Mario Party 8

Gameplay

Mario Party 8 introduces two new hosts: MC Ballyhoo and his sentient top hat, Big Top. In a typical game, four characters play across one of six themed boards. If fewer than four people are playing, they choose which characters the computer will control, along with their difficulty and handicap settings. There are fourteen characters to pick from: Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Princess Peach, Toadette, Wario, Waluigi, Boo, Dry Bones, Blooper, and Hammer Bro. The last two must be unlocked. Players can also use their own Mii characters made on the Wii's Mii Channel.

The game has five main areas: the Party Tent, Star Battle Arena, the Minigame Tent, the Extras Zone, and the Fun Bazaar. In the Party Tent, players can compete on boards in three ways: Battle Royale for four players, Tag Battle for two teams of two, or Duel Battle for one-on-one matches. The Star Battle Arena has one player facing opponents on each board. After reaching the last board, Bowser takes the Star, and the player must defeat either Hammer Bro or Blooper in Bowser's Warped Orbit. Once that character is beaten, Bowser returns the Star Rod, and the player plays a final minigame called Superstar Showdown. Winning that minigame means victory. The Minigame Tent offers non-board challenges from the minigames. The Extras Zone contains eight extra minigames not found in board play, which can be played with Miis or Mario characters. The Fun Bazaar lets players use carnival cards to buy in-game music, character voices, and unlock minigames. Minigame records are also viewable there. In board-play modes, players take 10 to 50 turns rolling dice and moving around the board, trying to collect as many Stars as possible before the turn limit ends.

Development

Hudson Soft developed Mario Party 8, as with previous Mario Party titles. The game was announced in September 2006 at a Nintendo event, where it was revealed as one of several games for the upcoming Wii. A demo with six sample minigames was shown later that year at the Nintendo World trade show. Three Japan-only arcade games based on Mario Party 8 were later developed by Capcom: Mario Party Fushigi no Korokoro Catcher (2009), Mario Party Kurukuru Carnival (2012), and Mario Party Fushigi no Korokoro Catcher 2 (2013). These arcade titles borrowed minigames and other assets such as game boards, and ran on the RVA-001, an arcade Wii-based platform.

Release

Mario Party 8 is the last game in the Mario Party series developed by Hudson Soft; subsequent titles, except Mario Party DS, were developed by Nintendo Cube. Nintendo published the game, releasing it in North America on May 29, 2007, Europe on June 22, Australia on July 19, and Japan on July 26. The United Kingdom launch faced difficulties. Originally scheduled for June 22, 2007, Nintendo delayed the British version to July 13 due to a production issue. Upon release on July 13, the game was immediately recalled. Nintendo cited an assembly error, but some retailers reported the withdrawal occurred because some copies contained the word spastic, used by Magikoopa in Shy Guy's Perplex Express, which is considered a highly offensive slur in British English. The game was re-released in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2007, with the word erratic used instead. A Nintendo spokesperson stated the offending word was replaced at code level and the software reproduced, though they could not guarantee every initial copy was returned.

Reception

Mario Party 8 received mixed or average reviews, according to Metacritic. Common Sense Media's Erin Bell gave the game four out of five stars, calling it a good kids' party game with Wii fun. GamePro's The Grim Wiiper noted that Wii owners had been waiting for a first-party game like this. However, IGN's Matt Casamassina described the single-player mode as torture and said the graphics did not impress even as a GameCube title. 1UP.com's Dan Hsu criticized needless dialogue, repetitive cut-scenes and minigames, finding the game disappointing but still entertaining. Morakoth Tang of 411Mania gave it six out of ten, recommending it only for multiplayer with friends, while Cory Moore of the same site gave it seven out of ten, calling it a well-executed transition game. Digital Spy's David Gibbon gave it two stars out of five, stating it was essentially a GameCube title ported to the Wii with last-minute remote controls added. The decision to keep the game in 4:3 aspect ratio with sidebars in widescreen was widely panned as lazy and potentially causing burn-in. Many critics theorized the game was originally meant for the GameCube but was ported to the Wii late in development.