Mario Party[a] is a party video game series featuring characters from the Mario franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called "CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. The games are currently developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo, being previously developed by Hudson Soft. The series is known for its party game elements, including the often unpredictable multiplayer modes that allow play with up to four, and sometimes eight, human players or CPUs.
After the development of Mario Party 8, several of Hudson Soft's key designers left to work for Nintendo subsidiary NDcube, developers of Wii Party.[1] Starting in 2012 with Mario Party 9, NDcube has taken over development of the series from Hudson Soft. The first instalment in the series on the Nintendo Switch, Super Mario Party, was released on October 5, 2018.[2]
The series received generally favorable reception in the beginning, but as the series has progressed, the reception has become more mixed. The series holds the record for the longest-running minigame series.[3] As of December 2014, Nintendo reported cumulative worldwide sales of 39.6 million game copies in the Mario Party franchise.[4]
Gameplay[edit]
Over the course of the Mario Party series, gameplay has changed to suit the technology of the hardware. There are several game modes available in each of the games, each of which provides its own rules and challenges.