Mario Party 3

Mario Party 3
North American boxart
Developer(s)	Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Composer(s)	Ichiro Shimakura
Series	Mario Party
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Release date(s)	JP December 7, 2000 NA May 7, 2001 EU November 16, 2001 AUS September 3, 2001
Genre(s)	Party
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: G ESRB: E

Mario Party 3 (マリオパーティ 3, Mario Pāti Surī^?) is the third in a series of board game style video games for Nintendo platforms, featuring popular Nintendo characters. It was released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan on December 7, 2000, following a North American release on May 7, 2001. It was released in Australia on September 3, 2001 and in Europe as the final PAL-region Nintendo 64 game on November 16, 2001. It is the eighth Mario game for the Nintendo 64.^{[citation needed]}

Mario Party 3 is the third and final Mario Party title for the Nintendo 64. The player can choose between eight playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, and newcomers Waluigi and Princess Daisy. Mario Party 3 features duel maps, in which two players try to lower each other's stamina to zero using non-playable characters such as Chain Chomps. It is the first Mario Party game to feature Luigi's main voice and also is the last Mario game where Princess Daisy's appearance includes a yellow and white dress and long hair, as well as the last Mario game (until New Super Mario Bros. Wii) in which Yoshi's "record-scratching" voice is used. It is also the first Mario Party game to have multiple save slots. Mario Party 3 is followed by Mario Party 4.

Gameplay

Mario Party 3 is a party game where the player can now play a duel board with up to two people, and there are 8 characters in the game. This is also the first game to feature twelve game boards. The objective in Mario Party 3, as in the other games, is to move the player's character around the board and collect coins and stars. The player with the most stars (and most coins if stars are tied [if both stars and coins are tied, a dice block decides the game]) at the end of the game wins. Coins are found on many spaces on the board and also earned in mini-games. Stars are found on the board for purchase and can also be acquired through certain items or special events.

Players take turns moving around the board by hitting a dice block, the game's equivalent of rolling a die. The character moves the given number of spaces and may trigger special actions or events by passing or landing on certain spaces. After all four characters have moved, a mini-game begins. Mini-games can also be triggered by certain special event spaces.

This game introduces Story Mode to the series, in which one player starts a campaign through every board, challenging computer controlled opponents at a shortened version of party mode. The player's objective is to defeat the other characters and earn stamps from the Millennium Star. After all 7 stamps are acquired the player is challenged to a final duel with the Millennium Star. This mini-game is called the Star Dust Battle in which the player must hit the Millennium Star 3 times (6 times on Normal difficulty, and 9 times on Hard difficulty) with stars in order to defeat story mode. When this has been accomplished, a title representing the player's overall progress in the game is awarded. If at least 8 "S" ranks are acquired, that character becomes a 'Miracle Star" and the Game Guy Room in the Mini Game House is opened for use. Simply beating the Story Mode and not earning a high title will cause the character's face to be sculpted into the mountain.

The game, as usual, contains a standard party mode in which four players play through a board. Princess Daisy was the only Nintendo main character to not have a board named after her (i.e. "Peach's Birthday Cake"). Mario Party 3 and Mario Tennis 64 were the only times Daisy still had her "Classic" look.

Battle mini-games are featured here as in Mario Party 2. These games are like the 4-player games, but generally more elaborate. Battle games are usually tense because every player has to put a certain number of coins (10, 20, 30, 50, or sometimes 0, in which the battle is cancelled) into a pot. First place gets 70% of the pot, second place gets 30%, and a random player gets any coins lost in rounding.

Duel games pit two players against each other. These are engaged through a Dueling Glove and in the last 5 turns in the game where if a player lands on the same space as another a duel is initiated. In Party Mode, one player initiates the duel, and bet coins against another player. The winner of the duel wins all of the coins in the bet. There is an option to turn off duels that contain only computer players.

Every game in the Mario Party series contains 50 to 80 mini-games of a few different types. Four-player games are a free-for-all in which all players compete against each other. 2-on-2 and 1-on-3 mini-games put players in groups, so they have to cooperate in the mini-game to win, even though they are against each other in the main game. In most situations, winners of these games make 10 coins each.

New (and exclusive) to this edition are Game Guy mini-games. When a character landed on a Game Guy space, he/she is forced to surrender all of his/her coins and play a chance-based mini-game. If the game is won, the coins of the character are multiplied, usually twofold, but in one of the games, it is possible to win up to 64-fold. However, if the game is lost, then the character will not receive his/her coins back. These games proved to be unpopular and were not continued in subsequent Mario Party games.

Development

Like all games in the Mario Party franchise, Mario Party 3 was developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. It is the first Mario Party game to feature Luigi's main voice and also is the last Mario game where Princess Daisy appears in a yellow and white dress, and with long hair, as well as the last Mario game (until New Super Mario Bros. Wii) in which Yoshi's "record-scratching" voice is used. It is also the first Mario Party game to have multiple save slots.

On August 9, 2000, Nintendo Power Source updated its website with details on Mario Party 3 to be featured at the firm's Space World show, which happened on August 24 at a pre-event press briefing. Nintendo Power Source posted only one screenshot of the game on there site at the time.^[1] Nintendo later released 12 more screenshots of the game's adventure boards in January 2001. The game was about 70% completed during the time being.^[2]

Playable characters

Main article: Mario Party (series)#Playable characters

Mario Party 3 still includes Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Wario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong, with the addition of Waluigi and Princess Daisy.

Reception

Mario Party 3 had mixed to decent reviews. Scores included:

• IGN: 6.4^[3]
• GameSpot: 7.5^[4]
• Metacritic: 74 out of 100 (Based on 12 reviews)^[5]
• Game Rankings: 73% (Based on 17 reviews)^[6]

Awards

The game won the Console Family Award from Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences for 2002. ^[7] The game sold over 1 million units world wide, making it the game of the month.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ IGN Staff. "Nintendo divulges specifics and a first screen of the next installment in the Mario Party franchise.". IGN. http://ign64.ign.com/articles/083/083321p1.html. Retrieved 2011-08-10. 
2. ^ IGN Staff. "The Big 'N' has also released 12 new shots of these crazy MP3 game boards. Gotta see 'em all.". IGN. http://ign64.ign.com/articles/135/135245p1.html. Retrieved 2011-08-10. 
3. ^ http://ign64.ign.com/objects/015/015245.html
4. ^ http://www.gamespot.com/n64/puzzle/marioparty3/review.html
5. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/n64/marioparty3
6. ^ http://www.gamerankings.com/n64/374848-mario-party-3/index.html
7. ^ http://www.interactive.org/awards/award_category_details.asp?idAward=2002&idGameAwardType=43

External links

• Official Nintendo Japan Mario Party 3 site
• Mario Party 3 at MobyGames
• Mario Party 3 at the Internet Movie Database