One night in the Mushroom Kingdom, five Sky Crystals in the sky fall to the land. One falls near Mario, who explains it to his friends the next day. Suddenly, Kamek flies overhead the gang, dropping inviations to a feast in Bowser's Castle to apologize for his wicked behavior. Unintentionally, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong get invitations as well.
Curious, the crew sets off for the castle, but upon their arrival, they find it was a trick as Bowser and Bowser Jr. trap Mario and his friends in a cage when they enter. With the group trapped, Bowser uses a magic wand called the Minimizer to shrink them all down to the size of chess pieces, and they are thrown out to a distant location by Kamek. This leaves Bowser to look for the five shining objects, the Sky Crystals, in peace. Displeased by the outcome, the gang wakes up outside and decides to head for the castle to settle the score with Bowser. The desire to be the one Superstar that defeats Bowser and his cronies causes Mario and his other seven friends to pit themselves against each other for the title along the way.
At the beginning of their journey, Wiggler begs the crew for help, as a Piranha Plant has infested his garden. The Piranha Plant is eventually defeated by the character who becomes the Superstar, leading to Wiggler rewarding them with a Sky Crystal that landed in his garden.
Soon after, Toadette finds and requests the group to defeat a Hammer Bro that was abusing her instruments in her music room. The Hammer Bro is defeated in a drum-off by the Superstar, Toadette giving a Sky Crystal she found to the gang as her thanks.
Afterwards, they set off for the jungle, where they find Diddy Kong, who shows the heroes that Donkey Kong was turned to stone by a Dry Bones. The Superstar manages to defeat Dry Bones in his arena, leading to Donkey Kong's restoration and Diddy Kong rewarding them with a Sky Crystal he found. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong quickly recall the free food promised at Bowser's Castle, and eagerly head off towards the castle.
Upon nearing the castle, the crew find a Koopa Troopa from a library asking for help, as Kamek has trapped his grandfather, Koopa Krag, in one of his library books. The Superstar defeats Kamek at the end of a long hallway, and Koopa Krag is freed from the book, giving them a Sky Crystal as thanks.
Eventually, they reach Bowser's Castle, where they are promptly stuffed in a pinball machine by Bowser and Bowser Jr., the latter using it to mess with them. The one revealed to be the Superstar is taken from the pinball machine to be shrunk again and crushed by Bowser, but Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong arrive, the former unintentionally smashing the Minimizer by knocking it out of Bowser's hands and stepping on it afterwards, the actions reverting the playable characters back to their original states.
Reluctant to give up, Bowser reveals one more surprise: the Megamorph Belt. The device transforms Bowser into Blockhead Bowser, and the aforementioned Superstar does battle with him. Upon Bowser's defeat, Bowser and his son are tied up, Mario taking back the final Sky Crystal he initially found from them. Now in close proximity of each other, they are magically formed together to make a crystal DS, allowing play of Triangle Twisters, the fun challenge mentioned by Bowser, whose desire to have the Sky Crystals being to try the fun challenge. After hearing this, Mario decides to untie the two, and they all play Triangle Twisters together, thus ending the story. Nearby, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong eat the entire feast by themselves, being quite satisfied.
Like Mario Party DS, this game has 8 playable characters and 5 board hosts, with a boss for each board. Other characters with little to no role are also present.
Wiggler's Garden:
Wiggler (Host)
Piranha Plant (Boss)
Toadette's Music Room:
Toadette (Hostess)
Hammer Bro. (Boss)
DK's Stone Statue:
Diddy Kong (Host)
Dry Bones (Boss)
Kamek's Library:
Kamek (Host/Boss)
Bowser's Pinball Machine:
Bowser (Host/Boss)
Donkey Kong (Found in DK's Stone Statue)
Koopa (Found in Kamek's Library)
Koopa Krag (Found in Kamek's Library)
Bowser Jr. (Found in Bowser's Pinball Machine)
A single player mode that follows the storyline of the game. It puts the player through the five boards of the game, requiring them to win a Battle Royal on each board and defeat the boss of it in a minigame to progress.
The main mode of the game, where the player competes against several player-controlled or dungeon master-controlled players on a party board in either a Battle Royale, Tag Battle or Duel Battle.
Includes over 120 collectibles that can be viewed at the player's discretion when unlocked. This mode also allows them to listen to the game's music and watch the cutscenes seen in Story Mode when viewed at least once in it.
