Are you ready to PARTY???

Author's Rating:

Pros: great variety of minigames and extras, multiplayer, tons of fun

Cons: no online play

The Bottom Line: 
I recommend this DS game because it is a lot of fun and now it is handheld!

Author's Review
I saw Mario Party DS on TV being advertised at the same time that I was looking for a new DS game to go along with my out-dated games. The next day I found myself at Game Crazy buying this game! I am glad I got it! Mario Party DS is just like every other fun Mario Party game for the Wii and GameCube except this time you can play it anywhere with your Nintendo DS!

~~~The Basics~~~

Every Mario Party game works in about the same way and here is how! You choose from any of the eight Mario characters featured on the game: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Daisy, Toad, Wario, and Waluigi. There are three different modes that you can play in the game and they are Story Mode, Party Mode, and Multiplayer Mode. Each mode has a board that resembles something like a board game. You hit the dice that is above your character’s head to see how many spaces to move and try to earn coins and stars. Once everybody has taken one turn you play a minigame against the other players in many ways. You can play 2 players vs. 2 players, everyone against everyone, or 1 player vs. 3 players. Some minigames are from other Mario Party’s and some are new just for the DS!

~~~The Boards~~~

Wiggler's Garden
This is the board in which you seem to be shrunk down in size and you try to land on the space with the stars to buy them for 20 coins. Once a player buys a star, it is placed again randomly on the board.

DK's Stone Statue
Travel up to the top of a large hill in which you can buy as many stars that you have the money for. I think that this board is the hardest out of the five because of the spaces that will take 20 coins and that doesn’t leave you with much to use on stars.

Toadette's Music Room
Travel through Toadette’s Music Room and you will trade different amounts of coins into musical notes that scatter randomly on the board, just like the stars in Wiggler’s Garden. The music notes increase in value by 5 coins until it reaches 30 and then they drop back down to 5 coins each again.

Kamek's Library
Kamek’s Library is my favorite board on this game! There are three jars that are randomly scattered across this board and one contains a star, one contains a trap, and one contains coins. Once a player finds a star, three more jars are placed.

~~~The Modes~~~

Story Mode
Story Mode is a one-player mode in which you must not only beat each board, but also a boss to get to the next board. Once you beat every board and also beat Bowser, you will unlock a board that you can use on the other modes that is called Bowser’s Pinball Machine.

Puzzle Mode
The Puzzle Mode features original games from Mario that can be played one-player or multiplayer. This is my favorite part about Mario Party DS because it is so much fun and great for people who don’t have friends with Nintendo DS’s!

Multiplayer Mode
Multiplayer Mode is the big thing about this game. The nice thing is that you are not only limited to the regular games but also two additional! You can play with up to three of your friends! Pen Pals is a game where you and your friend try to defeat rivals with giant pens. In Desert Duel you and your enemy will go across a board and try to cover as many squares as you can with your color. You get a point for every square that you cover on the board. You will also find surprises hidden around the board on certain squares such as stars which give bonus points and dice which give extra spaces to move. You can play these games using Nintendo’s handy dandy connection with people close by! I just wish this game offered online play as well! This is by far the best part of Mario Party DS!

~~~The Plot~~~

The only mode that has a plot is the Story Mode. The game begins with a very peaceful evening where Mario sees flying crystals in the sky. When Mario shows the crystals to his friends the next day Kamek drops notes about Bowser apologizing for his bad deeds and they are invited to a “feast” in which Bowser shrinks them and you compete to defeat Bowser.

~~~Overall Recommendation~~~

This game is good for hours and hours of lots of fun! I really enjoy the Multiplayer Mode, although I wish there was online play. Now you have the same great fun as the other Mario Party’s only now it can be anywhere on your Nintendo DS!