Video Game / Mario Party 5

Mario Party 5 is a video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube in 2003. It's the fifth installment in the Mario Party series.

Continuing from the revamped presentation first seen in Mario Party 4, the game now gives boards a more vertical design, featuring paths and junctions that aim at higher or lower levels. The item system was also revamped: Instead of traditional objects for use, the game allows players to use Capsules (renamed Orbs in later games) that grant special effects. The Capsules can either be used for oneself (paying a small price is required for this) or thrown at a nearby space within the board. Some of the Capsules are reincarnated forms of prior games' items (the Mushroom Capsule, for example, increases the maximum number of steps by letting the player hit the dice block twice), but there are also brand-new items like the Kamek Capsule (summons Kamek to shuffle all players' Capsules to redistribute them), the Warp Capsule (swaps the character's current position with that of another) and a Paratroopa Capsule (summons a Paratroopa who will steal a randomly-chosen number of coins from all the character's opponents), only to name a few. Notably, other capsules have detrimental effects on the user, so it's best to just throw them at a space as a trap for the opponents. As a final side note, the Capsules are received from designated machines for free, since the usual payment is done when you're using them (tossing them onto the boards' spaces is a free action); because of this, item shops are absent in this game.

The theme this time is "dreams", and each level takes place in a themed dream, like a pirate cove or a toy-themed area. The game is hosted by the Star Spirits from Paper Mario, marking one of the few times a character from that series has appeared in a non-Paper Mario game. Since his services as Star caretaker are no longer needed, this game marks the playable debut of Toad, who would remain as such until once again becoming a host in Super Mario Party. Donkey Kong, meanwhile, is no longer playable, instead being turned into a Good Counterpart of Bowser. Landing on special DK spaces will summon him, where he does something beneficial for the player or possibly all players.

In terms of minigames, after the downgrade in their total amount seen in the fourth game (which was understandable, given the bigger priorities at hand during the series' transition from Nintendo 64 to GameCube), this game ramps up the total to 75, slightly surpassing the third game as the record holder for its time.

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This game provides examples of:

• Advertised Extra: Donkey Kong is prominently feature on the cover despite not being playable.
• Alliterative Name: The minigames Chimp Chase, Pushy Penguins, Leaf Leap, Dinger Derby, Coin Cache, Vicious Vending, Frozen Frenzy, Mario Mechs, Curvy Curbs, Handy Hoppers, Berry Basket, Bus Buffer, Rumble Ready, Manic Mallets, Panic Pinball, Bill Blasters, Lucky Lineup, Random Ride, Pound Peril, Wind Wavers, and Sky Survivor.
• Balloonacy: The minigame Merry Poppings has two dueling characters being suspended in the skies with 30 balloons each, and being armed with blowguns. By pressing A and B simultaneously, a character can shoot at their rival's balloons to burst them. Whoever manages to burst the other's 30 balloons first wins; if 5 minutes pass and both characters are still floating, then all their balloons will explode and both will fall down, ending the minigame in a tie.
• Banana Peel: The minigame Mass A-peel, hosted by Donkey Kong, pits all characters in a square area with lots of bananas, but also empty peels. The objective is to gather as many bananas as possible while avoiding tripping with the peels (as that would make them waste time). When the minigame ends, the bananas gathered will be traded for coins for each character.
• Beanstalk Parody: The minigame "Leaf Leap" begins as the characters plant beans that grow into beanstalks. As these beanstalks grow, they have to jump from leaf to leaf to reach the top. The player that climbs the highest within the time limit wins.
• Big Ball of Violence: The victim of a Ukiki capsule gets attacked by a Ukiki forming a big cloud of dust, during which all his capsules are sent flying.
• Block Puzzle: The minigame Hotel Goomba requires each character to go through a three-floor hotel to reach the balcony at the top, which they can do by reaching each floor's elevator. The problem? Each floor has Goombas that are obstructing the way, as do some pieces of furniture. A player can punch a Goomba by pressing B to push them back by one tile and make their way to the current floor's elevator; they have to keep an eye on how to plan that path and see where to push a Goomba onto, or even avoid punching it. If the player flubs their route and the elevator becomes unreachable, they can reset the floor by pressing Y. Whoever reaches the balcony first wins.
