Top Five ‘Mario Party’ Games - Movie & TV Reviews, Celebrity News | Dead Talk News (2024)

Party games and board games are both staple family activities in many households. Games like Monopoly and Sorry! are enjoyed by many but are also notorious for destroying friendships and causing discord among its players. What most of these games lack, though, are distinct faces to help people connect with the game itself. Sprinkle in some of gaming’s most iconic and beloved characters, and the longest running minigame series is born: Mario Party!

Mario Party is a 1-4 player video game franchise that can be played with either local or online communications. Players take turns moving across the board a number of spaces equal to whatever number is rolled on the dice, all in pursuit of the Super Stars. The winner of the game is whoever has the most Super Stars, along with how many coins they have collected throughout the game. However, Mario Party is not that simple – throughout the game, players must face each other in a wide variety of minigames, the number of which varies vastly. Mario Party games have as few as 50 minigames and up to 100 minigames! Along with the ever-present force of Bowser looming over the players, who can punish them just for landing on his spaces, Mario Party makes its players work both with and against other players in order to win. But of the 18 Mario Party games with worldwide releases, which ones are the frontrunners? This article lists the top five Mario Party games based on their sales.

5. Mario Party 9 (2012)

Coming in at fifth place is Mario Party 9, released on the Nintendo Wii. It has sold 3.11 million copies as of June 2024. The game offers seven maps, 12 playable characters, and a whopping 82 minigames to cycle through. Mario Party 9 takes a different spin on the typical Mario Party formula. Instead of each player moving across the board individually, all four players are seated in a car that moves in accordance with each player’s dice roll. Players collect Mini Stars as opposed to coins. These Mini Stars also take the place of Super Stars, and whoever has the most of them wins the game. Alongside Mini Stars are Mini Ztars. Mini Ztars reduce the amount of Mini Stars a player has when they are collected. Minigames occur when the car lands on a minigame space, and boss battles are a new added feature: one at the halfway point, and one at the end.

On its release, Mario Party 9 was met with fairly average reviews. Many praised its variety and graphics, although some worried that such a radical change in both gameplay and graphics would shun long-time players away from the series. It was also criticized for both being too reliant on luck and being too predictable. While some regard it as one of the lesser entries in the series, no one can deny that Mario Party 9’s experimentation with a new format opened the doors for future installments in the franchise – some even on this list!

4. Mario Party 8 (2007)

Fourth on the list is Mario Party 8, also released on the Nintendo Wii. It sold a whopping 8.11 million copies, a massive jump in numbers compared to Mario Party 9. Mario Party 8 features five different maps with their own unique style of play, alongside three kinds of battles where players are pitted against each other in varying spreads to earn rewards. It promotes 73 minigames and 14 player characters, with minigames occurring once every player has taken a turn. Mario Party 8 also introduces a new item: Candies. There are fourteen types of Candies in total, and they provide various effects for the player that acquires them based on what Candy they obtain.

Mario Party 8 had a rough release. Its release was originally scheduled for June 19th, 2007 in the U.K. but was pushed back to July 13th, 2007. While Nintendo claimed this was due to a production error, retailers claimed that it was due to the use of the word “spastic,” which is an extremely offensive term towards disabled folk in the U.K. Otherwise, the reviews were once again relatively average. Critics argue over whether the single-player or multiplayer was the better aspect, but the general consensus lands on the latter. Much to its detriment, Mario Party 8 was considered a “transition game,” since its visuals and formatting were reminiscent of the GameCube. Despite its release difficulties and mixed reviews, Mario Party 8 was one of the best selling Wii games of its era.

3. Mario Party DS (2007)

Third up is Mario Party DS, released, as the title states, on the Nintendo DS. The game sold 9.31 million copies. Like Mario Party 8 it boasts 73 minigames, but unlike Mario Party 8, Mario Party DS only offers 8 playable characters. As the oldest Mario Party game on this list, Mario Party DS follows the original, standard formula of the series. Run around the board, collect coins to buy stars, play minigames, have fun. Mario Party DS’ minigames utilize a variety of features the NIntendo DS offers, including the console’s microphone, motion sensitivity, and the console’s touch screen and dual screen functionality. On the last five turns of the game, the “Final 5 Frenzy” event occurs, where Bowser will help the player in last place by giving them an item determined by a roulette wheel. Whichever player wins the game is crowned ‘Superstar.’

Mario Party DS received middle-of-the-road reviews, ranging anywhere from a 4/10 from Eurogamer to a 7/10 from Game Informer. The one function that stood out among Mario Party DS’s repertoire was its variety and creative usage of the Nintendo DS console itself. Other high praise is directed towards its alternate game modes, such as ‘Puzzle Mode.’ Many reviews stated that the alternate game modes were more compelling and enjoyable than the primary game mode itself. The praise of its console usage and alternate modes is directly juxtaposed to the criticism the game received for not having Wi-Fi connectivity, which severely hampered the game’s multiplayer aspect. The minigames were also cast aside, deemed too simplistic or over too quickly to fully enjoy them.

2. Mario Party Superstars (2021)

In second comes the latest entry in the Mario Party series, Mario Party Superstars for Nintendo Switch. It has sold a total of 12.31 million copies as of December 2023. The game provides its players with 10 playable characters and a massive total of 100 minigames for them to explore. Mario Party Superstars is more a compilation or homage game, as all of its five boards are remade from the original Nintendo 64 Mario Party trilogy, and all of its minigames are pulled from various titles in the entire series. It follows the same gameplay loop as all of the other Mario Party games, minus the car that was used in both Mario Party 9 and Mario Party 10. Alongside the classic Mario Party mode, there is also the “Mt. Minigames” mode, which allows players to freely play any minigame of their choosing without being restricted by a game board.

Mario Party Superstars received overall positive reviews from game critics, receiving several 8/10s from game review sites like IGN and Game Informer. Along with its commendations, Mario Party Superstars was nominated for four awards among four events throughout 2021 and 2022. While it did not win any of the awards it was nominated for, it was considered for the Best Family Game award from The Game Awards 2021, Family Game of the Year from both the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards and the 18th British Academy Games Awards, and Favorite Video game from the 2022 Kids’ Choice Awards.

1. Super Mario Party (2018)

Taking the cake at the number one spot is Super Mario Party for the Nintendo Switch. It has sold a mind-blowing total of 20.66 million copies as of March 2019. It offers its players with four gameplay maps and a whopping 20 playable characters, four of which can be unlocked. With its release came the return of Mario Party’s ever famous turn-based gameplay, something that had not been part of the series for over a decade before its release. The gameplay holds the same concept as the rest of the Mario Party games – traverse the board via dice rolls in pursuit of the star, which can be purchased from Toadette if you land on her square. Each square on the board has its own function now, be it giving or taking coins, warp blocks, or the dreaded Bowser Squares. Each playable character also has their own unique dice block, which allows for various different play styles.

Super Mario Party received high praise from critics, so much so that it became the highest-rated game in the series since Mario Party 2 for the Nintendo 64. It never scored below a 7/10 and was deemed the best Mario Party game in two console generations by IGN. It was nominated for over ten awards throughout 2018 and 2019, three of which it won: Best Family Game Award from the Gamescom Awards in 2018, Fan Favorite Family-Friendly Multiplayer Game Award from the Gamer’s Choice Awards in 2018, and the Best Game/Franchise Family Award from the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards in 2019.

In conclusion, Super Mario Party is the best Mario Party game out of the franchise’s 18 installments. Its nostalgia factor of returning to the original gameplay formula, combined with the ability of different playstyles and multitudes of characters, easily makes it the top Mario Party game of all time.

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