Mario Party 8

Mario Party 8
European box art
Developer(s)	Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Composer(s)	Yoshihiro Tsukahara
Series	Mario Party
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date(s)	NA May 29, 2007 EU June 22, 2007 UK July 13, 2007 AUS July 19, 2007[1] JP July 26, 2007 Censored re-release: UK August 3, 2007[2]
Genre(s)	Party
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: G CERO: A ESRB: E PEGI: 3+ USK: 6
Media/distribution	Wii Optical Disc

Mario Party 8 (マリオパーティ8, Mario Pāti Eito^?) is a party video game, the eighth installment in the Mario Party series, and is the first title in the series to be released for the Nintendo Wii. It is also the first Mario Party title to have the ability to use Mii characters. It was released in North America on May 29, 2007, in Europe on June 22, 2007, in Australia on July 19, 2007, and in Japan on July 26, 2007. It was originally released in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2007. However, some retailers were reporting that it was supposedly withdrawn from shelves because some copies included the word "spastic", which is considered a highly offensive word in the UK for referring to disability. The game was eventually re-released in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2007 with the word now used "erratic" instead.^[2] Mario Party 8 is followed by Mario Party DS.

Like previous Mario Party Titles, Mario Party 8 features Mario series characters in which four human- or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames, and was developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. Mario Party 8 received mixed reviews, receiving a Gamerankings Score of 63%. Despite some of the mixed reviews, after its release, the game sold 314,000 units in the United States in three days, making it the best-selling home console game in the country that month.^[3] As of May 2010, the game has sold 7.6 million copies worldwide and ranks #10 on the best-selling Wii games list.

Gameplay

"Chump Rope". One of the 1 vs. 3 mini-games in Mario Party 8.

During the standard game, four different characters compete on one of six themed boards. When playing with fewer than four people, players select which characters the computer will control, as well as their difficulty level and handicap. Players can also select from five different areas to play on from the Play Choices screen by selecting the Select File screen in the beginning. Here, the player is given the choices of five different areas to play on: Party Tent, Star Battle Arena, Minigame Tent, Extras Zone, and the Fun Bazaar. The Party Tent allows for characters to compete on boards in three kinds of battles: Battle Royale (four-player competition; one to four players), Tag Battle (two-vs. two; one to four players), or Duel Battle (one-on-one; one to two players). In the Star Battle Arena mode, one player faces off against one opponent on each board in which when you get to the last board, Bowser will take the star from the player and he/she will face against Hammer Bro or Blooper (which once defeated are included as playable characters) in Bowser's Warped Orbit, then once he/she defeat the character, Bowser will give you back the Star Rod and you will face in a final mini-game called Superstar Showdown. When you win the battle the player wins the game. In the Minigame Tent, players can play several non-board challenges from the minigames. The extras zone has the eight extra minigames that do not appear in board-play with your Miis. Finally, the Fun Bazaar has the player use their carnival cards to unlock minigames and other surprises. In the Fun Bazaar, there is a place where if you buy it with your carnival cards, the player may listen to music and character voices. Minigame records can also be viewed here. For general board-play modes, players take turns (10 to 50 turns) rolling a dice block and moving across the game board, with the goal being to getting as many stars as possible within the alloted turn limit.

Towards the end of the game, during the last five turns, gameplay is altered slightly. This can include events such as coins being awarded to the player in last place, as well as additional coins being placed on each space. After the game has ended, three Bonus Stars (which can be enabled or disabled as a game option) may be awarded to players for various feats during play. Finally, the player with the most stars is declared the winner, with the number of coins possessed used as a tiebreaker.

Additional game modes allow players to directly compete in minigames without making use of the game board. Several of these modes tie a number of minigames together, with each minigame won moving the winning player closer to victory.

Boards

While some of the game boards are classic Mario Party in nature, with players attempting to reach locations where they can buy a star for 20 coins (10 coins in King Boo's board and in Capt. Goomba's board stars are free because of all the spaces you need to travel to get a star), others are more varied. For example, "Koopa's Tycoon Town" involves players investing coins into hotels (as in Monopoly) in order to earn stars, with each hotel only providing stars to the player with the highest current investment.

As always, all boards include a number of random elements which can greatly influence the course of the game. Notable for this is "Shy Guy's Perplex Express", where the train cars which make up the game board can be re-ordered as the result of landing on a certain space, potentially changing the relative positions of all players.

Minigames

At the heart of 'Mario Party 8' are the minigames, with one taking place at least once per turn. A number of the minigames rely on the unique capabilities of the Wii Remote, while others instead require players to hold the controller sideways and use only the buttons. There are over 80 mini-games in Mario Party 8.

There are eight different types of minigames: 4 player free-for-all, 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 2, Battle, Duel, Challenge, Extra, and Last.

Playable characters

Main article: Mario Party#Playable characters

Mario Party 8 includes 14 playable characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Toad, Toadette, Wario, Waluigi, Boo, Dry Bones, Blooper and Hammer Bro. Players also have the ability to use Mii characters as well.