• Blow You Away: The aptly-named minigame Blown Away pits two dueling characters in a solid-cloud battlefield in the skies. They're armed with air bazookas, and the objective for each one is to knock the other out by shooting wind gusts; just pressing A unleashes a small gust, but holding it will charge the weapon to unleash a stronger gale. Whoever succeeds at the knockout wins, but if neither is defeated after 60 seconds the minigame will end in a tie.
• Bonus Space: Starting from this game, the series has featured Donkey Kong spaces in boards, which essentially act as the exact opposite of the Bowser Spaces.
• Bouquet Toss: The minigame Flower Shower begins as a recently-married Koopa Troopa couple exits a chapel and throws a bouquet upward, and all its flowers begin falling onto the characters' area. The objective, obviously, is to grab them. A pink flower is worth one point, while a gold one is worth three. After 30 seconds, whoever reaches the highest score wins, and is shown catching the bouquet before using it as part of a new victory pose (which is also used for the Coney Island mini-game).
• Button Mashing: The aptly-named minigame Button Mashers has two dueling characters press repeatedly a different button for each falling block to hold them with their hands and avoid getting crushed by them, and each button that is indicated has to be pressed at the same time. Whoever fails to keep the pace will lose the minigame, rendering the other victorious.
• Camera Abuse: Head Waiter, a minigame, has two players passing a Bowser-shaped bomb to each other until it explodes. When it does, the character holding it flies into the screen, causing the camera to tilt... and it even stays that way when the other character celebrates their victory. See for yourself!
• Circle of Standing Stones: The minigame Beam Team takes place within a circle of Stonehenge-inspired stone archs. In it, a character has to dodge the attempts of abduction from the other characters (who are driving UFOs). Neither the solo character nor the rival trio can leave this area, which makes it a cramped experience for all of them (for one, if two UFO drivers clash, they'll be stunned temporarily, wasting precious time). If the solo character avoids being abducted after 30 seconds, they'll win. Otherwise, the rival trio wins.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: In the final phase of his Final Boss battle, Bowser consumes a potion that causes him to grow to Giga Bowser-proportions… only to crash through the floor and get stuck.
• Combat Stilettos: There are a few mini-games that involve fighting, such as Fish Upon a Star. Peach and Daisy don't have a change of clothes in this game, thus pitting them in the fights in their floor-length dresses and high heels.
• Commuting on a Bus: Starting with this game, Donkey Kong was demoted from a playable character to a star-giving NPC. He only returned to playable status in Mario Party 10, over a decade later.
• Controllable Helplessness: Submarathon is a 2-vs-2 minigame, where the two teams race each other in Cheep Cheep-shaped submarines. One player must propel the submarine by pressing L and R continuously, while their partner has the ability to make the submarine move its mouth and blink... which does absolutely nothing. This is because the game is actually a tag team effort; should the pumping player get tired, they can tag their partner and let them take over.
• Denser and Wackier: Compared to the already zany previous installments, the game cranks it up quite a bit with mini-games where you are in scenarios like catching falling scoops of ice cream on a dessert-themed Statue of Liberty, climbing a beanstalk to outer space, or swinging a mallet at others in the eye of a tornado or on what is clearly the sun!
• Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud:
  • A particularly whacked-out example occurs in the minigame Twist 'n' Out, where the players end up inside a giant Tweester, and with hammers try to whack each other to the funnel winds surrounding them in order to eliminate them.
  • In the minigame Wind Wavers, two dueling characters are trying to run away from a giant Tweester while riding clouds, which they have to move by repeatedly waving fans at the Tweester. As time passes, the Tweester's pull strength will increase, so eventually one of the characters will be absorbed, thus rendering the other victorious (however, if both are sucked in at the same time, then the minigame will end in a tie).
• Door Roulette: The minigame Pound Peril has two dueling characters surrounded by 12 switches in a circle. Eleven of them are hazardous; the objective is to be the first to find the safe switch.
• Dream Land: The Dream Depot, the main setting. All the boards are formed from people's dreams.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: Rainbow Dream lives up to its name thanks to the solid rainbow bridges and slopes that allow players to move across the floating islands of the board (though it's necessary to pay 5 coins to use them).
