Mario Party Advance

About This Game

Gameplay

The player can choose from four different playable characters of the Mario franchise: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Yoshi. The player drives a car around a game board, similar to those seen in the previous Mario Party games. The player's starting area on the board depends on which character is selected. The player starts with four Mushrooms. Additional Mushrooms are earned by winning minigames that are played every three turns. The game ends when there are no Mushrooms left. The multiplayer Party Mode that was present in all of the previous Mario Party games is no longer available, and it has been replaced by a new mode called "Shroom City". The aim of the game is to collect all the minigames and "Gaddgets" that were scattered around Shroom City by Bowser, by completing quests assigned to the player by the various inhabitants of Shroom City. Gaddgets, invented by Professor E. Gadd, are interactive items such as a Morse code generator and a love meter. The game includes over 120 minigames, including Gaddgets. Approximately 12 of the minigames can be played in multiplayer mode, with the use of a Game Link Cable.

History

Mario Party Advance was developed by Hudson Soft and A.I and published by Nintendo. The game was revealed alongside Mario Pinball Land in April 2004. Mario Party Advance was subsequently showcased at E3 2004, with an original release date of December 6, 2004, which was later pushed back to March 28, 2005. The game's initial release date coinciding with Mario Party 6's North American release date led GameSpot's Chris Kohler to speculate that there could be interconnected gameplay between the titles, though this ultimately was not the case. Mario Party Advance was released in Japan on January 13, 2005, in North America on March 28, 2005, and in Europe on June 10, 2005.