Mario Party 9 (Wii) Review

Mario Party 9 starts with the tale of how Bowser and Bowser Jnr have stolen all the Mini Stars from the Mushroom Kingdom’s night sky and the likes of Wiggler and Lakitu are used by Bowser to prevent the rescue crew from retrieving all the stars. The team changes dependent on the main character chosen by the player -- for instance, selecting Waluigi means that Wario, Princess Daisy and Kamek will be in that particular group. It is then off to the lush greenery of Toad Road where Mini Stars must be reclaimed from Bowser’s minions, with the added incentive of trying to personally grab as many as possible to be crowed the Superstar by the ever-friendly Toads. One of the team will be playing on behalf of Bowser -- in the case of Waluigi’s team it is Kamek -- and if they should win, all stars are transferred to the dark side and the stage needs to be replayed.

To capture the Mini Stars, the team must work its way around the windy pathway, and even up dauntingly high vines that reach up into the clouds, eventually ending up at Bowser Gate where one of King Koopa’s evil allies awaits, as well as overcoming another one guarding stars in a barricaded fort en-route. Which team member moves first is decided by hitting a Dice Block that appears above the characters’ heads and once the order has been set it is time to hit the road, with all four crammed into the one vehicle, moving around the board at the same time. Each character takes it in turn to throw the die, but although everyone moves together, any stars accrued along the way, by passing through them, only get added to the total of the person leading the charge during that move. Landing on a lucky pad transports the current player into an area where extra stars can be obtained, whilst hitting purple clusters of Mini Ztars results in stars being deducted. When red arrows appear during movement around an area, quickly hitting the D-pad will change the route taken, which can help with avoiding pitfalls.

Mario Party 9, as with its eight previous home console editions, the GBA’s Mario Party Advance and Mario Party DS, is all about the range of mini-games available, and there is a massive selection of eighty to choose from during the adventurous route, with the game also taking a leaf out of Wii Party’s playbook by encouraging players to work together at times when heading towards a common goal, yet still striving to out-do each other in the same breath. Boss battles are key to Mario Party 9 as well, this time round, and anyone that felt the previous entries were perhaps limited in nature after a short period of time will be pleased to know that there is extra challenge and fun antics aplenty in this new Wii outing.

Thankfully, playing alongside three computer opponents, although not as entertaining as with friends, proves to be a far better prospect than imagined, mainly because the crew are always kept together, rather than being faced with a situation where the computer shoots off around a world leaving your character behind, and ultimate boredom creeping in. When playing through the mini-games, the controls during the action are usually extremely rudimentary to appeal to all ages. For instance, in the whack-a-mole games, players hold the Wii Remote in a horizontal manner, rather than opting for the usual IR pointer system. This simplicity, though, in no way leads to degradation of fun during levels, rather increasing it as even newcomers can easily jump in without having to memorise complicated button mapping.

To help make the journey to the mid-level boss and eventual end of stage enemy encounter more intriguing, there are special dice to collect, such as ones that only have 4-5-6 on or ones that go up to 10, and other items to speed up the process, yet some hindrances are to be found along the way, such as purple stars that detract from the captain’s running total, or special events on the board, like lava blocking part of the path when passing over a trigger pad. The addition of boss battles to the standard fare is definitely a great one. Take the fight against Lakitu early on, where the four characters must run around on a small platform, trying to hit randomly appearing blocks at just the right to fire Bullet Bills at the Koopa atop his comfortable cloud. Hit the blocks at the wrong time and spiny critters aplenty hamper your progress, so working together to bring Lakitu down is imperative. However, at the same time there is the ulterior motive of garnering more points than the allies, meaning there is a little extra edge to proceedings, especially if the mid-level fort was reached with you as the captain at the time.

Mario Party 9 is packed to the brim with hilarity, sheer delight, and downright addictive gameplay -- something that, on a personal note, I would not have thought could be said, never having been a fan of the games in the past. From musical chairs-like madness, to playing chicken with dice rolls, potentially losing everything, and even a fantastic Bomberman-esque battle arena where the characters sit in a special vehicle that is motion controlled, trying to chase others around, knocking them out; there is a cornucopia of brilliance to choose from in Mario Party 9, testing your skill, resolve, temperament, and even bravery.

Another very smart addition is how the Party Points collected during Free Play can be used for all manner of goodies in the Museum section. For instance, various constellations can be placed in the night sky, such as Jungle Minor (forms Diddy Kong), Princess Major (makes a crown shape to represent Princess Peach), and many more, with fifty in total to open up, all weighing in at 50 Party Points each, with extra points spent by firing off fireworks whilst viewing the restored constellations.

Looking for other vehicles in which to ride during an adventure? No problem! There are twelve extras, ranging from Starship Bowser to Blooper Boat, all ready and waiting to be unlocked for 200 Points a pop. However, more impressively is how heaps of points can go towards opening up key features, like the Staff Best in Time Attack, Boss Rush, or the Master difficulty level for playing against the computer, and even a special new stage. Nintendo has managed to ensure that not only is the main game itself long enough to warrant plenty of time being whiled away, but there are stacks of extras to entice gamers back for an even longer spell.