Mario Party DS

Mario Party DS is a party video game for the Nintendo DS. It is the eleventh title in the series (twelfth in Japan), and was released in Japan on November 8, 2007 and in North America on November 19, 2007. In Europe the game was released on November 23, 2007, and was released in Australia on December 6, 2007.

Plot
One night in the Mushroom Kingdom, five mysterious crystals fell from the sky. Mario found one of the sky crystals and showed it to his friends. Suddenly, Kamek swooped above the gang and dropped invitations signed by King Koopa Bowser. The invitations promised a party and free food at Bowser's Castle, as an apology for all the bad things he has done. Mario and his friends rush over to the Koopa Kings fortress, when suddenly, a large steel cage comes crashing down on the crew. Bowser Jr. and his father shrink Mario and gang down to size and steals the sky crystal. Bowser then launches the shrunken stars as far away from the castle as possible.

They landed in Wiggler's garden where they had destroy an evil piranha plant. Then moved one to Toadette's Music Room where they had to stop a Hammer Bro. They later trek across a vast jungle, where Donkey Kong had been imprisoned in large stone statue by Dry Bones. After rescuing Donkey Kong, Mario journeys over to Kamek's Library where he fights Bowser's trusted wizard in order to obtain his fourth star crystal.

Mini-games
There are a variety of mini-games included in the game. There are a total of 74 mini-games to play in Mario Party DS. Since this is the first Mario Party to appear on the handheld DS system, most of the mini-games contain usage of the stylus. Such as Cucumberjacks where to player must swipe the stylus to cut up a vegetable. Four mini-games use the microphone, to blow over a thowmp, freeze your opponents, ignite a bomb, and blow out birthday candles. The mini-game ideas are quirky, in the fact that they take place in an unrealistically large world, having characters hang from a clothesline or run on a globe. This Mario Party also five Boss Battle Mini-games, in which players must fight a Piranha Plant, Hammer Bro, Kamek, Dry Bones, and Bowser.

In "Puzzle Mode", the player plays puzzle games from the Mario Party series: "Mario's Puzzle Party" from Mario Party 3, "Bob-omb Breakers" from Mario Party 4, "Piece Out" from Mario Party 5, "Block Star" from Mario Party 6, and "Stick and Spin" from Mario Party 7. There is also "Triangle Twisters", a new game where you twist triangles. In Frenzy mode, you have to connect 4 or more triangles of the same color to destroy them; in Focus mode, you have to twist the triangles to form 50 shapes.

Playable Characters

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Wario
 * Waluigi
 * Toad
 * Peach
 * Daisy
 * Yoshi

Non-playable characters

 * Bowser
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Toadette
 * Wiggler
 * Piranha Plant
 * Dry Bones
 * Hammer Bro.
 * Donkey Kong
 * Diddy Kong
 * Kamek

Boards

 * Wiggler's Garden - Find the star and trade 20 coins for the star.


 * Toadette's Music Room - Find music notes and trade 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 coins for a star.


 * DK's Stone Statue - Race and buy many stars for 20 coins each. Just make sure that you have enough coins.


 * Kamek's Library - There are three jars. You can open one by paying 10 coins. One has a star, another has 5 coins, and one is a cursed monster that will spit you back to the start.


 * Bowser's Pinball Machine - Find the star and trade 20 coins for the star. If you're in the Launcher, Bowser or Bowser Jr. launch you like a pinball ball, hoping you land in the Bowser Zone, which can cause loss of all coins and stars. You're hoping to land on Star Zone for free stars. Sometimes, when you hope to get more than a star, you get 1 star and it may not be fair to you.

Reception
The game had strong sales the first week of its release in Japan, selling 234,708 copies copies in its first week. The minigames were well received as being fun, creative, and stunning. Among major gaming websites, Mario Party DS has had generally positive reviews, unlike Hudson Soft's previous attempt at a Mario Party game. As of December 31, 2007, the game has sold 2.67 million copies worldwide.

Reviews

 * Mario Party DS received a 8.0/10 from Nintendo Power
 * Mario Party DS received a 7.0 from IGN

Trivia

 * The Hexagon shape appears to be a key element of the game.
 * The Spaces are all in a hexagon shape.
 * Hexagons appear written on the chalkboard in Study Fall.
 * The boss battle against Dry Bones is on a large Hexagon, and is called Hexoskeleton.
 * Peach and Daisy's dresses appear to be hexagons when viewed from above.
 * The Status boards are hexagons.
 * The final prize assembles itself into a hexagon.
 * For unknown reasons, the CPU Daisy seems to be luckier than most others.
 * She usually hits the dice and gets higher numbers most of the time.
 * After she gains a Power Star, another Power Star usually appears in a new location that is very near to her (except in DK's Stone Statue board).
 * She also has a higher chance to win in chance games like Chips and Dips and Cheep Cheep Chance, even if her difficulty level is set the same as the others.