• Fatal Fireworks: The minigame Rain of Fire begins as Bowser uses his fire breath to ignite a cannon's fuse so it launches a large firework skyward. When it explodes, its debris begin falling onto the characters' area in the form of small fireballs. The objective, logically, is to dodge them. Those who get hit by any fireball will lose the minigame and face whatever punishment Bowser decided prior to the start of the minigame.
• Fishing Minigame: Fish Sticks takes place in a pond with Cheep Cheeps located in the middle of the sea, and the pond is surrounded by a solid border with twelve fishing rods. The characters have to see what fishing rods are being pulled, as it means their lines' baits are being bitten by the Cheep Cheeps, so a character can pull back the rods and capture them. A red Cheep Cheep is worth one point, while a gold one is worth three. Whoever scores the highest after 30 seconds wins.
• Flunky Boss: During the first phase of the Final Boss battle in Story Mode, Bowser will send a horde of Mechakoopas onto the player's character. All of them must be defeated in 60 seconds of less to proceed to the next phase. The caveat is that the Mechakoopas cannot be stomped on or grabbed if they're breathing fire, or else their bodies' heat will hurt the character.
• Flying Seafood Special: The minigame Fish Upon A Star takes place in a star-shaped platform suspended in the skies. As time passes, Cheep Cheeps will clash onto the platform, making it crumble piece by piece, and the objective is to avoid falling down. This being Mario Party, the character can also sabotage each other with kicks, punches and ground pounds. The last remaining player wins, though more than one can win if they survive after 60 seconds; conversely, if the last remaining players fall at the same time, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Funny Background Event: After the Squared Away mini-game, the loser(s) is/are chased by a random herd of stampeding Thwomps.
• Gangplank Galleon: Pirate Dream takes place inside a very large seaside grotto with a waterfall passing through the middle^note and it's not just a decoration; landing onto an Event Space within it will make the waterfall drag the supporting rock downward, taking the unlucky character downward in the process, and part of the board also passing through a pirate ship^note whose Event Space puts the character into a cannon to be launched upward onto one of the spaces having a cannon sign nearby; the game picks which one at random. The grotto also features large precious stones and a dinosaur's fossil.
• Game of Chicken: The minigame Night-Light Fright has the players stopping an approaching Chain Chomp with a flashlight. Whoever let's the Chomp get closest before stopping it wins, but of course you instantly lose if it reaches you. Making things more complicated is the Chomps approach at varying speeds. Do you turn early, or let it come a little closer, hoping it doesn't get a sudden burst of speed...
• Grenade Hot Potato: One of the modes in the special minigame Beach Volleyball has the series's native Bob-ombs be used as the balls, with their countdown approaching zero with each pass.
• Ground Pound: There are many minigames where you can perform this move, but the most explicit instance is in the minigame Ground Pound Down. All characters have to crush the ground's rocks to reach the bottom and unleash an underground source of water. What makes this minigame tricky is that, while doing a tall jump before the pound allows one to gain enough strength to crush several soft rocks at once, the effect of the pound's height is the same for the harder ones (as they require three pounds each), so it's best to deal with those by performing three short, quick pounds to save time. Whoever unleashes the underground water wins, but if nobody reaches the bottom after 90 seconds, it will end in a tie.
• Guest-Star Party Member: In Story Mode, landing on a VS space will allow the player to fight all Koopa Kids in a mini-game to steal more coins from them than a regular duel. If there's only two left, Toad from earlier will act as the player's partner in a 2 vs. 2 mini-game.
• Hell Hotel: The "Hotel Goomba" mini-game involves the players trying to make it to the top floor of a hotel populated by Goombas. As the Goombas block the paths, the player needs to punch them to move them. The first player to make it to the top floor wins.
• Hot Potato: The minigame Head Waiter has two dueling characters toss mutually a Bowser-shaped bomb. In the eyes of the bomb, there's a countdown that goes down by one each time a character tosses the bomb at the other by pressing A, or by two if they toss it by pressing B; whoever attempts to toss the bomb when the counter reaches zero will be blasted away by it and lose. The biggest caveat is that, after the first few tosses, the eyes' numbers will be replaced by question marks, so each character will have to guess the current number on the counter (as neither can guess what button is being pressed by the other when tossing the bomb) and then decide whether to press A to reduce the counter by one or B to decrease it by two. Lastly, each toss must be done in under 5 seconds, or else the bomb will explode instantly regardless of the current timer in the bomb, making the player holding it lose.
