Mario Party 7

Mario Party 7
North American box art
Developer(s)	Hudson Soft Nintendo SPD Group No.4
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Producer(s)	Hiroshi Sato
Composer(s)	Hironobu Yahata Shinya Outouge
Series	Mario Party
Platform(s)	Nintendo GameCube
Release date(s)	NA November 7, 2005 JP November 10, 2005 EU February 10, 2006 AUS June 8, 2006
Genre(s)	Party
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: PG CERO: A ESRB: E PEGI: 3+
Media/distribution	1 × GameCube Optical Disc

Mario Party 7 (マリオパーティ 7, Mario Pāti Sebun^?) is the seventh in a series of board game style video games for Nintendo platforms and is the fourth and final title in the Mario Party series for Nintendo Gamecube. Mario Party 7 features popular Nintendo characters. It was released on the Nintendo GameCube in North America on November 7, 2005, in Japan on November 10, 2005, in Europe on February 10, 2006, and in Australia on June 8, 2006. It features 58 new minigames. This game's host is Toadsworth, Princess Peach's longtime steward. It also makes use of the microphone peripheral introduced with Mario Party 6, which can be used in 10 minigames. This game also includes six entirely new worlds (one world being unlocked). Mario Party 7 is followed by Mario Party 8.

Story

Toadsworth has invited Mario and all his friends to go on a luxury cruise around the world. However, Toadsworth invited everyone except for one character, Bowser. Furious at being omitted, the great and terrible King vows revenge. When the cruise ship arrives at its first destination, the passengers discover that Bowser has turned their vacation paradise into a stress-filled madhouse. Mario tries to gain as many stars as possible to end this.

Gameplay

The goal of Mario Party 7 is to gather stars, but each board requires one to do that in a different way. For the first time ever since the series' initial release in 1999, eight players may participate in either Party Cruise or Deluxe Cruise (the 8 player equivalent of the Mini-Game Cruise). Players are split into teams of two and are required to share a controller, with the first player using the left shoulder button and the control stick in mini-games, while the second player uses the right shoulder button and the C-stick.

While a mode for a solo player in itself isn't new to the Mario Party series, this game's take is very much different from any of the past six games. One player competes against another (either computer controlled or human played), trying to complete the set objective on the board map before the other can. Tasks range from collecting a set number of stars to having a set number of coins on a space. Up to ten slots of different characters with different phrases may be saved. Once a player has completed all six boards, they are added to the rankings section, where it shows the players who took the least turns to complete them.

There are many mini games in Mario Party 7. Once again, no mini games from previous editions appear. There are nine types of minigames in the game: 4-P, 1 vs.3, 2 vs.2, Battle, Duel, 8-P, DK, Bowser, and Rare. For four-player and one versus three, there are an additional five minigames that can be played with the microphone. In 8 player games, one player uses the Control Stick and L, and the other player uses the C stick and R. The mini game controls range from pressing a button repeatedly to using the control stick and several buttons. There are extra mini-games which you must purchase in-game to unlock.

Reception

GameSpot gave Mario Party 7 a 6.5/10, criticizing the unoriginality.^[1] 1UP put a D+ rating for its slow gameplay.^[2] IGN gave it a 7/10. GameSpot criticized the game's premise saying, "Bowser looks more petty than evil".

Citations

1. ^ http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/puzzle/marioparty7/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review
2. ^ http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3140697

External links

• (Japanese) Japanese official site