Mario Party 11 (Nintendo Matrix)

Mario Party 11 is an upcoming game for the Nintendo Matrix, the eleventh home console installment in the Mario Party series and the first and currently only installment for the Nintendo Matrix. The game is being developed by Nd Cube in collaboration with Shooting Star Studios. Unlike previous installments Mario Party 9, Mario Party 10 and Super Mario Party, this game returns to the old gameplay formula seen in all installments until Mario Party 8 and Mario Party DS, and to an extent, Mario Party: Island Tour and Mario Party: Star Rush. As such, all players will be able to move on their own, playing along with the gimmicks of the boards in order to get the most Stars and win. Items in this game can now be used in the form of Balloons, similarly to Orbs and Candies. Toadsworth returns as a host, along with a new character named Starlid. A new mode named Coin Chaos is introduced, in which the goal is to obtain the most Coins by collecting them, stealing them or increasing both ways of coin collection by using the special Gold Flowers. Other special events involving coins can occur during this game mode, referencing New Super Mario Bros. 2, and Star Coins can be obtained for great coin bonuses. Additionally, the game returns the Bowser Party mode and 8-player minigames, and builds upon them.

Story[]

One night, Mario and friends spend their time looking at the stars and constellations. All of a sudden, however, all the stars in the sky begin to fall towards the Mushroom World, and a star rain begins to shower all of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and friends are fascinated by the sight, and all of them begin to make a wish, thinking they're shooting stars. However, the rain suddenly stops, and Luigi opens his eyes out of curiosity, realizing that there are no stars in the now pitch-black sky. He informs the rest, and they all begin to worry. One last star falls from the sky, though, but this one looks quite different. The star being starts to panic and runs away, looking for the other stars. Mario and friends decide to follow him.

The star entity can't seem to find stars in the area, and begins to cry. Mario and friends comfort him, and he introduces himself as Starlid. He explains that an evil monster and his minions attacked his home, causing all the stars to scatter all around the Mushroom World. Mario gets the idea of throwing a massive Mario Party to retrieve all the stars and help Starlid return to his home. Starlid becomes happy, and they all agree to play Mario Party. Eventually, they find out that several of Bowser's minions have captured stars for themselves, and Mario and co. decide to defeat them and find a way to get to Bowser, now knowing that he is the culprit.

By collecting all the stars, Mario and friends are able to confront Bowser in his floating magma lair. As Bowser is defeated, all the harnessed stars begin to gather, helping Mario and friends go home afterwards. Starlid thanks Mario and co. for their hard work, bids farewell and flies up to the night sky along with all of the stars to shine over the Mushroom World once again.

Gameplay[]

In Mario Party 11, the old form of gameplay is reintroduced in order to continue following that tradition. It takes the social, strategic gameplay in which everyone travels on their own across the different seven boards in search of Stars, by rolling Dice Blocks with numbers 1 to 10 and moving around spaces that can either help or hinder the players. Like in Mario Party 8, spaces take different shapes depending on the board, and each board has an unique gimmick to it in order to get a Star. Only one board features the classic method of buying scattered Stars by paying 20 Coins. Additionally, the last five turns event returns, and similarly to Mario Party: Island Tour, it gifts the losing player a rare balloon for use, and allows them to choose the minigame. The losing player will also have to choose a special event at random (such as extra example) like in past games.

Due to the Stars' return, the Bonus Stars also make a comeback. If the bonuses are turned on, players can receive bonus stars that can range from winning the most minigames to landing on the most red spaces.

Minigame Star: It is given to the player who has won the most coins from minigames.
Balloon Star: It is given to the player who used the most balloons. Only counts if the player has used the Balloons, and not just bought or obtained them.
Event Star: It is given to the player who has landed on the most happening spaces.
Marathon Star: It is given to the player who advanced the most spaces. Using other means to skip spaces such as certain balloons or certain happening spaces does not count. Double and Triple Dice Block Balloons, however, can be used to accomplish this star.
Shopping Star: It is given to the player who spent the most coins on balloons. Simply visiting shops doesn't count.
Red Star: It is given to the player who has landed on the most red spaces.

