Mario Party 9

Mario Party 9
Developer	NDCube
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo Wii
Release Date	EU March 2, 2012 US March 11, 2012 JP April 26, 2012
Genre	Party
Rating	ESRB: E

Mario Party 9 is the second Mario Party game for the Nintendo Wii. It was made after a several-year gap without Mario Party games (notable due to the series previously having a near-annual release schedule), with the the previous games being Mario Party 8 and Mario Party DS in 2007. This is the first installment made by a company other than Hudson Soft and marks an attempt to revamp the formula that had been adhered to for most of the series.

Story

Mario and his entourage of friends were admiring the Mini Stars in the night sky through a telescope when they suddenly all started disappearing. It was the work of Bowser, who was working with Bowser Jr. to suck up all of the Mini Stars. The group sets off to stop him, unaware of Kamek and Shy Guy watching them.

Gameplay

Some of the core gameplay of the series is retained in that the game consists of four Mario characters competing in a board game-like environment with a wide variety of minigames. This game distinguishes itself with the addition of cooperative elements and more action. Instead of traveling through a stage individually, all four characters ride a vehicle through a course's spaces. The turns alternate which character is the "Captain" of the vehicle. Different spaces still have different effects, and minigames are triggered only by certain spaces instead of at the end of a turn. Players collect Mini Stars as opposed to stars or coins in previous games, which helps to retain the competitive spirit. There are also Mini Ztars which drain one's Mini Stars.

The stages also contain multiple paths to ensure different playing experiences upon replaying levels. The minigames have more advanced gameplay as well which is closer to action games. Each board has a boss, and Bowser Jr. can also be faced in special 2 Vs. 1 minigames. Mario Party 9 is traditionally split into Story, Party and Minigame Modes.

Legacy

Ten minigames from this game would later be included in Mario Party: The Top 100.

Sequels

The next Mario Party game to be released was Mario Party: Island Tour in 2013. The next numbered console installment would be Mario Party 10, which was released for the Wii U in 2015.