Mario Party 3

Mario Party 3
The North American box art for Mario Party 3.
Information
Developer(s)	Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Series	Mario Party
Release date	Nintendo 64: December 7, 2000 May 7, 2001 January 11, 2002 May 7, 2001 November 16, 2001 September 3, 2001 May 17, 2002 Nintendo Switch Online: October 27, 2023 October 26, 2023
Genre(s)	Party
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Ratings	ACB: General ESRB: Everyone
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Navigation
Predecessor	Mario Party 2 (1999)
Successor	Mario Party 4 (2002)

Mario Party 3 is the third game in the Mario Party series and was the last game of the franchise to be released for the Nintendo 64. The game is centered around the Millennium Star, who replaces Toad as the host. Mario Party 3 has 67 all new mini-games, and players can now hold up to three items. It also offers a special twist to the game unique in the Mario Party series: duel boards, where players fight each other using partners like Goombas. It is also the first Mario Party game to introduce Princess Daisy and Waluigi as playable characters. This was the first Mario Party game to be released after the millennium for all countries.

Mario Party 3 is scheduled to be ported to the Nintendo 64 Nintendo Switch Online service alongside Mario Party and Mario Party 2. This will be the first time that Mario Party 3 is re-released, as the first two were made available on on the Wii Shop Channel and the Wii U Nintendo eShop.

Plot

A Star is Born: In the center of the vast universe, a remarkably bright star was born. It was the star that is born only once in a thousand years, the Millennium Star. According to the legend, whoever possessed the mystical star was destined to become the Superstar of the universe. However, since the Millennium Star was, but a newborn, it fell from the starry sky. Around that time, Mario and his friends were all happily relaxing when suddenly the Millennium Star came crashing down. Mario and his friends soon started to argue about who should keep the Millennium Star. Suddenly, the Millennium Star gave off a brilliantly bright flash of light. And with that bright flash, Mario and his friends were transported into a toy box! "Greetings. I am the Millennium Star. You must pass my test to prove yourself worthy of possessing me. You must journey across many lands and collect the Star Stamps. If you can collect all seven, I shall accept you as the top Superstar in the universe." Who will collect the seven Star Stamps and become the universe's top Superstar?

In Battle Royale Mode, players have to get as many Stars as possible. Stars cost 20 Coins.

In Duel Mode, players have to erase the opponent's health. Every player has five pieces of heart as health.

Stamps

Stamp	Requirements
Wit	Clear Chilly Waters, then defeat Wario in Gate Guy.
Kindness	Clear Deep Bloober Sea, then defeat Yoshi in Arrowhead.
Strength	Clear Spiny Desert, then defeat Donkey Kong in Pipesqueak.
Love	Clear Woody Woods, then defeat Peach in Blowhard.
Courage	Clear Creepy Cavern, then defeat Mario in Mr. Mover.
Beauty	Defeat Daisy in Backtrack.
Mischief	Beat Waluigi and two other CPUs in Waluigi's Island.

If the player chooses one of five original characters, then Luigi will replace them on their own Duel Board, claiming that he deserves the stamp, causing the chosen character to react in disbelief, as Luigi does not possess that quality to the extent that he or she does.

Characters

The game brings back the original six playable characters from the last two Mario Party games and introduces two new playable characters, Princess Daisy and Waluigi. However, they can only be playable in Party Mode.

Playable

Character	Duel Partner	Favorite Item
	Koopa Troopa	Golden Mushroom
	Goomba	Skeleton Key
	Toad	Plunder Chest
	Boo	Warp Block
	Bob-omb	Dueling Glove
	Whomp	Reverse Mushroom
	Snifit	Cellular Shopper
	Piranha Plant	Poison Mushroom

Non-Playable

• Tumble
• Fake Millennium Star
• The Real Millennium Star
• Game Guy
• Battle T.
• Bowser
• Toad
• Baby Bowser

Duel Partners

Partner	Attack	Stamina	Salary (Coins)	Default Partner	Unique Abilities
	1	2	1	Mario	Can attack in both directions.
	2	1	2	Luigi	None
	1			Peach	Protects the player from having their coins stolen by landing on their rival's Basic Space.
	2	1	3	Yoshi	When attacked, counterattacks before disappearing.
	1			Wario	Attacks the player's rival directly, but only lasts one attack.
	0	4		Donkey Kong	None
	2		5	Daisy	Can sometimes find 2 to 4 coins.
	3	1		Waluigi	Sometimes finds an Extra 1–3 Dice Block.
	1	3	2	None	Attacks the character farthest away from him.
	0	2	4		Defeats a partner instantly.
	1	2	6		Attacks the rival character and both of their partners if present.
	1		3		Occasionally transforms into Bowser and does triple damage; otherwise, does nothing.

Battle Royale Boards

In Story Mode, the player's character faces three random characters on these boards to earn Star Stamps.

• Chilly Waters - 3 Random Characters, except for Luigi or Wario
• Deep Bloober Sea - 3 Random Characters except for Luigi or Yoshi
• Spiny Desert - 3 Random Characters except for Donkey Kong or Luigi
• Woody Woods - 3 Random Characters except for Luigi or Peach
• Creepy Cavern - 3 Random Characters except for Mario or Luigi
• Waluigi's Island - Waluigi and 2 Random Characters

Duel Boards

In Story Mode, the player's character faces one particular character (depending on what board the player's playing) to earn Star Stamps. If you have chosen the character of that particular board, you'll face Luigi.