• Invisible Block: The minigame Bound of Music pits two dueling characters in a solid-cloud battlefield in the skies. Above them are 20 invisible blocks that can be hit, some of which are standard brick blocks and the other are Note Blocks; the latter kind is the priority here. After 15 seconds, or if all 20 blocks are hit before time runs out, the minigame will end and the characters will begin rising upward depending on how many Note Blocks each one hit. Whoever got to hit more such blocks will rise higher and win; but if both ended up hitting the same amount, then the minigame will end in a tie. Interestingly, if a player fails to unveil and hit any Note Block, they'll plummet to the ground because a hole will appear beneath them.
• Jump Rope Blunders: In the minigame Handy Hoppers, one character in a pair will spin a lever to move a bar that has to be jumped over by the other character. Each succesful jump yields one point, while being hit by the bar will stun the jumping character, wasting precious time. The team that scores highest will win.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When it comes to the final five turns, Bowser will show the current player ranks and then remark 'At this rate, (leader) is going to beat all of you! If it's that easy, this ain't a Mario Party!', in what can definitely be read as an acknowledgement from the developers of how you can be screwed out of the lead in no time at all in this series.
• Lethal Lava Land:
  • Bowser Nightmare, which is unlocked by clearing Story Mode for the first time regardless of chosen difficulty. The board takes place into one of Bowser's Castles, specifically one built above a lake of lava. Many of the features (including those courtesy of the Event Spaces) work against the players, so they're best avoided. For example, landing onto one of the Event Spaces in front of the far-sided silos (the ones with ceilings shaped like Bowser's shell) will make Bowser come out for a stroll to the other side... while turning all blue spaces he walks onto into red spaces and crushing whoever is in his way (taking 10 coins away from them in the process). Landing onto the Event Space at the northernmost area will make Bowser appear to mount a large flamethrower to burn whoever is in the nearby radius, making them lose all their capsules in the process. And so on.
  • The minigame Revolving Fire pits three characters in a ground surrounded by lava, while the fourth is in the center controlling a fire machine that can spew fire from three sides, and unleash a Ring of Fire when the solo character is performing a Ground Pound. The other three characters must avoid all fire as well as all the surrounding lava. If at least one of the three running characters survives during 30 seconds, then the trio wins. If the solo player manages to get rid of all of them, then they'll win instead.
• Level Ate:
  • Sweet Dream is a huge board built upon several large cakes grouped together, with some of them being made of vanilla and other of chocolate. Certain passageways are made of pieces that appear to have come out of different cakes (one of them, for example, looks lemon-flavored), while the bridges are made of cookies and the ladders are made of caramel canes. There are even large cups of tea placed respectively in the west and east extremes of the board.
  • The minigame Coney Island takes place in the top of a large ice cream cone held by a huge Mario statue, and several giant donuts can be seen in the horizon. The goal for each character is to catch the falling balls of ice cream to make their cones taller (the balls can be seen falling thanks to their shadows in the floor). Whoever gets the tallest ice cream after 30 seconds wins.
• Level in the Clouds: Rainbow Dream is an idyllic, paradisal board that takes place in four islands suspended in the skies thanks to the dense clouds supporting them. Each island is placed in a different compass direction, on top of being at a different height (save for the two in the sides of the middle) and also alluding to a common state of weather. The southern island is the lowest, and hosts an Amp-shaped energy generator that represents storms (and can be charged with a battery wheel to earn Capsules); the western island resembles a plaza with a lake housing water lilies, and receives water from a Cheep Cheep statue that represents rain; the northern island is the highest, and houses a large chapel with beautiful stained glasses that portray clear skies (from left to right: sunrise, midday and sunset); the eastern island as a whole represents a snowy climate, having snowmen and a conveyor belt that turns snowballs into snowflakes for their storage in an igloo.
