Mario Party 9

Mario Party 9 is the ninth home console installment of the Mario Party series, the second and final installment for the Wii. The game was the first in the series to be developed by Nd Cube instead of Hudson Soft. It is also the eleventh in the main series (fifteenth in Japan). The host of the game is Yellow Toad for the boards while Blue Toad is the host for minigames, and Green Toad appears near the end of Boards to initiate an event similar to the Last Five Turns Event from past Mario Party games. This is also the twenty-fifth and the final Mario series' installment overall to be released for the Wii console. It has five board games to start and two to unlock: Bowser Station and DK'S Jungle Ruins.

Story
On a night outside of Princess Peach's Castle, Mario and his friends are gathering together to watch the Mini Stars glitter in the sky. As Mario peers though the telescope, he is shocked as he notices that the stars are suddenly being sucked through a vortex. It is then revealed to be Bowser andBowser Jr. on a spacecraft, who are using a vacuum-like machine to suck the stars out of the sky and into containers. Upon witnessing this, Mario and the gang set out to defeat them and save the Mini Stars. After they start their journey, Shy Guy and Magikoopa are seen coming out of the woods and start following them, as part of Bowser's plan.

Before each board, there is a cutscene that features Bowser admiring his collection of Mini Stars. Bowser Jr. then runs over to him to show his father the progression of Mario's group. Bowser is enraged, but summons two of his minions to stop the group before they can take all the Mini Stars. Eventually, however, the group reach Bowser's location, Bowser Station, and must face Bowser Jr. before battling his father.

After the final battle with Bowser, the player looks out from the stadium at Bowser's other platform, where the canisters containing all the Mini Stars burst and release them back to where they once were. As this happens, Bowser and Bowser Jr. are flying off. Bowser is mourning over the failure of his plan, which he reveals was to decorate his castle using the Mini Stars. However, upon seeing the released Mini Stars, Bowser is enraged and chases off the ones that fly near him. However, this only results in him falling out of his car; Bowser Jr. flies down to save him. Back at Peach's Castle, Mario and friends are once again gathered around the telescope to admire the Mini Stars as they glisten in the night sky.

Gameplay
A new form of this gameplay was introduced in this game, retiring the old format seen in the prior eight titles: players move all at once through the board in a vehicle (a car in Toad Road, a magic carpet in Boo's Horror Castle and a legged machine in Bob-omb Factory, for example) at the same time. Instead of trying to collect coins to buy stars, players receive Mini Stars if they pass by them. New minigame types are introduced in the Mario Party series, one example being 2 vs. 1 minigames against Bowser Jr. Players must try to avoid Mini Ztars, which deduct their current amount of Mini Stars. In this game, the minigames don't appear after every four turns, but only when a player ends up on any of the spaces that triggers a minigame. Also, when receiving dice blocks, a minigame might pop up after as well. Unlike previous Mario Party games, where often only the winner mattered, all minigames are ranked from first to last place and generally all players receive Mini Stars, although the winning player earns the most.

Modes
Mario Party 9 has 5 modes in all. They are:
 * Party Mode
 * Solo Mode
 * Minigame Mode
 * Extras
 * Museum

Minigame Mode
Blue Toad is the host of Minigame Mode.
 * Free Play: In the Free Play mode, the players can play unlocked minigames freely.
 * Step It Up: In this mode, players must win minigame to climb up stairs per win. The player who reaches on the top first wins.
 * Garden Battle: The players must get puzzle pieces to fill their gardens winning minigames. The player who completes it first wins.
 * Choice Challenge: All the players choose three minigames from a group of five that they would like to play. These minigames are played and the player who get more points wins.
 * High Rollers: In this mode, the players must win minigames to roll a Dice Block to pass through a panel floor. The player who gets 500 points first wins.
 * Time Attack: The player must try to win 10 minigames as fast as he or she can.
 * Boss Rush: The players must defeat a series of bosses to win, similar to Boss Bash in Mario Party DS.

Party Mode
Once again returning from previous Mario Party games, Party Mode involves the players going around the board like with the previous games, but changed due to the new gameplay mechanics of Mario Party 9.

Solo Mode
The game's story mode, Solo Mode involves the players traveling across all six boards to defeat Bowser and save the Mini Stars.

Extras Mode
In Extras Mode, the player can play through various extra minigames such as Goomba Bowling, Castle Clearout, or Shell Soccer. There is also a mode called Perspective Mode, in which the player plays through various minigames with a changed camera angle.

Museum
The Museum is where the player can spend Party Points on various things such as constellations, game sounds, vehicles, extra game modes, or watch the credits. Once they return a constellation into the sky, the player can go back and see it in the sky.

Other Characters

 * Goomba
 * Piranha Plant
 * Whittle
 * Pianta
 * Bullet Bill
 * Toads
 * Boo
 * Yellow Toad
 * Green Toad
 * Dry Bones
 * Cheep Cheep
 * Bob-ombs
 * Urchins
 * Dolphins
 * Mechakoopas
 * Bullet Bills
 * Piranha Plants
 * Spinies
 * Sushi
 * Huckit Crabs
 * Seagulls
 * Swoopers
 * Monty Mole
 * Hammer Bro
 * Fire Bro
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Penguins
 * Spikes
 * Mr. Blizzard
 * Fishbone
 * Deep Cheep
 * Thwomper
 * Scaredy Rats

Board Maps
These are all the playable board maps in Mario Party 9.

Spaces
When a player lands on a space, something is going to happen. Each space has its own effect, but like in previous Mario Party games, every space is color-coded. The color of the space will tell what kind of event is going to happen.

Trivia

 * This game is the first of Mario Party series that has been done by the Nd Cube.
 * This is the last Mario Party game where Donkey Kong is not a playable character.
 * This is the first and currently only Mario Party to have fewer characters than its numbered predecessor.
 * Toadette is the only playable Mario Party 8 character to not appear in this game, as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Wario, Waluigi, and Toad are playable,Blooper and Dry Bones appear as bosses, Hammer Bro. appears for battle minigames and Boo appears in Boo's Horror Castle.
 * This game was in production and development the longest of any game in the series.
 * This game is the first Mario Party not created by Hudson Soft due to it being absorbed by Konami.
 * This is the only Mario Party that does not have coins, stars, number of turns, and item shops. Instead, they use Mini Stars and Mini Ztars, the negative version of stars.
 * The golden star is only shown in the Superstar scene.

Mario Party 9