Nintendo Power V275 Preview of Mario Party 9

[TT✘Here]

Mario Party returns with all-new stages and a slew of new minigames, and we've played a few rounds on two of the ninth installment's new areas. The competition is slightly different from what you might be used to. Instead of moving around the stage separately, all players ride together in a vehicle. Of course, only the player whose turn it is reaps the benefits of landing on a particular space.

The goal is to collect as many Mini Stars as possible before reaching the end of the stage. These prizes are scattered along the path, but you can also earn them by landing on special spaces and competing in minigames. Just watch out for the noxious purple Mini Ztars - they remove Mini Stars from your inventory. Adding a bit of strategy are the various dice block that you can find, including those that roll only high numbers or roll only a 0 or a 1. They allow you to better plan where you travel.

The first stage that we played was Toad Road, which has a fairly basic layout. One of the main attractions is a broken bridge that cannot be jumped unless all players roll a sufficiently high number. Failing to do so drops the car into a Mini Ztar-filled canyon. The second stage, Bob-omb Factory, is littered with conveyer belts that change your course. Each stage also includes an encounter with a miniboss and a final boss. In the Bob-omb Factory's fight against a giant Whomp, for instance, each player stands on a rotating platform while attempting to avoid being flattened by the stone creature.

You can't have a Mario Party title without minigames, and there are dozens of new challenges in which to compete. These range from memory games (quickly count a horde of Goombas as they rush into their homes) to tests of your button-pressing skills (tap the proper buttons to climb a mountain) to more-physical activities (swing the Wii Remote to throw toppings on a pizza). With so much to do in Mario Party 9, you're bound to be playing with your friends for a long time.

[Vipsoccermaster]

Good god. This just earns us more information. Bob-omb Factory confirmed. Better get SZ to see this.

[JC Denton]

Good god. This just earns us more information. Bob-omb Factory confirmed. Better get SZ to see this.

Mutha farka, preach dammit
Now we know there are dice blocks you can buy!

[Vipsoccermaster]

This got on to Go Nintendo, by the way.

[SuperZambezi]

Did you type all that up? And were there any screens or anything? Scans or pictures would be nice. 

Does that mean these new dice blocks are the new item system? Does that mean we went from Items > Orbs > Candies > Hexes > Dice Blocks? I just want my normal items back.

[TT✘Here]

Did you type all that up? And were there any screens or anything? Scans or pictures would be nice.  

Does that mean these new dice blocks are the new item system? Does that mean we went from Items > Orbs > Candies > Hexes > Dice Blocks? I just want my normal items back.

I typed it. I don't have a scanner (even if I did I wouldn't scan the page and post it, not a big fan of posting NA Scans, people should support gaming magazines).

Friend of the site RMC over at GoNintendo typed up a summary of the article:

- instead of moving around the stage separately, all players ride together in a vehicle
- only the player who is taking a turn gets the rewards
- collect as many Mini Stars as possible before the end
- earn them by landing on special spaces and playing mini-games
- purple mini Zstars remove stars from your inventory
- variety of dice: high number dice, dice that only roll 0 and 1
- board details: Toad Road has a broken bridge that cannot be jumped unless all players roll a sufficiently high number
- if you fall off the bridge, you enter a Mini Ztar-filled canyon
- Bob-omb Factory is littered with conveyer belts that change your course
- each board has a miniboss and a final boss
- in Bob-omb Factory, fight against a giant Whomp
- each player stands on a rotating platform while attempting to avoid being flattened by the stone creature
- mini-games include memory games (quickly count a horde of Goombas as they rush into their homes) to tests of your button-pressing skills (tap the proper buttons to climb a mountain) to more-physical activities (swing the Wii Remote to throw toppings on a pizza)

@VSM I know, I e-mailed Kevin it

[Vipsoccermaster]

It also got on MyNintendo News, too, lol.

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/01/07/new-mario-party-9-information-in-nintendo-power/

[TT✘Here]

Wow they actually linked to the forum. Rare to see a blog giving some credit to the actual source and not another blog. Nice!