• Levels Take Flight: The minigame Sky Survivor has two dueling characters drive airplanes (shaped like Paratroopa shells) across a straight sky racetrack delimited with large, ring-shaped rainbows. As they travel, they must avoid the red Spiny balls, as hitting them will cause damage to the planes. If a player's plane takes too many hits, they'll be shot down and the other player will win. If both characters make it to the end, then the player whose plane received the least damage will win. If the amount of damage is the same in both planes, neither player wins and the minigame ends in a tie.
• Luck-Based Mission:
  • Get a Rope is the literal version of luck-based mission. Pull a rope and hope you get the better result than the opponent. Completely luck-based; you don't even have to press a button. It's also a Battle Minigame, so say goodbye to any coins you wagered if you lose.
  • Vicious Vending is a minigame where each character turn a handle to get either a single coin, multiple coins, nothing or a Thwomp that crushes them. There's no way to predict what you'll get after you turn the handle.
• Magic Carpet: The Magic Carpet is a vehicle in the minigame Random Ride.
• The Maze:
  • The minigame Whomp Maze pits two dueling characters in a special maze challenge. The exit is at the right while they start at the left, but as soon as they approach the seemingly-empty central area they'll be obstructed by Whomps who emerge from the metallic ground. Indeed, this "wide" area is a maze whose walls are the Whomps who pop up when the characters approach them, and the key to win is to figure out the sequence of directions to follow in order to reach the other side. Once a player succeeds, all Whomps will pop up to reveal how the maze was like. If no one makes it to the goal after 30 seconds, the minigame ends in a tie.
  • The minigame Mazed & Confused is a labyrinth made of electric barriers, and the goal for all four characters is to be the first to reach the central spot (whose tile is marked with a star drawing) while avoiding contact with the electricity (as it would stun them). The catch? The maze's configuration changes every few seconds, so they must exercise extreme caution while moving around. The first player to reach the center wins, but if no one manages to do so after 45 seconds, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Million to One Chance: This game introduces the Miracle Capsule, which gives all the Stars of the player in first place to the player in last place. However, the huge catch is that this action (which is the the most powerful single action in the series' history) requires one player to have THREE Miracle Capsules in their inventory to activate and the odds of getting even just one Miracle Capsule are very low. To give you an idea of how bad the odds are, most 50-Turn games will only see two Miracle Capsules appear at most.
• Mini-Mecha: In the minigame Mario Mechs, one character is piloting a medium-sized warlike machine, while the other three are piloting smaller ones. The objective for the solo player is to shoot at the other three characters to deplete their Life Meters, and viceversa. The solo player can charge an electromagnetic shockwave to unleash it and cause damage to nearby rivals. If, after 60 seconds, the solo player fails to defeat all three rivals and viceversa, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The promotional items made it seem that Mario and Bowser were running for Mushroom President. The game is actually about Bowser invading the Dream Depot.
• Obstacle Ski Course: The minigame Tube It Or Lose It is a variation. All characters are racing through a snowy racetrack tailored for skiing, but they're not using skiboards. Instead, one character is driving a round motorboat with a spinning spiky belt, while the other three are driving inner tubes. The objective of the three rival players is to reach the goal, while the solo players has to destroy their vehicles with their machines spikes. If the solo player manages to defeat the trio to prevent all of them from reaching the goal, then the former will win. But if at least one player from the trio manages to reach the goal without being caught by the solo player, then the trio wins.
• Odd Name Out: All boards end with "Dream" except for Bowser Nightmare. It's justified, because the standard boards are meant to represent healthy, beautiful dreams while Bowser's Nightmare represents fearful ones.
• Pass Through the Rings: The minigame Hydrostars has all the characters drive motorboats across an enclosed area of the sea. The objective is to pass through five star-shaped rings, each identified with a number from 1 to 5 and following the intended order, and then dash to the goal. Whoever does so first wins.
• Polar Penguins: In the minigame Pushy Penguins, the players are standing on a snowy coast, and then a multitude of penguins (including big ones) approaches. The objective is to avoid being dragged into the cold water by the incoming penguins, which becomes increasingly difficult as more of them approach. The last player remaining wins, though more than one can win if they survive after 30 seconds.
• Pinball Zone: The minigame Panic Pinball has two pairs of characters playing pinball. In each team, one of the characters is controlling one of the flippers, and both have to hit the ball upward so it can in turn hit objects to earn points, including a slot machine with varying benefitial effects. The team that earns the highest score after 60 seconds will win.
