Mario Party 9
Everyone rides together — a bold new take on the Mario Party formula
Overview
Mario Party 9 is the ninth home console Mario Party and the second — and final — entry on the Wii. It is also the first game developed by NDcube, the studio that took over the series from Hudson Soft. And it arrives with a genuinely radical rethinking of how Mario Party works.
The core change: everyone rides together. Instead of each player moving independently around the board, all four characters share a single vehicle, taking turns as Captain to roll and move the whole group forward. Stars and coins are replaced by Mini Stars — collected by passing over them — and at the end of the journey the player with the most Mini Stars wins.
This co-operative/competitive tension — you want the Captain to move forward, but not so far that they collect all the Mini Stars — creates genuinely interesting strategic moments. Combined with boss battles that end every board and 80 new minigames, Mario Party 9 is one of the most distinctive entries in the series.
The main menu
Bob-omb Factory in action
Story
One night outside Peach’s Castle, Mario and friends are gathered to watch the Mini Stars glitter in the sky. Peering through a telescope, Mario watches in horror as the stars are suddenly sucked through a vortex — up above, Bowser and Bowser Jr. are aboard a spacecraft using a giant vacuum machine to steal the Mini Stars and seal them in containers.
Determined to get them back, the player’s character rallies everyone to set out across the boards to defeat Bowser. As they begin their journey, Shy Guy and Kamek emerge from the woods and infiltrate the group — secretly working for Bowser to sabotage the mission from within.
Bowser and Bowser Jr. vacuum the Mini Stars from the night sky
Each board ends with a boss battle against one of Bowser’s minions. Defeating each boss gets the group one step closer to Bowser himself, who waits at the final board — Bowser Station — for the ultimate showdown.
Gameplay — what changed
Mario Party 9 overhauls almost every fundamental of the series. If you’re used to the first eight games, here’s what’s different:
Shared vehicle
All four players ride together in one vehicle instead of moving independently. Everyone is always involved — no waiting while others take long turns.
Mini Stars instead of Stars
No more paying 20 coins to buy stars. Players collect Mini Stars by moving over them on the board. The player with the most at the end wins.
Mini Ztars
Landing on Mini Ztar spaces deducts Mini Stars. Protecting your lead and sabotaging opponents becomes a constant concern.
Captain Events
When a player is Captain, they can trigger unique board events for that board — affecting the whole group or redirecting the vehicle.
Boss Battles
Every board ends with a boss battle minigame against one of Bowser’s lieutenants. These are the dramatic climax of each stage.
Dice Blocks only
Items are now exclusively different types of Dice Blocks — no more transformations or offensive items. Strategy comes from dice choice.
Linear boards
Boards have a start and end point rather than looping — the journey has a clear destination with multiple path choices along the way.
Captain bonus
The player who is Captain when the group reaches the boss gets a score bonus — so competing for the Captain role matters.
Game modes
Party mode
The main multiplayer experience. 1–4 players ride through a full board together, collecting Mini Stars and battling bosses. Each board takes around 30–60 minutes.
Solo mode
Single-player story campaign — travel through all boards in sequence, with Shy Guy and Kamek as opponents. Unlocks Shy Guy and Kamek as playable characters upon completion.
Minigame mode
Dedicated hub for playing minigames outside of the board game. Includes Free Play, Step It Up (survival), Garden Battle, Choice Challenge, High Rollers and Boss Rush.
Museum
Spend Party Points to purchase vehicles, view artwork, listen to music and unlock content including the DK’s Jungle Ruins bonus board.
Extras
Two bonus modes only available here — Goomba Bowling (Bowl with Goombas) and Castle Clearout (a block-clearing puzzle game).
Characters
Mario Party 9 features 12 playable characters — 10 available from the start and 2 unlockable by completing Solo Mode. Three characters make their playable debut: Koopa Troopa (first time fully playable in the series), Shy Guy (previously only in a Beach Volley Folly minigame in MP4) and Kamek (Magikoopa’s very first playable Mario Party appearance).
The character selection screen
The all-round hero — a reliable, balanced choice for any board.
Mario’s brother — slightly more tentative but equally capable.
The princess brings poise and a determined competitive streak.
Spirited and energetic — always up for a fight.
Greedy and loud — very motivated by Mini Star collecting.
Scheming and underestimated — a dark horse in any match.
The cheerful dinosaur companion — enthusiastic party member.
Confident and flamboyant — a returning veteran.
Eager and friendly — Peach’s loyal aide gets stuck in.
First fully playable Koopa Troopa in the series.
Complete Solo Mode to unlock. Was secretly working for Bowser…
Complete Solo Mode to unlock. Kamek’s Mario Party playable debut.
Bosses
Every board culminates in a Boss Battle minigame — a multi-phase encounter where all players must collectively defeat the boss while competing individually for the best score. Boss health scales with player count. Each board has a mid-boss (encountered partway through) and a main boss at the end:
Mid-bossLakitu
BossWhomp
Mid-bossDry Bones
BossCheep Cheep
Mid-bossSpike
BossBowser Jr.
Mid-bossWiggler
BossKing Bob-omb
Mid-bossKing Boo
BossBlooper
Mid-bossChain Chomp
BossBowser
Mid-bossDiddy Kong
BossDonkey KongThe board minigames for each boss are distinct challenges — some require timing and coordination, others are frantic button-mashing races. The player who deals the most damage to the boss earns a Mini Star bonus on top of the regular rewards.
