Island Tour

is a 2013 party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The third handheld installment in the ''Mario Party'' series, the game was first announced during a Nintendo Direct in April 2013, and was released in North America in November 2013, in Europe and Australia in January 2014, and in Japan in March 2014.

Like most entries in the ''Mario Party'' series, ''Mario Party: Island Tour'' features characters of the ''Mario'' franchise, controlled by human players or artificial intelligence, competing in a board game with frequent minigames. In total, there are seven game boards, ten playable characters, and more than eighty minigames to choose from. There are also several game modes, including a single-player story campaign. Unlike with most ''Mario Party'' games, ''Mario Party: Island Tour''s game boards have varying objectives, none of which involve collecting Stars or coins.

''Mario Party: Island Tour'' received mixed reviews, with general praise for the variety in its game boards and minigames as well as criticism for its lack of an online multiplayer mode. The game has sold 2.95 million units worldwide, making it both the 24th-best-selling game for the Nintendo 3DS and a Nintendo Selects title. ''Mario Party: Island Tour'' was succeeded by ''Mario Party 10'' for the Wii U in 2015.

Gameplay

''Mario Party: Island Tour'' is a party video game similar to previous installments in the ''Mario Party'' series, wherein two to four players compete in a virtual board game. Players roll dice or use cards to advance on a game board, with the space each player lands on potentially triggering an event or minigame. The game features a total of 81 minigames, all of which are brand-new four-player free-for-alls. A few minigames require the use of augmented reality cards, StreetPass, or the Nintendo 3DS's built-in microphone, gyroscope, or touch screen controls.

In addition to being played throughout parties, minigames can be played in three separate game modes. One of the game modes, Time Attack, tasks the player with completing the same set of 10 minigames as quickly as possible, while another mode, Hot-Air Hijinks, features players competing to win three, five, or seven minigames before their rivals. There is also a free play mode, in which the player can freely select which minigames to play.

''Mario Party: Island Tour'' offers seven game boards, most of which are hosted by Toad. Each board is rated based on skill, luck, and number of minigames. Additionally, an expected play time is shown for each board. One of the game boards can be unlocked by completing five of the other boards, while another can only be played with three or four human players. The boards have unique gimmicks and different rulesets, forgoing the series's traditional win condition, which revolves around Star and coin totals. For instance, on one of the boards, Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain, players climb a mountain and hide in caves to avoid a Banzai Bill, which is launched whenever its icon is rolled, reducing the progress of anyone in its path. Another board, Bowser's Peculiar Peak, features players attempting to finish in last place rather than first. On the Kamek's Carpet Ride board, players use cards instead of dice to progress. On most of the boards, players race to the finish, collecting and using items to increase their chances of winning by enhancing the number of spaces moved or hindering opponents. Although the Mini Star system introduced in ''Mario Party 9'' returns, it is exclusive to one game board, and characters once again move independently around the boards, as in traditional ''Mario Party'' titles.

The game provides 10 playable characters, who can be controlled by human players as well as artificial intelligence (AI). Nine of the characters are available from the start: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi, Boo, and Toad. The last character, Bowser Jr., is unlocked by completing the game's single-player campaign, Bowser's Tower, in which the player must defeat three computer-controlled characters in one of two minigames on each level as they ascend Bowser's 30-floor tower, encountering a boss every five levels and dueling against Bowser at the top.

The game also features a variety of collectables—including character voice recordings, music tracks, and figurines—which can be unlocked via StreetPass or purchased with Mario Party Points, which in turn are accumulated by playing through any of the game modes. Although ''Mario Party: Island Tour'' lacks an online multiplayer mode, the game utilizes the 3DS's Download Play functionality, permitting multiple nearby people with the system to play together using only one game cartridge.

Plot

Mario and his friends are relaxing in front of Princess Peach's castle when they notice a descending bubble that contains a letter inviting everyone to the Party Islands, which are located in the sky. All of the characters happily accept and are promptly transported to the islands via bubbles. The gang is enjoying their time on the islands when Bowser suddenly appears and, out of jealousy over not being invited, builds his own tower nearby and creates bubbles that steal the fun from the Party Islands. The player's chosen character, accompanied by a green Toad, must advance up the tower, defeating bubble clones of every playable character, as well as periodical bosses. On the final floor, the player must defeat Bowser in a boss minigame, after which the player's character is able to reach the top of the tower and destroy the machine creating bubble clones. However, Bowser appears shortly thereafter and informs Mario and the Toad that the machine was merely a decoy before launching both of them off the tower, then challenging the player to take him on again.

Development and release

Like all installments in the ''Mario Party'' series beginning with ''Mario Party 9'', ''Mario Party: Island Tour'' was developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo. The game was announced by Satoru Iwata during a Nintendo Direct in April 2013, at which time it was simply known by the tentative title ''Mario Party''. It was indicated that Luigi would play an important role in the game due to it being released during the Year of Luigi. A subsequent Direct in October 2013 revealed that the game's release in Europe had been delayed from the winter of 2013 to early 2014.

