Mario Party 4
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Game Information
Release Date: October 21, 2002
Developers: Hudson Soft
Publishers: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Gamecube
Genre: Party
Players: 1-4

Synopsis
Toad, Koopa, and other party-planning pranksters have hidden birthday presents for their closest friends inside the Party Cube. To win the presents, Mario, Yoshi, Peach, and other Mushroom Kingdom favorites will have to plunge into a circus of minigame trickery. As always, keep an eye out for Bowser and his trouble-making goons. Even Whomp and Thwomp have rockin' surprises for you in their Extra Room. Packed with surprises, wild multiplayer action, and zany challenges, Mario Party 4 is your ticket to a good time.

Plot
The story starts out when Mario and his friends are hanging out near Princess Peach's Castle. At that moment, they all notice a floating gift appeared upon sight. Curious to see what this mysterious gift was, everyone gathered closer to the gift, surrounding it. Then the package burst open, revealing Toad, Boo, Koopa Troopa, Goomba, and Shy Guy that were inside it. Toad then explains that their purpose was to be celebrating one of the character's birthday. Depending on the character chosen, they will have to play n each of the host's custom board maps. Upon winning the board match, they will then have to defeat the host of the game in a custom made game unique to the host. Upon beating the host, they will be awarding a present that they will collect from each host. After beating the 5th host, Bowser appears stating he also has a gift and demands them to play on his board also. Upon beating his board and himself in a duel, they will receive the gift from him and Bowser retreats.

Gameplay
For returning Mario Party players, those players will noticed the changes made to Mario Party 4 unlike the previous installments to the Mario Party series. Player will be able to play 62 different mini-games to choose from. On some mini-games, players wouldn't need to eliminate or beat players, but instead collect as many coins as they can before the allotted time limit ends. A unique feature players will notice in Mario Party 4 is that once they get to a place that has a money bag symbol on it, they will be given a lottery ticket which has 3 different images featuring the different characters playing on the board map. Each player's lottery ticket will be different from each other player. Apart from the lottery ticket, when you enter the building with the money bag symbol, players will be able to play a little game which cost 5 coins to partake in. The 2 games the player will play will either be to scratch a ticket from among 16 different tickets. If the player reveals any number that is listed on the screen will when a set amount of money for the number they got. The lowest number will receive the player with an item instead of coins. The other game is the lottery ball. Players will have to rotate a lever to reveal a colored ball, the ball will then pop out with a random color. The colors vary from white, being the lowest to blue, to pink, then to gold. Players will also notice a change to the items as well. Instead of the mushrooms giving them an extra dice or 2, they will also increase in size as well when using the type of mushroom they posses. If a player is within range of the player using a Mega or Super-Mega Mushroom, the player that used the Mega Mushroom will steal 10 coins from the player that is stepped upon. They are also Mini Mushrooms that allow players to get to disclosed locations via a pipe that have certain goodies within them. There are also certain parts of the board map that have little arrows that only activate when the player passes there when they used a Mini Mushroom. Another new feature is that when players land on a battle space, the player that landed on the space gets to select from 2 different mini-games of their choosing, which really gives the player an advantage if they know wich one they prefer of having a better chance at winning.

Items
Mega Mushroom - The Mega Mushroom causes players to grow tremendous and also allows another dice block to get rolled. When players pass anyone, they steal ten coins from the player they crush.
Mini Mushroom - The Mini Mushroom causes players to grow smaller. It also restricts the dice block; instead of rolling 1-10, it only rolls 1-5. However, the Mini Mushroom can cause players to play Mini Mini-games; plus, they can move through Gates.
Super Mega Mushroom - A Super Mega Mushroom has generally the same effects as a Mega Mushroom except that players roll three dice blocks instead of two.
Super Mini Mushroom - A Super Mini Mushroom has generally the same effects as a Mini Mushroom except that players roll two 1-5 dice blocks instead of just one.
Warp pipe - When players use a Warp Pipe, a roulette that has the heads of the other characters appears. An arrow spins and players can stop the arrow. When the arrow stops on a character's head, the player swaps places with that character.
Swap Card - The Swap Card randomly choose another player via roulette and the player who used it swaps items with the chosen player.
Mini-Mega Hammer - When players use a Mini-Mega Hammer, they may choose another player. Then, the character that player chooses either feels the effects of a Mega Mushroom or a Mini Mushroom on the next turn, though the effects are randomly chosen.
Chomp Call - If a Chomp Call is used, four small Chain Chomps appear and scare the host that holds the star in the star space. Afterward, the location of the star space changes.
Boo's Crystal Ball - When a Boo Crystal Ball is used, a Boo appears and does either of the following: The Boo steals coins from a selected player with a five-coin fee. The victim can fight back and lose less coins by repeatedly pressing A. Or the Boo steals a star from another player with a 50 coin fee. The victim cannot fight back. However, if the victim has a Gaddlight, the victim is protected.
Gaddlight - The Gaddlight automatically protects the player from Boo attacks by another player trying to steal either coins or a star.
Sparky Sticker - hen players use a Sparky Sticker, they place it directly below where they are standing. If any player tries to pass it, the player loses 10 coins plus the effects of a Mega Mushroom or a Mini Mushroom.
Item Bag -The effects of an Item Bag activate as soon as players purchase this item. They receive three random items. If they already have one or two items, the items found in the bag get discarded.
Magic Lamp - When players use this, they summon a Mushroom Genie. The Mushroom Genie then transports them to the star space. However, they still must pay 20 coins for the star.
Bowser Suit - Players can only acquire this from Bowser when they land on a Bowser Space. If they use this, they go in a Bowser Suit. If they pass anyone else, they steal 30 coins.

Graphics
Upon making its debut to the Nintendo Gamecube, the graphics have been stepped up and greatly enhanced. Compared to the Nintendo 64, the graphics in Mario Party 4 are a much better design and clearer than before. The character models also look great in details to the face. The eyes and noses of each character look more greatly defined and have better texture applied to them than they were on the Nintendo 64 which looked more like polygons. The landscape on the board maps have sufficient detail applied to them that look quite remarkable than its predecessors did. The character's outfits have also been enhanced in detail since the outfits look more clearer and don't have that polygon look design than on the older Mario Party series.

Controls
The controls in Mario Party will be a change since it is now played on the Nintendo Gamecube. Players will be using every single button on the gamecube controllers for a variety of mini-games to be played which really is a huge difference since not all the controls were used in previous installments. Players will have to rapidly and repeatedly press multiple buttons on a variety of mini-games while some require the player to use both analog sticks which is a cool feature to use. So players will really have to use practice mode to get the hang of these controls since its on a newer system with a completely different button layout. For any Mario Party fan, they should learn the controls of the mini-games real fast.

Ratings
Gameplay: 9.7/10
Graphics: 9.6/10
Controls: 9.3/10
Overall: 9.8/10

Extra Information
This is the last Mario Party game in which Donkey Kong is playable.
This is the first Mario game to have Princess Peach and Princess Daisy in their current main dresses and where Princess Daisy's hair is short.
After the events of Mario Party 4, Toad and Boo become playable characters. Koopa Troopa and Shy Guy are new playable characters in Mario Party 9.