• Poison Mushroom:
  • The Cursed Mushroom Capsule is merely the encapsulated version of previous games' Cursed/Poison Mushrooms, having the effect of reducing the possible number of steps after hitting the dice block (this proves benefitial when the player wishes to land onto a nearby good space).
  • Unlike in the first two games, where the Ztar is merely a bogus Star that doesn't add to the count while still having to be paid for, in this game it does reduce the current number by one. Bowser even remarks sarcastically that the character who receives it is lucky for it.
  • Many of the new capsules are meant to be placed as traps in the board's spaces, so it'll be a bad idea if you use them onto your own characer: Hammer Bro Capsule (a Hammer Bro. appears to extract 10 Coins from the affected player), Blizzard Capsule (Mr. Blizzard lands onto the player and eliminates all stored capsules), Bubble Capsule (a Lava Bubble appears to hit the player onto their butt and make them move 10 steps forward while burning all stored capsules and bypassing the Star's space should they reach it along the way), Piranha Plant Capsule (the player is eaten by a Piranha Plant and spit back with only half their coins, minus one if the previous number was odd), and Bob-Omb Capsule (a Bob-Omb appears to explode near the player and make them 20 Coins).
• Promoted to Playable: Toad, after being a host in the four previous games, joins the playable cast. Boo and Koopa Kid also become playable characters, though Koopa Kid cannot be played as in Story Mode. Inverted with Donkey Kong, who stopped being playable from this game onward to serve as Bowser's Big Good counterpart. Donkey Kong wouldn't be playable again until Mario Party 10 in 2015, twelve years after this game first released.
• Psychic Powers: The minigame Will Flower has all the characters attempt to revive their withered sunflowers, and to do so they have to transfer their "willpower" onto them (they do so by aiming at them while extending their arms forward. Whoever manages to fully revive their sunflower first wins.
• Puzzle Boss: During his Final Boss battle in Story Mode, Bowser will attempt to Ground Pound you, and you have to to trick him into breaking the floor this way, like in Super Mario Bros. 3. And then after that stage, the final stage has one of his attacks hitting the residue from another of his attacks to create something that can actually be used against him.
• Quick Draw: In the minigame Shy Guy Showdown, two dueling characters have to wait until the Shy Guy host shows with a flag what button to press so the quickest-acting player shoots ink at the other. If a character presses the wrong button, or presses any button too early or when the host raises a flag showing a nonsensical icon or a non-button letter, they'll have their gun's ink splash their face and be disqualified.
• Racing Minigame:
  • The minigame Later, Skater has all characters skate within a ring-shaped ice course. Whoever completes five laps first wins.
  • The minigame Curvy Curbs has one player drive a cart through a narrow road in a toy-made racetrack, while the other three players are jointly driving three smaller carts tied like train wagons. If a cart hits the road's border, it'll be stunned for a brief while, which becomes a big problem for the trio as they must exercise a lot of coordination to stand a chance againt the solo player (who only has to worry about their own movements). Whoever get(s) into the goal first win(s).
  • The minigame Submarathon has two pairs of characters driving each a Cheep Cheep-shaped submarine. In each team, one character drives the submarine but eventually gets fatigued, so they give the helm to the other character and recovers while resting, and eventually viceversa. The pair that makes it to the goal first wins.
• Rhyming Names: The minigames Ground Pound Down, Chomp Romp, Night Light Fright, Later Skater, Flower Shower, Rumble Fumble, Beam Team, Countdown Pound, and Scaldin' Cauldron.
• Ring of Fire: During the second phase of the Final Boss battle in Story Mode, Bowser will send three rings of fire onto the battlefield, forcing the player to dodge them by jumping carefully and quickly while the rings shrink, enlarge and move in various patterns (including mutual overlaps); their behavior becomes more efficient and dangerous in the higher difficulty levels. After surviving for 30 seconds, the rings leave the battlefield and the next phase of the fight begins.
• Rock–Paper–Scissors: There's a lookalike variant in the "Fight Cards" 1-vs.-3 minigame. The signs are "Chop," (which looks like Paper) "Punch," (looks like Rock) and "Kick," but the gameplay rules are very different: rather than one sign beating another and being beaten by the last, the players on the team of three are eliminated if they "tie" with the solo player, or stay in the game if they don't. If everyone on the team of three is beaten in this way within five rounds, the solo player wins; otherwise, the team of three wins.
