Mario Party 8 is hosted by two new characters: MC Ballyhoo and his talking top hat, Big Top. During the standard game, four different characters compete on one of six themed
game boards. When playing with fewer than four people, players select which characters the computer will control, as well as their difficulty levels and handicaps. The game has fourteen playable characters:
Mario,
Luigi,
Toad,
Princess Daisy,
Yoshi,
Birdo,
Princess Peach,
Toadette,
Wario,
Waluigi,
Boo, Dry Bones, Blooper, and
Hammer Bro, with the latter two being unlockable. Players also have the ability to play as their
Mii characters created using the
Wii's
Mii Channel. Players are given the choice of five different areas: the Party Tent, Star Battle Arena, the Minigame Tent, the Extras Zone, and the Fun Bazaar. The Party Tent allows characters to compete on boards in three types of battles: Battle Royale (four-player competition; one to four players), Tag Battle (two-vs. two; one to four players), or Duel Battle (one-on-one; one to two players). In the Star Battle Arena mode, one player faces off against one opponent on each board in which when they get to the last board,
Bowser will take the Star from the player and they will face against Hammer Bro or Blooper (who become playable characters once defeated) in Bowser's Warped Orbit, then once they defeat the character, Bowser will give back the Star Rod and the player will face off in a final
minigame called Superstar Showdown. When they win the battle, the player wins the game. In the Minigame Tent, players can play several non-board challenges from the minigames. The Extras Zone has the eight extra minigames that do not appear in board-play. These could be played with
Miis saved in the Mii Channel in addition to
Mario franchise characters. Finally, the Fun Bazaar has the player use their carnival cards to unlock minigames and other surprises. In the Fun Bazaar, the player can use their carnival cards to purchase in-game music and character voices. Minigame records can also be viewed here. For general board-play modes, players take 10 to 50 turns rolling
dice and moving across the game board, with the goal being to getting as many Stars as possible within the allotted turn limit. Toward the end of the game, during the last five turns, gameplay is altered slightly. This can include events such as candy or coins being awarded to the player in last place, as well as additional coins being placed on each space. After the game has ended, three Bonus Stars (which can be enabled or disabled as a game option) may be awarded to players for various feats during play. Finally, the player with the most Stars is declared the winner, with the number of coins possessed used as a
tiebreaker. Additional game modes allow players to directly compete in minigames without making use of the game board. Several of these modes tie a number of minigames together, with each minigame won moving the winning player closer to victory.
Boards While some of the game boards are classic
Mario Party in nature, with players attempting to reach locations where they can buy a Star for 20 coins (10 coins in
King Boo's Haunted Hideaway and free in Goomba's Booty Boardwalk due to the distance required to reach the star), others are more varied. For example, "Koopa's Tycoon Town" involves players investing coins into hotels (akin to
Monopoly) in order to earn Stars, with each hotel only providing Stars to the player with the highest current investment. As always, all boards include a number of elements which can greatly influence the course of the game. Notable for this is "Shy Guy's Perplex Express", where the train cars which make up the game board can be re-ordered as the result of landing on a certain space, potentially changing the relative positions of all players.
Candies Candy is the new item that is introduced in
Mario Party 8. There are fourteen candies in all and each one has a different ability. For example, the Twice Candy allows the player to hit two Dice Blocks instead of one, while the Thrice Candy uses three.
Minigames At least once per turn, the game has the players take part in a minigame. A number of the minigames rely on the unique capabilities of the Wii Remote, while others instead require players to hold the controller sideways and use only the buttons. There are 73 minigames in
Mario Party 8, of eight types: 4-player free-for-all, 1-vs.-3, 2-vs.-2, Battle, Duel, Challenge, Extra, and Last. ==Development==