Mario Party: Island Tour brings the series to the Nintendo 3DS, and it mostly succeeds as a portable party game. The game asks players to gather friends and family for a round of board games, minigames, and multiplayer modes. It is a solid package, but it falls short of greatness.
Trailer, via Nintendo of America.
The Board Games
The core loop is familiar to anyone who has played a Mario Party game before. Up to four players move across a game board, rolling dice or playing cards to reach spaces that trigger events or minigames. What sets Island Tour apart is the sheer number of boards and minigames on offer.
There are seven game boards, each with a different theme and a distinct feel. Some boards take just a few minutes to play, which is a welcome change from the marathon sessions common to earlier installments. The boards are rated by skill, luck, and the number of minigames they contain, giving players a sense of what to expect before they start.
The boards are hosted by Toad, who guides players through each round with cheerful commentary. That consistency helps keep the experience cohesive, even as the boards themselves vary widely in tone.
Minigames and Modes
The game packs more than eighty minigames into its roster, and nearly all of them are brand-new four-player free-for-alls. This is a strength. Players get fresh content that rewards quick thinking and teamwork, rather than simply replaying older favorites.
Some minigames lean on the hardware itself. Augmented reality cards let players step into a whole new reality, and the game also uses the 3DS’s microphone, gyroscope, and touchscreen for specific challenges. These are small touches, but they show effort to make the portable format feel distinct from console entries.
Beyond the standard board games, there are three separate game modes. Time Attack asks players to complete a set of ten minigames as quickly as possible. Hot-Air Hijinks turns the game into a contest where players chase three, five, or seven wins before their rivals. Free Play lets players pick which minigames they want to play, offering a simple way to skip the boards entirely.
These modes give the game lasting value beyond a single sitting. Players can return to specific minigames without having to navigate a full board.
Story Mode
The single-player campaign, Bowser’s Tower, is a notable addition. Players face three computer-controlled doppelgängers of their character across two randomly chosen minigames on each of the thirty floors. Periodic bosses appear every five levels, and the final showdown pits the player against Bowser himself in a boss minigame.
It is a solid piece of content, though it feels more like a collection of minigames strung together than a genuine narrative arc. The story, such as it is, follows Mario and his friends accepting an invitation to the skybound Party Islands. Bowser, jealous of not being invited, builds a tower nearby and steals the fun from the islands. Players must climb the tower, defeat its inhabitants, and ultimately destroy the machine creating the bubble clones.
The twist at the end, where Bowser reveals the machine was a decoy and launches Mario and a Toad companion off the tower, adds a bit of flair. It is a clever moment, even if the setup feels thin.
What’s Missing
The biggest complaint is also the simplest: there is no online multiplayer mode. For a game built around gathering friends and family, the absence of online play is a glaring omission. Players can only compete with others in the same room, which limits the game’s appeal for players separated by distance.
The game’s reliance on the portable format also means it cannot match the scale of console entries. The board games are smaller, the screen is smaller, and the experience is necessarily more intimate. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a trade-off worth noting.
The game’s presentation is bright and colorful, with a bird’s-eye view that suits the isometric board design. Character sprites are expressive, and the game moves at a smooth pace. Nothing about the presentation feels dated, which is a credit to the development team.
By the Numbers
- Developer: NDcube
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Platform: Nintendo 3DS
- Release: North America – November 2013; Europe/Australia – January 2014; Japan – March 2014
- Boards: 7
- Playable characters: 10 (Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi, Boo, Toad, Bowser Jr.)
- Minigames: More than 80
- Campaign: Bowser’s Tower, 30 floors
- Units sold: 2.95 million worldwide
- Critical score: 5.5/10
Mario Party: Island Tour is a competent, enjoyable entry in a long-running series. It delivers a large number of fresh minigames, a solid single-player campaign, and a strong multiplayer mode. Its lack of online play and smaller scope keep it from reaching the heights of its console counterparts. For players who want a portable party game with plenty of replay value, it is a worthy purchase. For those who demand online competition, the game falls short.
The game’s success is reflected in its sales figures. With 2.95 million units sold worldwide, it ranks as the 24th-best-selling game for the Nintendo 3DS and earned Nintendo Selects status. Those numbers speak to its popularity, even if critics were split on its merits.
Island Tour is a game worth playing, but it is not a game that demands repeated visits. It is best enjoyed with friends in the same room, not alone. The minigames are the star, and the boards are a pleasant container for them. The game’s flaws are real, but they do not sink the whole package.
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