• Rump Roast: The Lava Bubble capsule has the characters intentionally inflict this on themselves to advance 10 spaces.
• Sequential Boss: Even without counting the first two phases of the Final Battle in Story Mode (where the player's character simply has to defeat Mechakoopas and dodge rings of fire respectively), Bowser won't go down in only one phase.
  • First, upon seeing the character still alive, will break the TV's screen out of rage and jump onto the battlefield to begin attacking them. He usually runs onto the character to hurt them and spew fire from his mouth, but from time to time he'll perform a Ground Pound onto them; this last attack leaves a crack in the landing tile, so the character has to trick him into landing onto the same tile three times to make him fall down, though this also makes the rest of the floor crumble and take both combatants down.
  • In the second phase, Bowser enlarges himself and begins attacking with his fire breath as well as certain dark stones he throws at the character. If the fire heats the stones, these will turn into energy crystals, one of which can be picked by the character and thrown back at the Koopa King; however, they have to be grabbed quickly as Bowser will perform a Shockwave Stomp that wipes out all stones. If the character manages to land five hits with the crystallized stones, they'll defeat Bowser for good and win the fight.
• Shock and Awe: The minigame Shock Absorbers pits two dueling characters in a zone surrounded by Amps which form an encasing electric barrier. In addition, several other Amps are placed in the central area alongside the characters, and once the minigame begins they'll begin moving in a slow, yet foreboding manner; and from time to time, two or more Amps will form an electric line. If a character touches any of them or their electricity, they'll lose and the other player will win.
• Shout-Out: The mini-game "Rain of Fire" shares its name with a spell from Warcraft. Highly unlikely this is a coincidence, either; one of the localisers previously worked at Blizzard.
• Space Zone: Future Dream is a trio of space stations that are traveled between by using rocket ships and air taxis, or more mundanely blue-colored teleport panels (as the former two require landing on Event Spaces). The south station is featureless gameplay-wise (other than the transport rockes), but the northwest station has an Event Space which invites a player to ride a spinning car to get coins, while the northwest one has an Event Space that invites them to test their luck with a slot machine to earn a capsule.
• Spinning Clock Hands: Clock Stoppers has the main clock spinning until stopping at the time the players have to match.
• Square-Cube Law: In most Mario games, Bowser growing wouldn't normally pose a problem for him. One time the issue of the floor breaking beneath does occur, however, is during the final battle of this very game during Story Mode. Bowser uses a potion to grow twice as large, then instantly crashes through the floor beneath him. The rest of the "fight" plays out with him stuck in the floor.
• Squashed Flat:
  • In the "Flatiator" minigame, any player trampled by the solo player's ball will have this trope occur.
  • The "Manic Mallets" minigame only squashes the losing team (or everyone if a draw occurs) in pancake shape. However, in the Mario Party: Top 100 reprise, it squashes the losing team(s) in the paper-thin form.
• Silly Simian: The minigame Chimp Chase has all the characters retrieve the mischievous baby Ukikis to their color-coded parents (brown, red, blue and white). Catching an Ukiki is tricky enough, due to them running fast, so it's advised to focus on those closest to their breed's teritory. Each Ukiki retrieved is worth 1 point but, after a while, a gold-colored Ukiki appears, which runs faster and can be grouped with any of the four families, being worth 3 points instead of one. The character with the highest score after 30 seconds wins.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: A few minigames take place in snowy and/or icy settings (and a part of the Rainbow Dream board takes place during winter as well), but the most explicit case is with the minigame Frozen Frenzy. Here, players are in a cavern whose walls, floors, slopes and floating platforms are all made of ice, and they're very slippery as well. The objective is to grab the color-coded crystals located in the cavern, and a character can hit, kick or ground-pound another to make them release one of their crystals. Whoever has the most crystals after 45 seconds wins.
• Sphere Factor: The minigame Flatiator has one character ride a big circus ball to attempt to crush the other three characters, who are running on foot while avoiding both the solo player and the Monty Moles from the ground that try to make them trip. The solo player wins if they manage to crush all three rivals, while the trio wins if at least one of them survives after 45 seconds.