Like in Mario Party 10, most minigames in this game feature gimmicky controls such as having to shake or tilt the Joy-Con controller(s), but several minigames still use simpler controls.

Modes[]

Story Mode[]

1 Player

A single player mode that follows the game's storyline. The player is put through the seven main boards of the game, requiring them to win a Battle Royale on each and defeat its boss in a minigame to continue to the next board. CPU difficulty will increase as the player progresses, and the game can be saved at any time.

Party Mode[]

1 - 4 Players / 8 Players (Partner Battle only)

The main mode of the game. Here, players can compete against other players or CPUs on a party board. Customized settings can be chosen, such as disabling or enabling bonuses, the number of turns, CPU difficulty, etc. There are four ways of playing Party Mode:

Battle Royale: The free-for-all party mode. 4 players choose their characters and compete to see who is the superstar.
Tag Battle: The teams party mode. Here, 2 players team up against another 2 to see who is the superstar team. Teams still play separately, though. Most minigames played are 2 vs 2 minigames.
Duel Battle: The duel party mode. This mode is for only 2 players, but it still plays similarly to Battle Royale. Only duel minigames can be played.
Partner Battle: Returning from Mario Party 7, this mode is similar to tag battle, but teams play united and it allows up to 8 players to join the fun in the form of 4 teams of 2. Unlike in Mario Party 7, players can play with separated controllers. Only 8-player minigames can be played in this party mode.

Coin Chaos[]

1 - 4 Players / 8 Players (Partner Coin Chaos only)

A new game mode where the main goal is to collect the most coins possible. Means used regularly can be used to accomplish this, such as landing on blue spaces and winning minigames. However, new elements are added to increase coin collection, such as the new balloon item Gold Flower (allowing players to throw golden fireballs to steal coins), and special action events that reward the players with coins. Additionally, things that would normally give stars in each board will now give Star Coins for greater coin bonuses. Like in Party Mode, this mode can be played as Coin Chaos Royale, Tag Coin Chaos, Duel Coin Chaos or Partner Coin Chaos.

Bowser Party[]

1 - 5 Players

Returning from Mario Party 10, this mode allows uo to 5 players to play, with one playing as Bowser and the other 4 as Mario and friends. It is similar to Mario Party 10's Bowser Party, but there are some differences because of the traditional gameplay's return. Coins are replaced by Hearts. Mario and friends start in the board the same way as in other modes, but they're required to avoid Bowser at all costs. The goal of Bowser is to deplete all the other players' hearts, whilst the goal of the other players is to make it to the last turn with at least one heart between them. The Bowser player will have a permanent movement buff, being able to always roll a Dice Block with up to 20 spaces. If Bowser catches up to one of the other players, he forces all of them to play a randomly selected "Bowser Battle" minigame, where hearts are lost if the players are hit by his attacks. If all of the hearts from all four players should be completely depleted, Bowser wins.

A new element added to the game mode is that the Bowser player can now summon help from various baddies available for this, such as Petey Piranha, King Boo, Goomboss and others, who will help him by blocking the other players' paths or attacking them. Mario and friends are also able to summon help to escape from Bowser, attack him or prevent him from reaching them, by summoning characters such as Sprixie Princess, Lubba or even Starlid himself.

Mingame Mode[]

1 - 4 Players / 8 Players (8-player minigames only)

A mode where the player can play eight games that use the minigames available in a variety of challenges that don't take place on game boards. Can be played with other players or CPUs.

There are five games available for 4-player play:

Free Play Show: Taking place in a theater-like area, players can freely choose the minigames that have been unlocked in other modes for play.
Beanstalk Battle: There are four beanstalks in this competition, one for each player to climb. Whenever a player wins a randomly chosen minigame, they are allowed to climb one beanstalk leaf. The aim of this challenge is to see who can be the first to win 3, 5 or 7 minigames, depending on the options chosen, and reach the top of the beanstalk.
Block Builders: In this minigame mode, 4 players compete to see who makes it to the Warp Pipe first to escape the lava cavern. To do this, players have to win minigames to obtain blocks and build their own bridge in a shape that let's them reach the Pipe before someone else does. Sometimes, a 2-in-1 block bonus will appear, and whoever wins the minigame gets the rare, combined blocks for an advantage.
Roulette Rally: A big roulette starts spinning, and a player hops onto it. As they do so, the roulette begins to stop moving, revealing the spots in which the player landed and what they will have to do. After clearing it or failing, it will be the next player's turn. The roulette has four themes for four minigame types: free-for-all, 1 vs. 3, duel and battle. If the player clears the minigame, they get 3 points, if they don't, they lose 3 instead. Whoever has the most points at the end of the competition (can be up to 10 rounds), wins.
Marathon Mania: Players will play 10 consecutive minigames in a marathon, adding one win to their list. Whoever has a list with the most wins in the end, wins the competition. Marathon Mania is initially unavailable, it can be unlocked by spending 2500 coins at Toadsworth's Shop for it.

There are two games available for 8-player play:

Chomp Champions: 4 Chain Chomps are released and 4 teams of 2 players will ride on each to travel on a road full of obstacles. Running into an obstacle leads the teams to play an 8-player minigame. The winning team or teams' Chain Chomps will increase in size, allowing them to destroy the obstacle and continue. The team that reaches the finish line first wins.
Coin Catchers: This mode is very similar to Pearl Hunt from Mario Party 7. Each team of 2 is placed on top of small towers while ? Blocks are placed around them. After beating an 8-player minigame, the team that won will be able to select a ? Block. If the block contains a coin with one of the team's members' symbol, the team collects it. However, if the coin has another character's symbol from another team, the coin returns to its block. If the player finds a Mushroom in a block, the team gets to choose more blocks in that turn. If they find a Tweester, it will shuffle the order of the blocks. The first team to collect 4 character coins (2 of both of them) wins. Coin Catchers is initially unavailable, it can be unlocked by spending 3000 coins at Toadsworth's Shop for it.

And finally, one game is for only 1 player, being Boss Rush, which consists in defeating all Story Mode bosses in the fastest time possible. It is initially unavailable, being unlocked after Story Mode is completed for the first time.

Toadworth's Shop[]

Here players can take a look at records and buy different souvenirs such as collectible figurines, badges, music and sound effects with coins earned after completing Story Mode, playing normal parties or playing minigames. Various characters and boards can also be bought in this shop.

Party Museum[]

Souvenirs bought in Toadsworth's Shop will be added here to be viewed at the player's discretion. Here, players are also allowed to listen to the bought music and sound effects. Additionally, players can watch Story Mode cutscenes when viewed at least once in it.

Extra Modes[]

1 - 4 Players

In this mode players can play various games with either Mario characters or Miis that they've created on the Nintendo Switch. Some of the games found in Extras Mode must be bought at Toadsworth's Shop however.

World Party[]

1 - 4 Players (Normal or Coin Chaos World Party) / 5 Players (Bowser World Party only) / 8 players (8-player World Party)

A new, online mode that requiresNintendo Network connection to be played. Players can choose to play with friends from their friend list or play with people from around the world or in their region. To search for other players, the mode of play has to be chosen first, it can be Party Mode, Coin Chaos, Bowser Party or Minigame Mode. Miis can be used in this mode as well. If players disconnect, their characters will be played by an AI of Normal difficulty for the rest of the game or until they reconnect. World Party Groups can also be created by players for other people to join in and play.

Playable Characters[]

Mario Party 11 will have a total of 26 playable characters, making it the installment with the biggest roster in the series. It returns all of the characters that appeared up until Mario Party 8 except for Koopa Kid and Blooper, along with the newcomers from Mario Party 9 (except for Magikoopa), Mario Party 10 and Mario Party: Star Rush. Miis can only be used in Extras Mode and World Party.

Mario
Luigi
Peach
Yoshi
Wario
Donkey Kong
Daisy
Waluigi
Toad
Boo
Toadette
Birdo
Dry Bones
Hammer Bro.
Koopa
Shy Guy
Rosalina
Spike
Diddy Kong
Pauline
Bowser Jr.
Piranha Plant
Dixie Kong*
Luma*
Paratroopa*
Flutter*
Pianta*
Noki*
Bowser**
Mii**

Characters in Italic are unlockable.
* Newcomer
** Bowser can only be played in Bowser Party mode.
*** Miis can only be played in Extras Mode and World Party

Hammer Bro., Spike, Paratroopa, Flutter, Pianta and Noki are the unlockable characters in this game. In order to unlock the first four, the player has to defeat them in Story Mode. To unlock Pianta and Noki, the player has to spend 4,000 coins at Toadsworth's Shop, 2,000 for Pianta and 2,000 for Noki.