Development

Like previous Mario Party Titles, Mario Party 8 was developed by Hudson Soft. It was first shown at E3 2006, which the Nintendo World demo of Mario Party 8 had six samples, including Barrel Lasso were players roll the controller like a lasso to grab barrels that are rotating around on a platform which different barrels give different point values, Can Shake which the goal is to shake a can of soda and make it shoot out the tallest stream by shaking the Wii remote, A split-screen game called the Colored Ball Game were players are seated in a ship and marbles either green or purple in color fall from above and players hold the Wiimote horizontally in their hands and tilt it to tilt an on-screen platform that filters the marbles into like-colored tubes, Flag Raise, Jet Ski were players ride jet skis by steering by rotating the controller up and down like a steering wheel, and a 4-way split screen Shooting Gallery which players use the Wii Remote to aim at a target which the bullseye is different for each target.^[4]

Lawsuit

The game had a launch plagued by difficulties in the United Kingdom. Originally scheduled for release on June 22, 2007, Nintendo announced on June 19, 2007 that the British version had been delayed to July 13, 2007, due to a "production issue".^[5] Furthermore, upon release on July 13, 2007, it was then immediately recalled. In a press release, Nintendo gave the reason for the withdrawal as an assembly error, but some retailers were reporting that it was supposedly withdrawn from shelves because some copies included the word "spastic", which is considered a highly offensive word in the UK for referring to disability. Just one month before, Ubisoft had the PSP game Mind Quiz pulled from the shelves because of the same word. The game was eventually re-released in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2007 with the word now used "erratic" instead. A spokesperson from Nintendo said "The offending word has been replaced at code level and the software reproduced. We are confident we have taken the correct appropriate levels and action necessary and in all new versions of the game there are no issues – however we cannot 100 percent guarantee that every copy of the initial batch was returned to us and as such there may still be a small number of copies of the game in circulation.”. Nintendo also confirmed that there would be no change on pricing and stock levels will “remain unaffected for the re-launch.”.^[2]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	63.04%[6]
Metacritic	62[7]
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	C[8]
Game Informer	7.25/10[9]
GamePro	4.5/5
GameSpot	6.5/10[10]
GameSpy	3/5[11]
GameTrailers	8.3/10[12]
IGN	5.2/10[13]
Nintendo Power	7.5/10[14]
X-Play	3/5[15]

Critical Response

Mario Party 8 received mostly mixed reviews from critics. It received a Gamerankings score of 63.04% based on 70 reviews.^[6] It also received out of 100 a score of 62 based on 41 reviews, including 9 positive reviews, 25 mixed, and 7 negative.^[7]

Common Sense Media reviewer Erin Bell awarded the game 4 stars, stating that it's "Still a good kids' party game, now Wii fun!".^[16] GamePro's The Grim Wiiper gave the game 4 1/2 stars, stating "We all knew when the Wii launched that it would be a strong first-party system. The third-party stuff, while interesting, hasn't exactly set the world on fire and Wii owners have been waiting patiently--or not so patiently--for Nintendo to throw open their front doors, Willy Wonka-style, and introduce us to the next magical first-party game.".^[17]

In contrast, Matt Casamassina of IGN gave the game a 5.2/10, referring to the single-player mode as "torture" and commenting on the visuals as "graphics don't even impress as a GCN title".^[13] 1UP.com critic Dan Hsu did not enjoy the game either, which he gave the game a C rating and criticized the game's needless dialogue, repetitive cut-scenes and minigames, stating "Mario Party 8 could've used a lot more of that creativity, however, throughout the whole game. Instead, we get a really disappointing (but, as mentioned at the start of this review, inevitably still entertaining) Wii debut for the series. Perhaps the next game will truly take advantage of the Wii controls through and through.".^[8]

Sales

After its North American release on May 29, 2007, the game sold 314,000 units in the United States in three days, making it the best-selling home console game in the country that month.^[3] As of May 2010, the game has sold 7.6 million copies worldwide and ranks #10 on the best-selling Wii games list.

References

1. ^ "Mario Party 8". Nintendo Australia. http://www.nintendo.com.au/title.php?id=1346. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Mario Party 8 back on August 3rd
3. ^ ^{a b} "May Video-Game-Sales – Nintendo PWNS Everyone Again". TeamXbox.com. http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13713/May-Video-Game-sales-Nintendo-PWNS-Everyone-Again/. Retrieved 2007-06-23. 
4. ^ Gantayat, Anoop Nintendo's yearly tradition continues on the Wii. IGN. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
5. ^ Article Detail - Nintendo Wii News - QJ.NET
6. ^ ^{a b} "Mario Party 8 - WII". http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/935598.asp. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Mario Party 8 - WII". http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/mario-party-8. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "Reviews: Mario Party 8". http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3159905. 
9. ^ "Mario Party 8". http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/EE7E4C34-C59F-4396-8260-0EE3B8BB8A79.htm. 
10. ^ "Mario Party 8". http://www.gamespot.com/wii/puzzle/marioparty8/review.html?mode=gsreview. 
11. ^ "Mario Party 8 (Wii)". http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/mario-party-8-/794089p1.html. 
12. ^ "Mario Party 8". http://gametrailers.com/gamereview.php?id=3394. 
13. ^ ^{a b} "Mario Party 8 Review". http://wii.ign.com/articles/792/792495p1.html. 
14. ^ Nintendo Power 217. July 2007. 
15. ^ "Mario Party 8". http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/1557/Mario_Party_8.html. 
16. ^ Bell, Erin Mario Party 8 - Video Game Review Common Sense Media
17. ^ The Grim Wiiper Mario Party 8, Review from GamePro. Retrieved May 18, 2007.

External links

• Mario Party 8 Official Website
• Mario Party 8 at Nintendo Europe
• Super Mario Wiki - Mario Party 8
• Mario Party 8 at the Internet Movie Database
• Twin Galaxies High-Score Rankings on Mario Party 8