The gameplay in Mario Party DS follows the style of the console games that preceded it. Up to four players take turns to roll a Dice Block that shows numbers from 1-10, which decides how far players move across boards. The goal is to acquire the most Stars through the conditions decided on each of the boards. After all players have had their turn, the type of minigame is determined by what color space the player lands on (red or blue). If the player landed on a green, duel or friend space, the player's color is randomly red or blue. Landing on a Bowser space will result in the player's color turning red. For instance, if one player lands on a red space while three other players land on a blue space, a 1 vs. 3 minigame is held, with the red player on the solo side and the three players on the other side. The players then engage in a minigame, and whoever wins the minigame earns 10 coins.
If the combined total dice roll for all four players for the turn is a multiple of 10, a Battle Minigame is triggered instead. All players will pay a certain number of Coins into a "pot" before the minigame, with any players who have insufficient Coins only paying what they have on them. After the minigame, each player will get back 50, 30, 20 or 0 percent of the Coins in the pot, depending on where they rank in the minigame. If the Coins cannot be divided up equally, the leftovers will be awarded to a random player. The number of Coins a player must pay is determined by the formula [current turn number Ă— 2]; for example, if the Battle Minigame is triggered in Turn 7, all players must pay 14 Coins.
The turn will end afterward, the process repeating until the set number of turns have passed. The game will end once the set number of turns have passed, and the total number of Stars and coins the players have collected will be tallied, Stars being the primary factor for rankings while coins are the tie-breakers.
At the end of a Party Mode game, Bonus Stars may be rewarded to the players who have excelled the most at certain criteria. If there is a tie between three or less players, the Stars are awarded to all of the tied players. The following are shown below:
Mini-Game Star - Awarded to the players who have won the most minigames.
Green Star - Awarded to the players who have landed on the most ? Spaces.
Running Star - Awarded to the players who have moved the most spaces using Dice Blocks.
Item Star - Awarded to the players who used the most items.
Hex Star - Awarded to the players who laid down the most hexes.
Friendship Star - Awarded to the players who landed on the most Friend Spaces.
Blue Space - The most common space, the Blue Space gives players three coins if they land on it. It gives their section in the heads up display a blue color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames.
Red Space - A fairly common space, the Red Space takes three coins from players that land on it. It gives their section in the heads up display a red color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames.
Event Space - This space causes certain events to happen that can benefit the player, harm the player, benefit a number of players, or harm a number of players.
Friend Space - When they land on this space in Battle Royale, players can select one opponent to be a friend. Both then receive 5 coins. In Team Battle, the player and one of the two opponents get 5 coins. It gives the player's section in the heads up display a green color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames.
Duel Space - Engages with an opponent of the player's choice into a duel minigame. The winner gets to use a roulette that determines the reward from the opponent. It gives the player's section in the heads up display a green color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames.
Bowser Space - Any players that land here causes Bowser to arrive. Bowser causes a series of events that harms usually whoever landed on the space. It gives their section in the heads up display a red color, which is used to determine pairings in minigames. Bowser can cause these events:
Gimme Coins!: The player gives 20 coins to Bowser. Sometimes, the player gives 10 coins instead.
If the player does not have 20, Bowser takes 10 coins away instead.
If the player has less than 10 coins, Bowser takes all of the player's coins anyway.
Gimme Stars!: Bowser takes one star from the player.
Gimme Charity!: Bowser forces the player to give 10 coins to all opponents.
In Battle Royale, the player loses a total of 30 coins. If less than 30, the highest amount divisible by three would be the basis (depending how many coins the player has that can be given out to the other players equally).
In Duel and Team Battle, 10 Coins is all the player has to give away. If less than 10, the player has to forfeit all coins.
Gimme Equality!: Bowser redistributes every player's coins so they all have the same amount. This can be the only event that can benefit the player.
Star Space - Once players reach this space, they can pay 20 coins to receive a Star. Other boards may have different conditions players need to fulfill to earn a Star. Unlike other spaces, this space cannot be landed on (unless a Star spawns directly on a player), and this space does not subtract from the dice roll.
