Mystery Land

Mystery Land
Appears in	Mario Party 2
Difficulty	☆☆
Availability	Default
Description	"Become archaeologists in search of answers to the mysterious artifacts."
Music sample

“We’re here, everyone! This is Mystery Land!!! These are hidden jungle paths. Countless mythical artifacts tower over these mysterious pathways. As archeologists, search for the stories behind the artifacts. Your objective this time, is to defeat Bowser Sphinx, a legendary monster that poses riddles to all travelers it meets. Whatever it takes, defeat Bowser to become the Super Star of Mystery Land!”

—Toad, Mario Party 2

Mystery Land logo

Mystery Land is a board set in some ancient ruins in Mario Land in Mario Party 2, and features several Super Mario-based parodies of real-life cryptozoological and historical mysteries. It is divided into four areas, to which people warp to each time they land on a Happening Space. They can also pay 10 coins to have a Bob-omb UFO take them to another area, but sometimes the UFO will malfunction and take the player to a small area with ruins resembling King Bob-omb. Other interesting features on this board include the Shy Guy's Curse House, where a player can pay 5 coins to curse themselves or another player to reduce the number on their dice block to 1-3, rather like the Poison Mushrooms and Cursed Dice Blocks from later Mario Party games. The Item Minigame is Mallet-Go-Round, and the Duel minigame is Psychic Safari.

At the end of the game when Toad is about to announce the winner, he is interrupted by a red Koopa Troopa who comes and alerts the players that the treasure has been found. A cutscene then shows a green Koopa with a golden Bob-omb statue. Then the villain of the board, the Bowser Sphinx, comes to challenge the Koopa to guess a figure shrouded in shadow. The Koopa guesses incorrectly, saying that it is a cow, and Bowser curses the Koopa by trapping him in a rock. Then, the winner of the game comes to confront him. The winner guesses Bowser's shadow riddle correctly, saying that the figure is him. The Bowser Sphinx disappears, a consequence of having his riddle guessed, and the statue breaks to reveal a Bob-omb Buddy that was trapped inside. The other Bob-omb Buddies come to take their rescued comrade away on their spaceship and takes Bowser in their custody. The winner of the board is then congratulated by the other players, Toad, Koopa, and a Star.

Areas

Bottom right area

This is where the players start. This area contains a Shy Guy's Curse House, a Koopa Bank, and a spot where the player can summon a Bob-omb UFO to take them to the top left area. It is the only one of the four main areas without a Bowser Space. A crashed airplane with a Goomba on the tail can be seen here.

Bottom left area

This area is Egyptian-themed and features a pyramid, some pillars, and a Nazca Line-esque imprint of a Blooper. The Item Shop is here, and there is a door which allows players to willingly access the upper left or bottom right area if they have a Skeleton Key. It is the only one of the four main areas without an Item Space.

Upper left area

This area features a Koopa Bank, Boo, and a spot where the player can summon a Bob-omb UFO to take them to the bottom right area. It is the only one of the four main areas without a Battle Space. Dorrie can be seen above this area, in a parody of the Loch Ness Monster.

Upper right area

Princess Peach's Castle in the upper right area

Moais can be seen in this area, as well as a monument resembling Stonehenge with a limbless Whomp on top. This area contains a Chance Time Space and a Shy Guy's Curse House. There is another Skeleton Key door here, which serves the same purpose as the one in the bottom left area. In the forest, Peach's Castle is somewhat visible through the fog.

King Bob-omb ruins area

This small area is not normally accessible, but a player may be randomly sent here after summoning a Bob-omb UFO. It consists of nothing but Red Spaces and Happening Spaces. A statue of King Bob-omb can be seen in the central sinkhole.

Spaces

The following table shows how many spaces there are on the board, and how many there are of a certain type.

Type of Space	Number of Spaces
Blue Spaces	37
Red Spaces	9
Happening Spaces	18
Battle Spaces	3
Chance Spaces	2
Item Spaces	6
Bank Spaces	2
Bowser Spaces	4
Total of Spaces	81

Gallery

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  A Koopa Troopa being abducted

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  The introduction's background

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  Toad introduces the Bowser Sphinx

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  Map of Mystery Land

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  Yoshi being beamed up

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  Mario is dropped off in the King Bob-omb ruins area.

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  DK in the board's second area

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  Yoshi near this board's Boo

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  A Koopa Troopa guesses the Bowser Sphinx's riddle incorrectly.

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  The Koopa Troopa is cursed.

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  Luigi (the winner of the board) solves the riddle.

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  The Bowser Sphinx is defeated, breaking his curse.

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  The Bob-ombs thank Luigi for saving them.

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  The board results logo

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ミステリーランド[?] Misuterī rando	Mystery Land
German	Mystery-Land[?]	Mystery Land
Italian	Misteri Land[?]	Mysteries Land
Spanish	Mundo Misterioso[?]	Mysterious World

Trivia

• Wario's outfit for this board somewhat resembles his normal form from Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. This is because the player wears an archaeologist attire complete with a sun helmet, whereas Wario is seen wearing such a helmet in said game.
  • On a similar note, Mario's outfit for Mystery Land resembles the outfit Mario wore in Mario's Picross.
  • Also, Bowser's Sphinx costume for this board somewhat resembles his Koop Tut alter ego from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode, "The Ten Koopmandments".
  • In the ending for the board, when Sphinx Bowser gives a riddle, Koopa's (incorrect) answer was a cow, with the actual answer being Bowser himself. This was a subtle reference to Bowser's design process, where Shigeru Miyamoto initially envisioned him as an ox, but ultimately worked with Takashi Tezuka to mix both turtle and ox designs for his final design.
• The menu icon for this board resembles the condor figure at the Nazca Lines.
• Despite the fact that this board has the fewest spaces of all boards in the game, Mystery Land has more Happening Spaces than any other boards.