Break free of turn order and choose your path to victory in Toad Scramble, a mode with five wild worlds filled with bite-sized, open maps to play on. Blast across them in cannons, creep around haunted houses, or get a lift from Lakitu. You may get a chance to take down Bowser's mech! Team up with Yoshi™, Daisy™, Waluigi™, and other allies along the way.

Pit your skills against friends by racing along in a gauntlet of rapid-fire minigames in Coinathlon. Cannon down Goombas, take out Shy Guys pinball-style, and even surf on a leafboard...but watch out for Wigglers! You may even find yourself wandering a labyrinth of Boos. Partying is tough business!

Gallery

• 
• 

  Mario

• 

  Green Toad

• 
• 

  Group artwork

References to other games

• Super Mario Bros.: The overworld theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Super Mario World: The overworld theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Dr. Mario: Chill is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: The minigame Dodge Fuzzy, Get Dizzy is a reference to the level, Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy.
• Super Mario 64: The slide theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• WarioWare series: Wario's Character Museum bio mentions Wario being the president of the WarioWare, Inc.
• Super Mario Sunshine: Map 3 of Balloon Bash resembles a Pianta.
• New Super Mario Bros.: The overworld theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Super Mario Galaxy: Gusty Garden Galaxy's background music is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii: The castle theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Super Mario 3D Land: Players enter the game modes in a similar fashion players enter levels in this game. The main theme of this game is also playable in Rhythm Recital. Various sound effects have been reused from this game as well.
• New Super Mario Bros. U: The underwater theme is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks.
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: Poltergust 5000 sound effects are used in the minigame Jewel Janitors.
• Super Mario 3D World: Samurai Smackdown is themed after Hands-On Hall. Super Bell Hill is one of Rhythm Recital's tracks. Light Boxes make a return in King Boo's Light Smite.
• Mario Party 10: Artwork and character animations has been reused from this game.
• Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash: Bowser Jr.'s artwork has been reused from this game sans the tennis racket.

External links

• Official Japanese Website
• Official US Website
• Official UK Website