Mario Party: Island Tour (2024)

Mario Party: Island Tour is a party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo in November of 2013. It is the third Mario Party handheld game, as well as the first of three to be released for the Nintendo 3DS. It was announced by Satoru Iwata in April 2013. This was also the game in the series that uses AR and Streetpass.

Plot[]

Mario and his friends receive a letter saying that they should join the party. Suddenly, the bubbles trap the characters and then they were sent to a place called Party Island.

Bad Qualities[]

1. Repetitive gameplay ranging from mediocre to just plain boring.
2. For a game on a console that has started to heavily support online play, this game lacks Online Play.
3. Bowser's Tower isn't that fun of a solo mode when compared to the previous games. You simply fight bubbly clones from other characters in mini-games rather than on boards.
   • It also has a horrible ending. After you defeat Bowser, it is revealed that the Bowser we had just beaten was a decoy and the real Bowser knocks us off the tower, meaning that all our progress was absolutely nothing.
   • If you play it again as his son Bowser Jr after you unlock him, he is still mean-spirited to even him of all characters, showing how heartless he is in this game.
4. Speaking of Bowser's character derailment, in Bowser's Peculiar Peak, he straight-up LAUNCHES the loser into who-knows-where with a giant metal hammer (which thankfully reveals that the loser survived because of Lakitu carrying them). Nathaniel Bandy calls that action, "Pretty savage for Bowser's usual standards". He even can do that to HIS OWN SON, BOWSER JR. OF ALL PEOPLE! That can actually be considered child abuse!
5. You strangely can't play Shy Guy's Shuffle City on single-player even though it would be easy to program the AI for the board, even in regards to the card-swapping mechanic.
   • Also, it requires 3-4 human players to play. It is obviously easier said than done.
6. The board gameplay does not play as the original titles play, which was a large disappointment to fans. Alongside, a lot of the boards became more luck based than skill based, with the worst offender being Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain.
7. There's no 2 vs 2, duel, battle or even 1 vs 3 minigames.
8. The Boss and AR mini-games weren't better at all, and they are extremely easy to win.
9. The game reuses numerous songs and even characters voices from Mario Party 9.
10. On the topic of characters, there are only 10 playable characters.
11. False advertising: Rosalina is seen on the cover art of this game, yet she only appears as a cameo in Rocket Road, and doesn't make a playable appearance until Mario Party 10.
12. Rocket Road is completely unbalanced, because staking boosters is downright broken and extremely overpowered. You could win a game of Rocket Road in 3 turns, and that is NOT an over-exaggeration! Nathaniel Bandy actually managed to accomplish that in his TRIGGERED video of this game because of how broken staking boosters is.
13. In Shy Guy’s Shuffle City, if you’re holding the Bowser Card, you cannot participate in the Final Challenge, which is just unacceptable.
    • Also, if you’re holding the Bowser Card when the game is over, you automatically get last place, which is just so cruel and doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Good Qualities[]

1. The infamous car mechanic has been temporarily removed here.
2. Boo returns as a playable character since Mario Party 8.
   • You can also play as Bowser Jr. after finishing Bowser's Tower for the first time. Depending on your view, it marks the first time that someone nearly identical to Koopa Kid has been playable since Mario Party 6.
3. Decent soundtrack.
4. Good voice acting.
5. Some decent minigames, such as The Choicest Voice, where you humorously do impressions from characters in this game.
6. The graphics are good for a 3DS title.

Reception[]

Mario Party: Island Tour was met with mixed reception from critics and a mixed to negative reception from gamers with Metacritic giving it a 57/100.

Videos[]