NOTE: Before Paratroopa and Flutter are unlocked, Koopa and Shy Guy are considered default partners. For Hammer Bro. & Spike and Pianta & Noki, if one of them is unlocked before their respective default partner, their default partner will be random.

Boards[]

The game contains nine new boards, all with their respective themes and gimmicks. In Story Mode, finishing a board leads the player to a Boss Battle minigame. A new addition is the Retro Boards, which can be unlocked by spending certain amounts of coins at Toadsworth's Shop for them.

New Boards[]

The first six boards are unlocked by default, while the seventh one has to be unlocked by completing Story Mode once. The last two boards have to be bought at Toadsworth's Shop, and don't appear in Story Mode, meaning that they don't feature a Boss Battle.

Piranha Plant Hills
Plessie's Sea Shore
Shy Guy's Boulevard Bazaar
Honeyhive Highlands
King Boo's Scary Steeple
Tumbleweed Town
Bowser's Molten Mania
Rosalina's Comet Observatory
Candy Carameland

Retro Boards[]

All Retro Boards have to be bought at Toadsworth's Shop, each one differing in prize. There are nine retro boards in total, each one originating from a previous Mario Party, starting with Mario Party for the Nintendo 64 until Mario Party DS. Boards from Mario Party 9 and Mario Party 10 do not appear, possibly due to them being created for the car gameplay format. There is also no board from Mario Party: Island Tour or Mario Party: Star Rush.

Pirate Land
Chilly Waters
Goomba's Greedy Gala
Toy Dream
E. Gadd's Garage
Pagoda Peak
Koopa's Tycoon Town
Toadette's Music Room
Mario's Rainbow Castle

Space[]

Green Space
Blue Space
Red Space
Happening Space
Lucky Space
Unlucky Space
Bowser Space
Koopaling Space
Nabbit Space
Duel Space
Battle Space
Starlid Space
Character Space
Miracle Space
Star Space*
Ztar Space*
Balloon Space*
* Players cannot land on these spaces.

Balloons[]

TBA

Minigames[]

Main article: Mario Party 11/Minigames

Lava Bail (free-for-all): Players appear inside of a volcanic cavern, and they must make it to the exit by jumping the different rock platforms sticking out of the lava. Stepping on a platform, however, causes it to slowly sink into the lava, and players have to be quick and and jump onto the next platform before it sinks completely. In the last portion of the minigame Podoboos will start hoping on the platforms, making it more difficult. Touching the lava or a Podoboo will cause players to lose.

Ice To Meet You (free-for-all): Players are on an slippery, icy arena while Mr. Blizzards pop out around it on the snow. Players are given three heart points each and they must skate around the icy area to avoid snowballs thrown by the Mr. Blizzards. If a player is hit by three snowballs, they're out. During the last ten seconds, bigger Mr. Blizzards will throw big snowballs that will roll across the ice arena, causing the player it touches to lose immediately regardless of their heart points counter. When the time runs out, whoever made it to the end with at least one heart point wins.

Pinhead Panic (free-for-all): Each player is given a bowling ball, and they must defeat the Pinheads by throwing the ball at them. It is essentially a bowling minigame, but players must attempt to defeat more Pinheads than their opponents. Defeating a great number of Pinheads at once can grant players a Bob-omb to throw at a chosen opponent, exploding on them and interrupting them for a few seconds, for their disadvantage. Whoever defeated the most Pinheads when the time runs out wins the minigame.

Tug-o-Tower! (2 vs 2): Two players battle against another two players in a tug-of-war game. Both pairs of players face each other on top of two high teetering towers, with each character holding the rope and pulling it. Whichever pair of players that is pulled off the tower is eliminated, with the other two still standing being the winners.