Fantastic news, Mario fans, as Nintendo has today announced that Mario Party 9 will be launching in Europe for Wii on March 2 and in the US on March 11. This latest installment introduces all-new game modes, boss battles and playable characters from the Mushroom Kingdom. Of course Bowser and his gang is the root of all trouble in the game as usual: this time around they’ve stolen all the Mini Stars in the sky, and it’s up to you to win them all back in order to become the Super Star. The game features a new board game mode called Party Adventure, which completely turns the Mario Party rule book on its head by allowing four people to move through the board in one vehicle. Players take turns as Captain of the vehicle by hitting Dice Blocks to move the party forward, hoping to land on lucky spaces. The vehicles also help to streamline gameplay and keep everyone involved. New strategies include finding the best routes and positions on your turn, at the same time as pushing your opponent onto more difficult spots. This game mode challenges you to work both with and against your rivals to compete in exciting Minigames in order to get the stolen Mini Stars back from Bowser.
Mario Party 9 includes 80 brand new Minigames, which will get players making pizzas, escaping from haunted mansions, and even racing snowmobiles. When playing on the board, the type of space that your vehicle lands on determines what type of Minigame is played.
[video=youtube;Tv6PfwvEtjc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Tv6PfwvEtjc[/video]
Boss Battle is another new Minigame, involving up to four players who must combine their powers in order to defeat a series of classic Mario boss characters and earn Mini Stars, leading to an eventual showdown with Mario’s arch nemesis, Bowser. Although this is a team mode, you will earn more Mini Stars according to your ranking and the amount of damage that you’ve dealt to each boss. If you deliver the final blow, you’ll earn a bonus.
Other new Mini game modes such as Free Play and Extras mode, for example, enable you to play Mini games without having to complete a board.
As well as featuring many of your favourite Mario characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario Party 9 will also introduce some characters that are completely new to the Mario Party series.
Source: Nintendo