• Tactical Suicide Boss: Bowser in his giant form. He can breath fire out, and throw orbs that release shockwaves, yet keeps using orbs that leave behind rocks that can be thrown back at him after he uses his fire breath.
• Tightrope Walking: In the minigame Big Top Drop, three characters are standing carefully over a tightrope in a circus tent, while the fourth player is swinging above them while dropping balls. The objective of the solo player is to knock down all three characters while hitting them with the dropping balls, while the three characters have to carefully move sideways across the tightrope to dodge the balls. If all three walking characters are knocked down, the solo player wins; but if at least one character from the trio survives during 30 seconds, then the trio wins.
• Time Bomb: The minigame Countdown Pound has two dueling characters in an area with two balloons that are being filled with air. Below them are countdowns alerting on how much time remains before the balloons explode. The objective is to do a Ground Pound to deactivate the inflation with the countdown being as close as possible to zero. Whoever is closer wins, but if time runs out for both players before ground-pounding or both of them do the pound at the same time and thus get the same registered number, then the minigame ends in a tie.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Compared to the previous game's Story Mode, Bowser isn't as ruthless towards the Koopa Kids when they fail as usual. He also accepts his defeat in the Final Boss battle, telling the player's character that he'll get better and come back for a rematch before leaving the dream world.
• Toy Time: Toy Dream is a board set in a large toyland made of building blocks, and includes setpieces based on classic toys like trains, clown boxes, toy soldiers and gift boxes.
• Two Girls to a Team:
  • For the third time in the series, Peach and Daisy are the only female characters in the cast.
  • Carried over from the original Paper Mario, out of the seven Star Spirits, only Misstar and Mamar are female.
• Two-Keyed Lock: In the minigame ID UFO, two pairs of characters have to press the UFO icons that match the ones shown in front of them. The caveat is that, for each team, the two correct icons have to be pressed at the same time (each by one character), and doing so grants a point to that team while replacing all present UFOs with the next batch. Whichever team manages to score three points will win; but if neither succeeds at that after 60 seconds, the minigame ends in a tie.
• Under the Sea: Undersea Dream is a colorful underwater biome divided in two major halves: The west side featuring a pearlclamp, a seashell and a large sunken ship; and the east side that constitutes a large network of coral reefs and houses a friendly whale who can shoot a character into a tile close to the current Star for sale (whether the character lands in front of it or behind is chosen randomly). Landing on the Event Space in the ship summons a dolphin that gives the player a ride to another part of the board.
• Useless Useful Spell: The Miracle Capsules. If the requirements are fulfilled, it takes away all of the stars of whoever's in first place and gives them to whoever's in last place. Unfortunately, meeting these requirements are almost impossible. The Miracle Capsule itself is a very rare capsule to get, and to activate its effect, a player will need three of them, taking up their entire capsule space, so odds are, the game will be done before you collect enough of them. To make matters worse, since it gives the stars to the last place player regardless of who collects the capsules, there's no guarantee that collecting them will help you. More often than not, it's just wasting space.
• Vehicular Combat: Super Duel Mode consists of building, part by part, your dream vehicle so you can then duke it out in combat on wheels. Pay attention to the stats of the vehicle and how the individual parts affect the overall gauge of attributes.
• Western Zodiac: The zodiac signs are shown in the mini-game Astro-Logical, where the players have to reach the zodiac sign matching the big one from the upper-front part of the board to beat the others. There's always one replica of the correct sign fewer than the current number of players, so in each round at least one player will be left out and disqualified (the same happens when anyone fails to find the correct sign after 10 seconds), which then leads to the next round with the remaining players. The last character left wins, but if 10 seconds pass in any round without anyone finding the right sign, all of them will lose and the minigame ends in a tie.
• What Did You Expect When You Named It ____?: The Random Ride minigame features vehicles with negative names like "Totally Terrible," "Nothing's Right," and "Difficulties Ahead." Downplayed in that, from time to time, these vehicles actually prevail over vehicles with positive names.
• Worthy Opponent: At the end of Story Mode, Bowser congratulates the player for defeating him, saying that his wish was to fight a worthy opponent and that you made it come true.

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