Wikipedia

Mario Party 6

This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 20 November 2024.

Mario Party 6[a] is a 2004 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the sixth installment in the Mario Party series, the third title in the series for the GameCube, and the first GameCube game to make use of a microphone add-on. The game was released in Japan on November 18, 2004, in North America on December 6, 2004, in Europe on March 18, 2005, and in Australia on September 15, 2005.

Mario Party 6
North American box art
Developer(s)Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Shuichiro Nishiya
Producer(s)
  • Atsushi Ikeda
  • Hiroshi Sato
Composer(s)
  • Hironobu Yahata
  • Shinya Outouge
SeriesMario Party
Platform(s)GameCube
Release
  • JP: November 18, 2004[1]
  • NA: December 6, 2004[1]
  • EU: March 18, 2005[2]
  • AU: September 15, 2005
Genre(s)Party
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Mario Party 6 received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the day-and-night system, game boards, and minigames, but criticism for the microphone feature and its perceived lack of originality.

Mario Party 6 was succeeded by Mario Party Advance for the Game Boy Advance in 2005. The next home console game in the series, Mario Party 7, was released for the GameCube the same year.

Gameplay

edit
See also: Mario Party § Gameplay
 
Mario battling Luigi, Princess Peach, and Yoshi in the "Verbal Assault" minigame
 
Mario Party 6 was the first game to make use of the GameCube Microphone.[3]

In Mario Party 6, up to four players take turns moving on board game-style stages, often playing multiplayer minigames to earn coins and stars. The object of the game is to amass the most coins and stars before completing a set number of turns. This is the first game to take out the coin bonus star, replacing it with the Orb star, which is awarded to the player that used the most Orbs. On multiplayer game boards, the sun will periodically set or rise (every three turns), producing different effects. Changes include spaces moving, different characters appearing, and changes to minigames. This is reflected in two new characters, Brighton and Twila, representing the sun and moon, respectively.[4]

All 10 playable characters from Mario Party 5 return in this game: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Toad, Yoshi, Koopa Kid, and Boo. Toadette is also playable as a newcomer. There are 82 minigames in total.

In the game's frame story, Brighton and Twila, the sun and the moon who watch over the Mario Party world, argue over who is more popular. Mario suggests they collect as many Stars as they can to end this.[4]

Orbs

edit

Orbs are special items players can either collect on the board or buy with coins at the Orb Hut. They can be used in many ways to give a player an advantage, such as stealing coins from rivals, hampering a rival's progress, or quickly obtaining stars. In Mario Party 5, these were called capsules. Unlike in Mario Party 5, the player does not have to pay to use Orbs on his or herself and may find coins in Orbs. How Orbs are used is determined by the Orb's type. These are: Self, Space, Roadblock and Special. Roadblock type Orbs are one-use only and trigger when passed. Space type Orbs transform a space into a character space and only work if a rival lands on the space. If a player stops on their own character space, they gain five coins. Self type Orbs add buffs to the player that used them such as additional Dice Blocks. Special Orbs are used automatically to protect players' coins or stars from being stolen from Pink Boo and Chain Chomp, occurrences exclusive to certain boards.

Solo Mode

edit

Solo Mode is where a single player embarks on a special single-row board with a set number of spaces to collect minigames. The player may also choose a teammate (for 2 vs 2 minigames). Also the player plays minigames with the computer-controlled Red, Green, and Blue Koopa Kids. The dice block for Solo Mode only has the numbers 1–6 on it, unlike Party Mode where the dice blocks have numbers ranging from 1–10. At the end of the board, there is an exclusive rare minigame space, where the player receives a rare minigame without needing to play it. If the player goes past the rare minigame space, they fall off the board and lose all of the minigames they have acquired. To win, the player must land on the rare minigame space, or quit (without getting a rare minigame).

Minigames

edit

There are 82 minigames in Mario Party 6. No minigames from the previous installments of this series return. New to this edition are mic and rare minigames. In mic minigames, players must say words into the GameCube microphone to perform different actions. The majority of rare games are usually obtained by stopping on the space at the end of Solo Mode, although one is purchased in the Star Bank. The minigames are divided into 4-player, 1-vs.-3, 2-vs.-2, Battle, Duel, DK, Bowser, Mic and Rare.