The boards
Seven boards in total — six story boards plus the unlockable DK’s Jungle Ruins. Each board has a unique theme, unique Captain Events and a unique vehicle. Three vehicle variants are available per board, with two purchasable from the Museum for 200 Party Points each:
Vehicles
Each of the seven boards has three unique vehicle variants — one available by default, and two purchasable from the Museum for 200 Party Points each. The third vehicle per board is always themed after the stage boss. All vehicles are cosmetic — they function identically but look wonderful:
Toad MobileToad Road
Rickety RideToad Road alt
Wiggler WagonToad Road (boss)
Flying CarpetBoo’s Horror Castle
Blooper BoatBlooper Beach
Starship BowserBowser Station (boss)
DK’s Banana SliderDK’s Jungle RuinsAdditional vehicles not shown: Factory Walker, Gear Shifter, Big Bob-omb Bus (Bob-omb Factory), Float Mattress, Boo Blanket (Boo’s Horror Castle), Sub Baleen, Coral Explorer (Blooper Beach), Shaky Mine Cart, Bone Barrow, Chain Chomp Coupe (Magma Mine), Space Scuttle, Shiny Saucer (Bowser Station), Barrel Roller, Jungle Junker (DK’s Jungle Ruins).
Spaces
Spaces in Mario Party 9 work differently — because everyone moves together, every player is affected by the space the Captain lands on. Colour-coded spaces trigger different types of events:
Standard spaces
Grants Mini Stars to the player who passed or landed on it — the main way to score.
Takes Mini Stars away. Avoid at all costs, especially late game.
Triggers a board-specific event — can help or hinder any player.
Triggers a 4-player minigame — winner earns Mini Stars.
Randomly redistributes all players’ Mini Stars between the group.
The Captain gets to roll again and move further ahead.
The vehicle reverses — nobody wants to lose ground.
Spins a wheel for a random positive or negative effect.
Bowser intervenes — usually to steal Mini Stars or cause chaos.
Special board spaces
Landing here triggers a unique event for the current board — controlled by the Captain.
Passing this space triggers the Boss Battle. Can’t be avoided once reached.
Triggers a 2-player Bowser Jr. minigame — loser suffers a penalty.
Items — Dice Blocks
Unlike previous Mario Party games there are no transformation items or powerups — items in Mario Party 9 are exclusively Dice Blocks. Collected by landing on a Dice Block Space, they let you control your roll more precisely. Choose strategically based on whether you need a short or long move:
Minigames
Mario Party 9 contains 80 brand new minigames — every single one exclusive to this entry. They make full use of the Wii Remote with motion controls, pointer and button schemes across five categories:
All four players compete — the largest category. Two, three or four players.
One player against the rest — 3-player variant makes it 2v1.
Two-player minigames against the little troublemaker.
Fought collectively at the end of each board — health scales with player count.
Exclusive to Extras mode — includes Goomba Bowling and Castle Clearout.
Free-for-All minigames
Buddy Bounce Logger Heads Pinball Fall Launch Break Goomba Village Speeding Bullets Pianta Pool Chain Event Skyjinks Skipping Class Mecha Choice Jigsaw Jumble Growing Up Upward Mobility Ring Leader Smash Compactor Peak Precision 10 to Win Tuber Tug Card Smarts Toad and Go Seek Polar Extreme Goomba Bowling Tumble Template Twist Ending Manor of Escape Player Conveyor Ballistic Beach Bumper Bubbles Flinger Painting Bomb Barge Don’t Look Snow Go Piranha Patch Plunder Ground Pier Pressure Billistics Pit or Platter Thwomper Room Urn It Goomba Spotting Magma Mayhem Pizza Me, Mario Fungi Frenzy
Boss minigames
Sock it to Lakitu Whomp Stomp Deck Dry Bones Cheep Cheep Shot Spike Strike Bowser Jr. Breakdown Diddy’s Banana Blast Wiggler Bounce Bombard King Bob-omb King Boo’s Puzzle Attack Blooper Barrage Chain Chomp Romp Bowser’s Block Battle DK’s Banana Bonus
1-vs-Rivals minigames
Ruins Rumble Hazard Hold Line in the Sand Block and Roll Tackle Takedown Weird Wheels Spike-n-Span Hole Hogs Pix Fix Mob Sleds
Bowser Jr. minigames
Mecha March Bowser Pop Double Pounder Zoom Room Cage Match Crossfire Caverns Bumper Sparks Sand Trap Pair of Aces Pedal to the Paddle
Videos
Three videos from our collection covering Mario Party 9:
Gameplay video
Overview
More gameplay
Interesting facts
- NDcube developed Mario Party 9 — the first time in the series’ history that Hudson Soft was not the developer. NDcube had previously worked on the Wii Sports and Wii Party series
- Mario Party 9 is the final Mario Party game for the Wii and the last home console entry before the series moved to the Wii U
- Koopa Troopa becomes fully playable for the first time in the series — despite being a staple of the Mario universe, he had never been a selectable character before
- Kamek (Magikoopa) makes his Mario Party playable debut — he’d appeared as an NPC and antagonist in previous entries but never as a selectable character
- Shy Guy and Kamek start as enemies who infiltrate the player’s group on behalf of Bowser — defeating them in Solo Mode is what unlocks them as playable characters
- The shared vehicle system completely eliminated player downtime — since everyone moves together, nobody has to wait for other players’ long turns
- Board vehicles are entirely cosmetic — the Starship Bowser, Blooper Boat and DK’s Banana Slider all function identically; the variety is purely visual
- DK’s Jungle Ruins replaces Mini Stars with Bananas and requires two full laps — making it the most unique board in the game mechanically
- Mario Party 9 was critically mixed but commercially strong — it sold over 5 million copies worldwide, making it one of the better-selling late-era Wii games
- The boss battle format was entirely new to the series — previous Mario Party games ended boards with a simple star count, not a climactic minigame encounter
- Magma Mine features rising lava that pursues the vehicle in real time — adding genuine tension absent from all previous entries in the series
Reference and downloads
Guides