Mario Party DS

Mario Party DS for Nintendo DS is a 2007 party game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. It brings the series’ board-game competition to the dual-screen handheld, with Mario characters racing across themed boards, earning coins, and trying to finish with the most Stars. Released in Japan in November 2007 and in other regions later that month and in December, it was the first Mario Party made specifically for Nintendo DS and remains the series’ sole DS entry.

A standard match supports one to four participants, with human or computer-controlled players choosing from Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Daisy, Toad, Wario, and Waluigi. Players take turns rolling a die and moving through a board full of beneficial, hazardous, and event-driven spaces. The central objective follows the familiar Mario Party formula: build a lead in Stars, usually by spending coins at the board’s Star location, while using items and board events to change the contest. Optional Bonus Stars can also alter the final result by rewarding particular accomplishments after the last turn.

Minigames punctuate the board play, turning each round into a quick contest for coins or, on special spaces, a direct duel. Mario Party DS contains more than 70 minigames across free-for-all, two-versus-two, one-versus-three, battle, and boss formats. The Nintendo DS hardware is part of that variety: some challenges rely on buttons and the +Control Pad, while others call for Touch Screen gestures, the microphone, or both screens. The result is a collection of short contests with control styles designed around the system rather than simply shrinking a console Mario Party to a handheld.

The game’s Story Mode gives the party framework a single-player adventure. Bowser lures Mario and his friends to his castle, steals a Sky Crystal, and uses the Minimizer to reduce them to tiny size. The heroes travel through five boards to recover the remaining crystals and return to Bowser, with their miniature scale reflected in oversized settings and boss encounters. Story progress also helps open up content for other modes, including minigames and extras.

Party Mode lets players set up board games with adjustable turn counts and computer difficulty, while Minigame Mode collects unlocked challenges for dedicated play. Puzzle and extra activities broaden the selection beyond the main boards, and Mario Party Points can be earned and spent on collectible items in the game’s gallery. That mix makes the cartridge useful both for a full board session and for shorter rounds built around a particular style of minigame.

Mario Party DS emphasizes local play rather than internet competition. Nintendo DS wireless multiplayer accommodates up to four systems, and DS Download Play allows several modes to be shared from a single game card, making it practical for a group with only one copy. Nintendo later re-released the game on Wii U Virtual Console, though the original DS wireless features do not carry over there. As Hudson Soft’s final Mario Party project, the game also marks the close of a long developer partnership that shaped many of the series’ earlier entries.