Mario Party 5 (マリオパーティ 5 Mario Pāti Faibu?) is a party video game published by Nintendo and developed by Hudson Soft. It is the second game in the Mario Party series for Nintendo Gamecube. It was released in North America on November 10, 2003,[1] in Japan on November 23, 2003, and in Europe on December 5, 2003. Mario Party 5 is the fifth installment in the Mario Party series.
The game is set in the fictional world of the Dream Depot, consisting of seven game boards. The single-player "Story" mode involves the player winning multiple games against the Koopa Kids to prevent Bowser from conquering the Dream Depot. The main multiplayer game mode consists of four characters from Mario series playing a board game, with each board having a set theme. The game also features several minigames, which are played after every set of turns. Mario Party 5 introduces the "Super Duel" mode to the franchise, which requires players to assemble and control custom made battle vehicles which can be used in combat against other machines.[2] The game features ten playable characters, with playable debuts to the series from Toad, Boo, and Koopa Kid.[3]
Mario Party 5 was positively received by the media; reviewers enjoyed the new minigames of the series, although a perceived lack of originality was criticized.[4][5] The game became part of the Nintendo Player's Choice label in 2004,[6] and won the Console Children's Award at the 2004 Interactive Achievement Awards.[7] Mario Party 5 received an aggregate rating of 71% from Game Rankings and 69% from Metacritic. Mario Party 5 is followed byMario Party 6.