Mario Party 8

Mario Party 8
File:Mario Party 8.jpg
Developer(s)	Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Wii,GCN
Release	/ Q2 2007 [1][2] TBA, 2007 Feb 23, 2007 March 23, 2007
Genre(s)	Party
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer

Mario Party 8 (マリオパーティ 8, Mario Pāti Eito) is an upcoming video game for the Wii. It was announced during Nintendo's press conference on September 14, 2006. It will be the eighth game in the series (ninth in Japan) and the first to be released on Nintendo's new console. The first videos and screenshots for the game were revealed during the Nintendo World event in Japan on November 3, 2006.

The game has recently been delayed until Q2 in North America, as announced by Nintendo on their press website (the game's entry on their website has yet to be updated, i.e. Super Paper Mario, and most vendors have not yet switched their date. However, Nintendo have confirmed on their press site that the game is moved back until Q2. It is speculated by most journalists that this move is to enhance the game with wi-fi features. [3][4][5][6][7][8]

Features

Little is known about the game in general and how it will use the Wii Remote's capabilities to its advantage. However, the following information has been disclosed:

• Characters will let out an exclamation through the Wii Remote speaker the player is controlling, signifying it is his/her turn to play. [9]
• There has been mention of transformers titled "candy powerups" that can affect gameplay. These powerups, resembling the Orb system present in Mario Party 6 and Mario Party 7, will "transform" characters into different things to suit situations. For example, a character can transform into an airplane to fly over booby traps, or turn into a vampire to suck coins from other players.[10]
• The game is known to have over 75 new mini-games that all utilize the Wii's capabilities as well as 6 new boards, and 12 different modes of play. [11]
• Mii's from the Mii Channel on the Wii have been shown in the background of a mini-game, possibly suggesting the re-appearance of Mii's in other mini-games. [12] Mii's will be used by players in the game to customize gameplay even more but more in-depth information on how this will be done remains to be seen.
• Mario Party 8 also includes four "minigame-infused" board games, such as Tic-Tac Drop, where players can put the next mark on the board by winning a minigame. [13]

Story

In Mario Party 8, a circus ringmaster named "MC Ballyhoo" [14] has invited Mario, Peach and the rest of the crew to his new carnival.

Characters

File:Mario Party 8 Mii.jpg

This screenshot infers that Miis are likely to be featured in Mario Party 8, but whether or not they will be playable characters is unconfirmed.

File:Character selection screen.png

The Mario Party 8 character selection screen, as shown at the Nintendo World event in Japan.

Mario Party 8 has been confirmed to have 14 different playable characters in the game. Not dissimilar to Mario Party 7 where Dry Bones and Birdo first made their appearance in the series, two new characters will join the original roster from Mario Party 7:

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Yoshi
• Wario
• Daisy
• Waluigi
• Toad
• Boo
• Toadette
• Birdo
• Dry Bones

The two new characters to first appear as playable characters in the Mario Party series have been confirmed to be:

• Hammer Bro. [15]
• Blooper [16]

It is noteworthy that these new characters both made cameo appearances in Mario Party 7.

Bowser returns as a space, but it is unconfirmed if Donkey Kong has his own space like in previous Mario Party games. Shy Guy also returns in this game; he runs a "candy shop", but it is unknown if he runs all the ones in the game. [17]

Boards

Little is known about the features of the boards and how they differentiate themselves from preceding Mario Party games, except the fact that the spaces are square instead of circular. Thus far, five boards have been revealed for the game. They are:

• DK's Treetop Temple: Players move around the board until you get to the star space in front of DK's statue. He will sell you a star for 20 coins. [18]
• Goomba's Booty Boardwalk: a beach themed board similar to Koopa Troopa's board in Mario Party 4. [19]
• King Boo's Haunted Hideaway: a haunted themed board. Similar to Horror Land in Mario Party 2. [20] [21]
• Koopa's Typhoon Town: a hotel-themed board that has players owning hotels in the format of the classic Monopoly board game (created by Parker Brothers) in an attempt to come out on top of opponents. [22]
• Paragoomba's dreamy island: An island with rainbows,candy shops,gold you must help paragoomba stop bowser from stealing all those stuff.
• Shy Guy's Underground treasure: An underground filled with lots of booby traps where you have to make your way to the treasure.
• Bowser's Warped Vortex: a Bowser-themed board. Not much else is known about it at this time, except that you steal stars from other opponents. The return of the Chain Chomp idea is unconfirmed, though. [23]

Minigames

According to the company line, there will be "dozens of new mini-games, six new party boards and many new game modes". The demonstration at Nintendo World previewed six mini-games with themes such as lassoing barrels, shaking cans of soda pop, catching marbles in jars, a flag-raising race, jet skiing, and shooting targets. Another known video game is a tight rope walking mini game in which the Wii remote is held sideways and balanced. These mini-games appear to make extensive use of the Wii Remote; for example, the Wii Remote is spun like a lasso in the lassoing mini-game. List of some minigames:

Spine fine 1 vs 3 Grabbin' gold 4P heat 'o' hexagon 2 vs 2 Lazing lasso barrel Duel

See also

• List of Wii games

External Links

• IGN Game Page
• Gamespot Game Page
• Mario party 8 in english