Mario Party 6

Mario Party 6 is the sixth game in the Mario Party franchise. It introduces several new aspects, such as Orbs, a day and night cycle, and the new characters Brighton and Twila.

GameCube

Overview

The game's title screen with the entire Mario Party crew.

Mario Party 6 is the sixth game in the Mario Party franchise, released on December 6, 2004 in North America, November 18, 2004 in Japan, March 18, 2005 in Europe, and September 15, 2005 in Australia. Mario Party 6 was developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. The game was the first Nintendo GameCube game to be packaged with (and make use of) the GameCube microphone. Mario Party 6 was generally well-received, with a 73% rating on Game Rankings and a 71% rating on Metacritic.

The plot of the game involves Brighton and Twila, two characters introduced in the game, arguing over who is the more popular of the two. To decide who is the most popular, a contest is started to see who can gather the most stars.

Gameplay

Mario Party 6 has the traditional Mario Party gameplay. Players compete on a variety of game boards. The goal of the game is to collect the most stars (which are usually obtained by buying them at designated spaces). Coins can be collected by playing minigames. Some minigames differ in that they are being played for stars, rather than just coins.

There are several different types of minigames available for play: four player minigames, two versus two, one versus three, battle, duel, Donkey Kong minigames, Bowser minigames, Rare minigames, and Mic minigames. Four player minigames pit all four players against each other, with a goal depending on what the minigame is. Two versus two is a team-based minigame, with two teams of two competing. A one versus three minigame has one player (typically with a large advantage) playing against the other three. Battle minigames are where each player must give coins that are then awarded to the first and second place players. Duel minigames are between two players, usually for an amount of coins or stars that each player has to contribute. Bowser minigames are almost exactly like one versus three minigames, except with Koopa Kids versus the rest of the players. Rare minigames are also one player minigames that the player can unlock (and are the goal in the single-player game). Mic minigames are multiplayer-only minigames that involve the use of the microphone (usually shouting commands for computer controlled opponents, or to alter the environment).

Toadette, the franchise's first secret character.

Orbs are the new feature that Mario Party 6 introduces. They are similar to the capsules in Mario Party 5, except players don't have to use orbs on themselves. Coins can also be found in Orbs, unlike the capsules. Orbs can also contain a variety of different other things, such as obstacles for other players, power-ups, or even a direct path to stars.

Another feature that Mario Party 6 introduces is the day and night cycle. New spaces and areas open up depending on the time of day (or night). The cycle is meant to represent the two new characters, Brighton and Twila, who are meant to be the sun and the moon of the game.

Mario Party 6 includes the same ten playable characters as Mario Party 5, and even adds a new character: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Daisy, Waluigi, Toad, Boo, Koopa Kid, and Toadette (the new character). Toadette is the first secret character to be in a Mario Party game.

The multiplayer mode is for up to four players. These four players can compete either on a specific game board (for a set amount of turns), or in specific minigames (these minigames must be unlocked through the other modes, however).