Mario Party 4 is a 2002 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the fourth installment in the Mario Party series and the first one to be released for GameCube. Like the previous games in the series, it features eight playable characters from the Mario franchise—Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Princess Daisy, and Waluigi—competing in a board game, with the objective of each of the six game boards being to earn the most Stars. Besides the standard multiplayer mode, the game also features a single-player campaign in which the player plays the game with artificial intelligence-controlled players.
Mario Party 4 was announced in March 2002 and was later showcased at E3 2002. The game was released in North America on October 21, 2002, Japan on November 8, 2002, and in PAL regions on November 29, 2002. The game received mixed reviews, with complaints going to the single-player mode, the design of game boards, and sound effects, while the graphics and controls were praised. It won the Family Game of the Year award at the Interactive Achievement Awards of 2003. The game was followed by Mario Party 5 for the same console in 2003.
Gameplay
thumb|Characters must hit a dice block to move forward on the board; the mushroom represents an Item Shop.
Mario Party 4 is a puzzle and party video game based on an interactive board game played by four characters from the Mario franchise. The game features eight playable characters in total, Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, and Waluigi. or by either winning the most minigames, most coins, or landing on the most "Happening Spaces" squares. There are two types of mushrooms that the player can acquire: a mega mushroom, which gives the player an extra dice, increases the player's size, and the ability to steal 10 coins from another player, and a mini mushroom, which shrinks the player and limits the dice to first five numbers, but allows the player to go through pipes, which allow the player to access shortcuts on the board. and the Boo's crystal ball, which allows the player to steal another player's star. while on the ghost-themed Boo board, a ghost train transports the player around the board.
Besides the standard multiplayer mode, the game offers a "pure minigame mode" and a singleplayer campaign called the "Story Mode", It is the first Mario Party game to be released for GameCube. It was targeted as part of the 2002 roster of Nintendo games, which they rated as their "biggest year" for software at the time. Nintendo presented a playable demonstration of the game at E3 2002, featuring a limited set of minigames. The game was released on October 21, 2002, in North America, November 8 in Japan, and November 29 in Europe.