Dash Mushroom - Add 3 to your Dice Roll - Cost: 3 Coins
Mega Dash Mushroom - Add 5 to your Dice Roll - Cost: 4 Coins
Poison Mushroom - Subtract 3 from a Rival's Dice Roll - Cost: 1 Coin
Green Shell - A rival of your choice loses 5 Coins! - Cost: 3 Coins
Red Shell - A rival of your choice loses 7 Coins! - Cost: 5 Coins
Spiny Shell - A rival of your choice loses half their Coins! - Cost: 6 Coins
Bullet Bill - Anyone the player passes lose 10 Coins, and the player gains all the lost Coins! - Cost: 7 Coins
Super Hammer - The player steals 10 Coins from a rival of your choice! - Cost: 8 Coins
Cellular Shopper - Opens up the Item Shop before the player rolls. - Cost: 5 Coins
P-Wing - Flies the player to the Star Space! - Cost: 10 Coins
Warp Pipe - Switch places with a rival of your choice. - Cost: 15 Coins
Super Horn - All your rivals lose a rolled number of Coins, and you get all the fallen coins! - Cost: 13 Coins
Checkpoint Flag - Place it on a space that is between 5 to 10 spaces ahead of you, when a player passes it, they gain 30 Coins! - Cost: 25 Coins
Wiggler's Garden - To get the star, the player must get to it and pay twenty coins (five if the Final 5 Frenzy shows Stars for 5 coins). When a player obtains a star, the star space appears in a different location.
Toadette's Music Room - The star on this board is in a random location. The musical note owns the star. The first musical note has a star which is 5 coins. The player must trade 5 coins for the first star collected, 10 for the second, 15 for the third, 20 for the fourth, and 30 for the fifth, making Toadette's Music Room the only board in which the Stars have a variable price, as well as the only board in which it is legitimately possible to buy Stars for five coins before the Final 5 Frenzy. After the fifth star, the cost is reduced back to the first musical note being 5 coins for its star and the cycle continues. Every time a star is obtained, the note appears in a different space.
DK's Stone Statue - On this board, the player gets the stars from the Star Splurge Space. Passing by this space allows them to buy as many stars as possible, provided they have enough coins. Stars cost 20 coins each on this board, with the price lowered to five if the spinner in the Final 5 Frenzy lands on "Stars for 5 coins".
Kamek's Library - On this board there are two jars. One is a lucky jar and one is the cursed jar. In one jar, there are five coins, or the player gets a mouthful of teeth that sends him or her back to the start. In the other jar, there is a star, which players may want to pick up most. The jars move in different locations when they are both opened. To open a jar costs ten coins.
Bowser's Pinball Machine - The Star is always on a random location on the board. Players can buy one Star for twenty coins (five if the Final 5 Frenzy shows Stars for five Coins). Once someone buys one, a new one appears.
Main article: List of Mario Party DS minigames
Mario Party DS features 73 minigames from seven different categories. There are 32 4-player minigames (29 of which are also Duel minigames), 12 1-vs-3 minigames, 13 2-vs-2 minigames (three of which are also Duel minigames), 32 Duel minigames (29 of which are 4-player minigames and three of which are 2-vs-2 minigames), five Battle minigames, five Boss minigames and six Puzzle minigames. Of these, 58 are unique, 4 are minigames with the goal of collecting coins, and 11 are specialized.
Main article: List of Mario Party DS collectibles
Mario Party DS features a wide variety of collectible items. These range between figurines of the many characters in the game, features of the five boards played on in the game, trophies related to the bosses defeated in the game and various badges one of which the player being allowed to equip. There are 30, 71, 25 and 30 of these respectively, each particular collectible with a different requirement to unlock.
Super Mario Bros.: In the Call of the Goomba minigame, the grinder plays the overworld theme. The music for the Boogie Beam minigame is a remix of the underground theme.
Super Mario World: The theme "Fresh as Mint" bears a heavy resemblance to the overworld theme from this game.
Mario Party 3: Mario's Puzzle Party returns as a Puzzle minigame, and the character icons for Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Daisy, and Waluigi are reused in it as well.
Mario Party 4: Bob-omb Breakers returns as a Puzzle minigame, and all the characters' victory and losing animations are recycled.
Mario Party 5: Piece Out returns as a Puzzle minigame.
Mario Party 6: Block Star returns as a Puzzle minigame. Also, Peach, Daisy, and Toadette's artworks are recycled from this game.
Super Mario 64 DS: Yoshi's artwork is a modified version of his artwork from this game, which depicts him holding Mario's Cap over his head.
Mario Party 7: Stick and Spin returns as a Puzzle minigame. Also, Dry Bones' artwork is recycled from this game.
Mario Party 8: The character select images are recycled from this game.
New Super Mario Bros.: Hammer Bro.'s artwork is recycled from this game.
Super Mario Galaxy: Toad and Kamek's artworks are recycled from this game.