Mario Party 6 GameCube

The Mario Party series has quietly become one of Nintendo's most prolific IP's in recent years. With Mario Parties 1-3 all appearing on N64, and the last two iterations moving seamlessly onto Gamecube, the franchise has been updated with such prompt regularity that you could almost set your Game & Watch by it. Featuring the famous chubby plumber and his chums, Mario Party games are essentially a digitised board game. But games software not only allows for a more complex and beautiful game board than Milton Bradley could ever construct; it also opens the door to a whole host of party games. Simple gameplay and ingenious design of these minigames is what has made the series such a success. So it should come as no surprise that March 2005 sees the release of Mario Party 6. First glance tells you that this title looks to be the prettiest in the series so far, but Nintendo have added a whole raft of new ideas to make it stand out from its ancestors, not to mention a whole load of brand new minigames (there are over 80). The first innovative is the inclusion of 'Day and Night'. This feature makes the sun rise or set, every three turns. And depending on whether it's night or day, different routes will open up, characters will start to wander the board, and even the minigames will be different. Peripheral-obsessed as Nintendo are, the game also comes with the brand new Nintendo microphone, and players must control their characters in some games by barking orders into this. Games centre around a huge variety of themes, with snowball fights, basketball, pachinko machines and window-cleaning all having inspired them. As usual, the games vary alliances and rivalries by pitching 2 players against 2, 3 on 1 and all against all. There are also individual challenges which players will sometimes have to face alone. And the game isn't worthless when you're not having a party - solo mode permits the player to save points which can be used to unlock minigames and even an extra board, all while they train. All in all, there