Mario Party DS is the fourteenth installment in the Mario Party series, as well as the third installment for a handheld console and the only entry for the Nintendo DS. It was additionally the final Mario Party game to be developed by the series' original developers, Hudson Soft, due to the company merging into Konami in 2011.
Story[]
From the Mario Party DS instruction booklet:
It all happened late one night... 5 shooting stars shot across the night sky and fell to the ground. It so happened that one fell close to Mario. The next day, Mario tells his friends what he found. It's a Sky Crystal!
Just at that moment, an invitation from Bowser arrives: "Hey chumps! I'm throwing a Big Bowser Bash to apologise for being such a big jerk. So I've got a buffet of free grub laid out for all of you. Come 'n' get it! - Bowser."
The Mario crew head to the bash at Bowser's castle and find mountains of delicious food. Free eats can't be beat! Is it too good to be true? Of course it is! It turns out to be a trap...
Bowser shrinks Mario and pals using his powerful new Minimizer wand and grabs Mario's Sky Crystal. Shrunken down and flung far away to the end of the world, it looks like a complete mess for the Mario crew!
Our tiny heroes must find the other Sky Crystals, beat Bowser, and return to normal! They are about to set out on their big adventure to bring Bowser down...
Plot[]
The story begins on a calm night in the Mushroom Kingdom, where five shining objects in the sky fall to the land. One falls near Mario, who discusses it with his friends the next day. Kamek flies overhead the gang, spreading invitations as he rides by. The sender of said invitations turns out to be Bowser, which states that he is inviting them to his castle for a big feast, as apology for his misbehavior. Unintentionally, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong get invitations as well.
Curious, the crew sets off for the castle, but upon their arrival, find it was a trick as Bowser and Bowser Jr. trap Mario and friends in a cage when they enter. With the group trapped, Bowser uses a magic wand called the Minimizer to shrink them all down to the size of chess pieces, and they are thrown out to a distant location by Kamek. This leaves Bowser to look for the five shining objects, the Sky Crystals, in peace. Displeased by the outcome, the gang decides to head for the castle to settle the score with Bowser. The desire to be the one Superstar that defeats Bowser and his cronies causes Mario and his other seven friends to pit themselves against each other for the title along the way.
At the beginning of their journey, Wiggler begs the crew for help, as a Piranha Plant has infested his garden. The Piranha Plant is eventually defeated by the character who becomes the Superstar, leading to Wiggler rewarding them with a Sky Crystal that landed in his garden.
Soon after, Toadette finds and requests the group to defeat a Hammer Bro that was abusing her instruments in her music room. The Hammer Bro is defeated in a drum-off by the Superstar, Toadette giving a Sky Crystal she found to the gang as her thanks.
Afterwards, they set off for the jungle, where they find Diddy Kong, who shows the heroes that Donkey Kong was turned to stone by a Dry Bones. The Superstar manages to defeat Dry Bones in his arena, leading to Donkey Kong's restoration and Diddy Kong rewarding them with a Sky Crystal he found. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong quickly recall the free food promised at Bowser's Castle, and eagerly head off towards the castle.
Upon nearing the castle, the crew find a Koopa Troopa from a library asking for help, as Kamek has trapped his grandfather, Koopa Krag, into one of his library books. The Superstar defeats Kamek at the end of a long hallway, and Koopa Krag is freed from the book, giving them a Sky Crystal as thanks.
Eventually, they reach Bowser's Castle, where they are promptly stuffed in a pinball machine by Bowser and Bowser Jr, the latter using it to mess with them. The one revealed to be the Superstar is taken from the pinball machine to be shrunk again and crushed by Bowser, but Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong arrive, the former unintentionally smashing the Minimizer by knocking it out of Bowser's hands and stepping on it afterwards, the actions reverting the heroes back to their original states.
Reluctant to give up, Bowser reveals one more surprise: the Mega Morph Belt. The device transforms Bowser into Blockhead Bowser, and the aforementioned Superstar does battle with him. Upon Bowser's defeat, Bowser and his son are tied up, Mario taking back the final Sky Crystal he initially found from them. Now in close proximity of each other, they are magically formed together to make a crystal DS, allowing play of Triangle Twisters, the fun challenge mentioned by Bowser, whose desire to have the Sky Crystals being to try the fun challenge. After hearing this, Mario decides to untie the two, and they all play Triangle Twisters together, thus ending the story. Nearby, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong eat the entire feast by themselves, being quite satisfied.
