Mario Party 8

Mario Party 8 carried the tried-and-true recipe of a party board game with minigames over to motion controls and became one of the console's best-selling party titles. The basics remain the same as in many previous entries: up to four players take turns rolling dice, move around the game board, collect coins, and try to buy stars, which decide the winner at the end. After each round comes a minigame, whether all-against-all, two-versus-two, or one-against-three, and it's here that most of the resources are earned. The boards have their own rules and themes, from a candy shop to a haunted house, and each brings a different kind of twist.

The minigames use the Wiimote in simple, easy-to-grasp tasks: aiming at the screen, twisting the controller, a quick flick, or holding the controller sideways like a classic gamepad. The design deliberately keeps each event down to a single idea so it can be explained during the intro screen, which is key to letting even complete beginners handle the game. Equally deliberate is the heavy dose of randomness, since the order is often decided only by the final bonus star; for some that's a source of endless laughter, for others a reason for indignation. A full match takes about an hour depending on the number of rounds, so this is an evening's affair, not a quick filler.

Graphically the game relies on bright colors, clear boards, and readable characters; technically it doesn't stand out in any way, but it runs smoothly and never leaves the player in doubt about what's happening. The music is upbeat and fairground-like, and together with the characters' lines it creates the atmosphere of a TV game show. Contemporary reviews were lukewarm and faulted the series for making little effort to renew itself, yet the public still bought the game in large numbers. Today Mario Party 8 works exactly as intended: as ready-made entertainment for four people where everyone has an equal chance and nobody needs to know how to play. On its own it's a title that wears itself out quickly in single-player, but in larger company it lasts for years.