• Gate Guy - Wario
• Arrowhead - Yoshi
• Pipesqueak - Donkey Kong
• Blowhard - Peach
• Mr. Mover - Mario
• Backtrack - Daisy

Items

Image	Item	Coin Cost	Effects
Sold by Toad
	Mushroom	5	Allows the player to roll two Dice Blocks instead of one.
	Cellular Shopper		Allows the player to call Toad or Baby Bowser's shop at any time. Daisy's favorite item.
	Warp Block		Switches the user and another random player's positions. Yoshi's favorite item.
	Dueling Glove	10	Allows the player to duel anyone they want in a Duel minigame. Wario's favorite item.
	Golden Mushroom		Allows the player to roll three Dice Blocks instead of one or two. Mario's favorite item.
	Boo Repellent		Protects the player from getting coins or stars stolen by Boo.
	Magic Lamp	20	Summons the Mushroom Genie, who takes the player directly to the star (the player still needs to pay 20 Coins for the Star though).
Sold by Baby Bowser
	Reverse Mushroom	5	Makes the player affected by it go backwards the next turn. This item can be used by anyone, including the user itself. DK's favorite item.
	Poison Mushroom		Only lets the player affected by it roll a 1, 2, or 3. This item can be used by anyone, including the user itself. Waluigi's favorite item.
	Bowser Phone	10	Allows the player to call Bowser at any time to harm a player (including the user itself).
	Bowser Suit		Makes the player a dress resembling Bowser. Anyone the player passes will lose 20 Coins to that player.
	Lucky Lamp		Summons the Mushroom Jeanie, who will move the Star to a different location.
	Plunder Chest		Steals a random item from a player. Peach's favorite item.
	Boo Bell	15	Allows the player to call Boo at any time to steal coins or stars from a certain player.
Sold by Both
	Skeleton Key	5	Allows the player to pass through special gates that only a player with the key can enter. Luigi's favorite item.
	Item Bag	30	Gives the player three random items (can include rare items).
Rare Items
	Wacky Watch	N/A	Advances the game to the Last Five Turns. Can either be used to shorten or extend the game.
	Barter Box		Swaps all the items of the user with another player.
	Koopa Kard		Allows the player to earn all the coins deposited into the Koopa Bank simply by passing it.
	Lucky Charm		Forces a player to play a Game Guy minigame (can be the player itself).

Trivia

• This is the first Mario Party game to feature Story Mode.
• This is the first Mario Party game to feature Daisy and Waluigi as playable characters.
• This is the final installment in the Mario Party series:
  • to be released for the Nintendo 64. (The next installment --Mario Party 4-- was released on the Nintendo GameCube.)
  • to use unique pictures and/or icons for difficulties. (In the original Mario Party and Mario Party 2, the lowest difficulty --Easy-- was a blue mushroom, the second difficulty --Normal-- was a yellow circle, and the highest of the three --Hard-- was a red star. "Super Hard" --only playable in Minigame Mode-- was a rainbow colored star. In this installment --Mario Party 3-- it is a colored star for all difficulties. The lowest difficulty --Easy-- is a blue star, the second difficulty --Normal-- is an orange star, the middle difficulty --Hard-- is a pink star, and the highest one --Super Hard-- is red.)
    • In Mario Party 4 through 8, all difficulties use colored words (blue for the lowest difficulty, green for the second one, red for the middle, and purple for the highest). In Mario Party DS, it still uses colored difficulties, but it is a word in black (and in a colored box). (The lowest difficulty uses a blue box, the second one uses a green box, the middle uses a yellow box, and the highest uses a red box.) And in Mario Party 9 and onward, difficulties are only shown in boxes with a word inside it.
    • Unlike in Mario Party 2, the highest difficulty (in this game and onward) is playable on all modes. In this installment (Mario Party 3), it can be unlocked by completing Story Mode on Hard.
      • This works the same way in both Mario Party 4 and 5. The highest difficulty can be unlocked by completing Story Mode on Hard. In Mario Party 6 through 8, it is usually bought at a "shopping mode" (Stars/Mario Party Points in Mario Party 6 and 7 and Carnival Cards in Mario Party 8).
    • And by extension, the highest difficulty has a unique name in both this installment (along with the previous one Mario Party 2). It is known as "Super Hard". In Mario Party 4 it is known as "Expert", in Mario Party 5 it is known as "Intense", in Mario Party 6 and 7 it is known as "Brutal", in Mario Party 8 it is known as "Very Hard", in Mario Party DS it is known as "Expert" (back to its old name from Mario Party 4), and in Mario Party 9 and onward it is known as "Master".
• This is Princess Daisy's fourth appearance in a Mario game. Her first three were in Super Mario Land for the Game Boy, NES Open Tournament Golf for the NES and Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64.
  • It is also her only Mario Party appearance in her original design, with Peach sharing this distinction as her last such Mario Party in her original design; both received new dresses (and Daisy got shorter hair) by the time Mario Party 4 was released.
• This is Waluigi's second appearance in a Mario game. His first was in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64.
  • Waluigi, on a rare occasion, plays the main villainous role instead of Bowser. He plays the villainous role in Story Mode.
  • This also makes this the first Mario Party game to have new playable characters (as Mario Party was the first game, and Mario Party 2 only had the same characters from Mario Party, with no new ones added to it).  Every new console Mario Party game since, except for Mario Party 4, would add new characters to the roster.
• Waluigi is also the only playable character in Mario Party 3 who has a board named after him.
  • The first Mario Party had this for all six, plus a Bowser board (that Waluigi's board replaces for 3).
• Counting the Duel Mode's boards, Mario Party 3 has more boards than any other Mario Party game.
• This is the first Mario Party game to feature three different save files.
• Daisy and Waluigi are the only playable characters in this game to have their own theme music.

Quotes

To view Mario Party 3's quotes click here.

Gallery

To view Mario Party 3's image gallery, click here.