Characters[]
Playable characters[]
| Mario | Luigi | Peach | Daisy |
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| Yoshi | Toad | Wario | Waluigi |
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Board hosts[]
| Wiggler's Garden | Toadette's Music Room | DK's Stone Statue |
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| Wiggler | Toadette | Diddy Kong |
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Board bosses[]
| Wiggler's Garden | Toadette's Music Room | DK's Stone Statue |
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| Piranha Plant | Hammer Bro | Dry Bones |
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Board hosts/bosses[]
| Kamek's Library | Bowser's Pinball Machine |
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| Kamek | Bowser |
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Supporting cast[]
- Donkey Kong (Found in DK's Stone Statue)
- Koopa (Found in Kamek's Library)
- Koopa Krag (Found in Kamek's Library)
- Bowser Jr. (Found in Bowser's Pinball Machine)
Minigame Enemies[]
- Goomba
- Scuttlebug
- Cheep Cheep
- Boo
- Shy Guy
- Whomp
- Bob-omb
- Monty Mole
Boards[]
Board
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Description
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Boss
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Boss Minigame
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Travel through Wiggler's lovely garden, which has been taken over by a ghastly Piranha Plant. You can collect Stars by exchanging them for 20 coins each. |  |
Feed and Seed |
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Explore Toadette's charming atelier, filled with musical instruments. Collect Stars by giving coins to the various musical notes on the board. Each note will ask for a specific amount of coins in exchange for its Star. |  |
Hammer Chime |
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Donkey Kong has been turned to stone, and is holding this colorful jungle board aloft. Reach the Star Splurge Spot and you can get hold of as many Stars at one time as you can afford. |  |
Hexoskeleton |
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This board leads you deep into Kamek's mysterious library, full of magic books. One of the three magic jars contains a Star. It costs 10 coins to open each magic jar and take a peek inside. |  |
Book Bash |
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This board leads you deep into Kamek's mysterious library, full of magic books. One of the three magic jars contains a Star. It costs 10 coins to open each magic jar and take a peek inside. |  |
Bowser's Block Party |
Team names[]
For the Tag Battle setting in Party Mode, each combination of playable characters create one unique Team Name. The list of possible results are shown below:
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Modes[]
Story Mode[]
A solo play that follows the story line of the game. The player has to play on five boards and each board has a boss. The concept of Story Mode is to collect the most stars to battle the boss and after beating the boss you advance to the next board until you reach last board which belongs to Bowser.
Party Mode[]
A 1-4 player mode that lets you play on any board and you can change the settings for how you want to play. There are 3 ways to play:
- Battle Royal
- Tag Battle
- Duel Battle
Minigame Mode[]
A 1-4 player mode where you get to play all the minigames you've played during either Party Mode or Story Mode. The main way of playing is Free Play where you get to play any minigame anytime. There are 5 competitions that involves beating minigames in order to become champion:
- Step It Up
- Battle Cup
- Score Shuffle
- Boss Bash
- Rocket Rascals
Gameplay[]
Spaces[]
Space
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Description
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Land on a Blue Space and you'll recieve 3 coins. |
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Land on a Red Space and you'll lose 3 coins. |
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A Green Space triggers all kinds of crazy events, depending on the board you're on. |
 Friend Space |
If you land on a Friend Space, you get to choose another player to be your friend. You and your friend will then receive 5 coins each. |
 Duel Space |
If you land on a Duel Space, you will have to choose one rival from the other players. The two of you will then play a Duel Minigame randomly chosen by the Minigame Wheel. |
 Bowser Space |
If you land on one of these spaces, Bowser will strike and wreak havoc! |
Star Spot |
This is where you can obtain stars. The conditions for receiving Stars vary from board to board. |
Hexes[]
Hex
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Description
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 10-Coin Hex |
Place this Hex to collect 10 coins from the next rival that lands on it. |
 20-Coin Hex |
Place this Hex to collect 20 coins from the next rival that lands on it. |
 Coin Swap Hex |
When a rival lands on this Hex, the two of you will swap coins with each other. |
 1-Star Hex |
Place this Hex to steal 1 Star from the next rival that lands on it. |
 2-Star Hex |
Place this Hex to steal 2 Stars from the next rival that lands on it. |
 Space Swap Hex |
Swap places with the next rival that lands on this Hex. |
 Star Block |
The lucky player that lands on this Hex can hit a Dice Block numbered from 1-3 to receive up to 3 Stars. |
 Coin Block |
The player that lands on this Hex can hit a Coin Block as many times as possible within a set amount of time to receive coins. |
Items[]
Item
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Description
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Shop Price
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Double Dice Set |
Allows you to hit 2 Dice Blocks. | 3 coins |
Triple Dice Set |
Allows you to hit 3 Dice Blocks. | 7 coins |
Halfway Dice Block |
Hit a Dice Block numbered only 1-5. | 1 coin |
Warp Dice Block |
Warp to a random spot. The space you land on will always be a random Blue Space which has no rival on it. | 2 coins |
Snag Bag |
Steal one random item from a rival of your choice. | 8 coins |
Star Pipe |
Move directly to the Star. | 15 coins |
Block Sensor |
When you use this, a Hidden Block will appear at the space you move to. | 20 coins |
| When you open this bag, all your current items are discarded and you receive a Star Pipe, a Block Sensor and a Triple Dice Set. | 25 coins |
Minigames[]
Main article: List of Mario Party DS minigames
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The North American manual has a mistake on Page 27. It states that during a 2 Player game (the player vs a CPU opponent or another player) in Free Play, only Battle or Boss minigames can be chosen. In reality, during a 2 Player match in Free Play, only Duel and Boss minigames can be chosen. This was fixed in the European manual.
- Two minigames, Shuffleboard Showdown and Chips and Dips, were removed in the Korean release, likely because of the gambling themes presented in both of the minigames.
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| Consoles |  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  |
| Handhelds | Mario Party-e •  •  • 
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