''Mario Party: Island Tour'' was released in North America on November 22, 2013, marking ''Mario Party''s debut on the Nintendo 3DS. The game was released in the region alongside '' The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds'' for the 3DS and ''Super Mario 3D World'' for the Wii U. The game was later released in Europe on January 17, 2014, in Australia on January 18, 2014, and in Japan on March 20, 2014.

Reception

Critical response

''Mario Party: Island Tour'' received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, four critics from ''Famitsu'' gave the game a total score of 32 out of 40. Writing for ''Nintendo World Report'', Kimberly Keller concluded: "''Island Tour'' is a fine entry in the series that should bring out the competitive streak in all ''Mario Party'' fans, old or new." Hollander Cooper of ''GamesRadar+'' added: "''Island Tour'' isn't the ''Mario Party'' you remember, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. That said, there are definitely some missing pieces that keep it from being a memorable entry in the franchise." Writing for ''Shacknews'', Steve Watts stated that the 3DS was "an odd choice", arguing that multiplayer-oriented party games like those in the ''Mario Party'' series conflicted with handheld systems being "innately a singular experience".

The variety in the game boards, particularly the differing win conditions, was frequently praised, though a few reviewers noted that most of the boards simply revolved around players attempting to reach the end first. Critics also appreciated the ratings for factors such as luck and skill, as well as the estimated play times, though some questioned the reliability of these statistics. Hollander Cooper of ''GamesRadar+'' expressed disappointment with the series's traditional Star and coin system not returning in any of the boards. The short lengths of the boards were noted by several critics, including ''Nintendo Life''s Dave Letcavage, who felt that this resulted in fewer minigames being experienced during each game. Other reviewers criticized the pacing of the boards, attributing this to having to wait for the other players to complete their turns, including the computer-controlled characters.

Critical response to the minigame selection was also generally positive, with Letcavage calling it "one of the tightest collections of mini-games to be featured in the ''Mario Party'' series, optimized perfectly for pick-up-and-play sessions". ''Digital Spy''s Liam Martin agreed that the minigames were "among the best we've played", and ''Polygon''s Danielle Riendeau lauded the selection as not only the game's "greatest asset", but "possibly the best in the series". Numerous reviewers commended the implementation of a wide range of Nintendo 3DS capabilities. However, ''IGN''s Scott Thompson was more critical of the minigame selection, stating that the motion control made some minigames awkward to play. Thompson also noted an absence of non-four-player free-for-alls, such as teams of two and three against one, which he referred to as "an odd departure for the series". A handful of reviewers also spoke favorably of the minigame-focused game modes, especially the free play mode.

Reception toward the game's single-player campaign, Bowser's Tower, was more mixed; although the boss minigames were found enjoyable, the low and unchangeable difficulty levels of the player's AI opponents elicited criticism. ''GameSpot''s Heidi Kemps referred to this mode as "a nice diversion" but "weak" in comparison to ''Mario Party DS''s story mode, ''Nintendo Life''s Dave Letcavage wrote that it was "mostly fluff in its repetitive and lengthy design", and ''IGN''s Scott Thompson derided it as "laughably bad". Critics widely panned the game's reliance on luck, especially in its minigames. The absence of an online multiplayer mode was also heavily criticized, though many reviewers also complimented the game's local multiplayer via Download Play, despite a few of them noting occasional connection issues. Certain critics also complained of a general lack of difficulty from the game's AI, particularly during mingiames.

On the topic of the game's aesthetics, David Letcavage of ''Nintendo Life'' described the visuals as "satisfactory, getting the job done without doing anything to wow", stating that the stereoscopic 3D neither contributed toward nor interfered with any aspects of the game. Kimberly Keller of ''Nintendo World Report'' added: "The graphics are crisp and utilize 3D well, while the music fits each game and board without becoming monotonous." Keller also mentioned the game's collectibles, writing: "It's a nice touch, but it's nothing more than a mildly interesting bonus." Likewise, Kevin Schaller of ''GameRevolution'' found the collectible system "pointless" due to it mostly consisting of music tracks and character voice samples that can be heard elsewhere in the game, with Jeff Hoard of ''The Oakland Press'' agreeing that it was "nothing spectacular".

Sales

''Mario Party: Island Tour'' sold more than 132,000 units within the first week of its release in Japan, making it the best-selling 3DS title that week. As of April 9, 2014, the game had remained the best-selling title in Japan, selling an additional 47,000 copies for a total of 257,000 units. The game became a Nintendo Selects title in Europe on October 16, 2015, and in North America on March 11, 2016. As of December 31, 2021, ''Mario Party: Island Tour'' had sold 2.95 million copies worldwide, making it the 24th-best-selling game for the Nintendo 3DS.

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2013 video games
Mario Party
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Nintendo Cube games
Nintendo 3DS eShop games
Nintendo 3DS games
Nintendo 3DS-only games
Party video games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games set on fictional islands