A quick look at the new Mario Party for 3DS

Hope you don’t embarrass easily

While some games in the Mario Party series are easily better than the others (*cough* Mario Party 2 *cough*), I think we can all agree that each one has been fun to play. Mario Party: Island Tour for the 3DS is no different, especially thanks to how it’s using some of the unique hardware features on Nintendo’s handheld system.

First the good news: Island Tour will offer single-cart play for up to four players, which means only one person needs a copy of the game. The bummer is that there’s going to be no online play.

Mario Party: Island Tour (3DS)
Developer: Nd Cube
Publisher: Nintendo
Release: November 22, 2013 (NA) / Winter 2013 (JP) / 2014 (EU)

Island Tour will have seven game boards, with around 80 mini-games on offer. The mini-games will make use of all the 3DS features, ranging from motion controls, the microphone, and even AR Cards. In Buzz a Fuzzy, the goal is to hit as many Fuzzies as you can with one arrow. It’s not a simple task as the Fuzzies are all moving around on the screen.

Players will have to aim their character’s bow and arrow by moving their 3DS around in order to line up a shot. At the same time, you need to hold back on the right stick to pull back your arrow. Once ready, you just let go on the stick to shoot off your arrow. You have to wait for the perfect shot, and at one point I was able to nail eight Fuzzies in a row. The person with the highest score after three rounds is declared the winner.

Next up I played a voice imitation game that will make for a funny sight if you happen to pass by a group of people playing it at say a convention like PAX. The mini-game will pick a random character featured in Mario Party that you’ll then have to imitate. For example, if Yoshi pops up you’ll have to make a “HNNNNN” noise. Every player will need to mimic his “HNNNN” noise, and the person that was closest to nailing the pitch of Yoshi’s voice will win.

Note that you don’t have to imitate the specific character’s accent, but despite knowing this I kept on doing it. I have a great Princess Peach voice as it turns out.

I only got a short demo, but my time with Island Tour was pretty fun. It’s not necessarily a must-own for me, but I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to play it when given the chance again.