Development

edit

Mario Party 6 was first announced at E3 2004, though no details were provided aside from the title of the game.[5] Due to Mario Party 6 and Mario Party Advance initially being scheduled for release on the same date, GameSpot's Chris Kohler speculated that there could be interconnected gameplay between the titles.[6]

Reception

edit

Critical response

edit

The game received "mixed or average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7] GameSpot cited great family and multiplayer fun, but criticized the game for having the same ideas of older Mario Party games.[14] IGN criticized the game's lack of originality and the microphone.[17] In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 31 out of 40.[10]

Retrospectively, the game has been called by some critics as one of the best games in the series, citing the day-and-night system as an innovation that sets Mario Party 6 apart from other games in the series.[21][22][23][24][25]

During the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Mario Party 6 for "Console Children's Game of the Year".[26]

Sales

edit

Mario Party 6 sold 1.63 million copies, making it the worst-selling home console Mario Party game[27][28] and the 15th best-selling game for the GameCube.[29]

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Japanese: マリオパーティ6, Hepburn: Mario Pāti Shikkusu

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c Metts, Jonathan (December 8, 2004). "Mario Party 6". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  2. ^ "Mario Party 6". Nintendo Life. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  3. ^ Kohler, Chris (August 26, 2004). "Mario Party 6 to use microphone controller". Gamespot. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Gibson, Ellie (July 4, 2005). "Mario Party 6". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  5. ^ IGN Staff (June 30, 2016) [May 11, 2004]. "E3 2004: Mario Party 6". IGN. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  6. ^ Kohler, Chris (August 26, 2004). "Mario Party 6 to use microphone controller". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 19, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Mario Party 6 for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 10, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  8. ^ Kohler, Chris (December 8, 2004). "Mario Party 6 (GameCube)". 1Up.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  9. ^ EGM staff (February 2005). "Mario Party 6". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 188. p. 114.
  10. ^ a b "New Famitsu scores ....BURINKUSU > *". NeoGAF. November 10, 2004. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  11. ^ Miller, Matt (February 2005). "Mario Party 6". Game Informer. No. 142. p. 117. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  12. ^ Bro Buzz (December 3, 2004). "Mario Party 6 Review for GameCube on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 4, 2005. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  13. ^ Gee, Brian (December 22, 2004). "Mario Party 6 Review". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on May 22, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  14. ^ a b Davis, Ryan (December 6, 2004). "Mario Party 6 Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  15. ^ Williams, Bryn (December 6, 2004). "GameSpy: Mario Party 6". GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  16. ^ "Mario Party 6". GamesRadar+. July 4, 2005. Archived from the original on May 24, 2005. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
  17. ^ a b Schneider, Peer (December 8, 2004). "Mario Party 6 Review". IGN. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  18. ^ "Mario Party 6". Nintendo Power. Vol. 188. February 2005. p. 113.
  19. ^ "RECENT RELEASES". Detroit Free Press. February 13, 2005. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  20. ^ Hill, Jason (October 6, 2005). "Fresh and engaging". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on July 18, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  21. ^ Douglas, London (December 23, 2019). "The 7 Best Mario Party Games (& The 8 Worst)". Game Rant. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  22. ^ Alvarez, Daniel (June 14, 2017). "Mario Party: Ranking Every Game From Worst To Best". TheGamer. Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  23. ^ Koczwara, Michael (March 23, 2015). "The Best Mario Party Games". IGN. Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  24. ^ Clark, Ashley (August 21, 2020). "Mario Party Games Ranked from Worst to Best". High Ground Gaming. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  25. ^ Lennox, Jesse (January 24, 2022). "The best Mario Party games, ranked from best to worst". Digital Trends. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
  26. ^ "2005 Awards Category Details Console Children's Game of the Year". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  27. ^ "Nintendo 2005 Annual Report" (PDF). p. 37. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 21, 2019. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  28. ^ Ben Parfitt. "Pokémon hits 100m milestone". MCV. Archived from the original on April 12, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  29. ^ 2020CESAゲーム白書 (2020 CESA Games White Papers). Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association. 2020. p. 241. ISBN 978-4-902346-42-8.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Mario_Party_6&oldid=1258666301"