Nintendo Mario Party 8 -Wii

Mario Party 8 is hosted by two new characters: MC Ballyhoo and his talking top hat, Big Top. During the standard game, four different characters compete on one of six themed game boards. When playing with fewer than four people, players select which characters the computer will control, as well as their difficulty levels and handicaps. The game has fourteen playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Princess Peach, Toadette, Wario, Waluigi, Boo, Dry Bones, Blooper, and Hammer Bro, with the latter two being unlockable. Players also have the ability to play as their Mii characters created using the Wii's Mii Channel.

Players are given the choice of five different areas: the Party Tent, Star Battle Arena, the Minigame Tent, the Extras Zone, and the Fun Bazaar. The Party Tent allows characters to compete on boards in three types of battles: Battle Royale (four-player competition; one to four players), Tag Battle (two-vs. two; one to four players), or Duel Battle (one-on-one; one to two players).

In the Star Battle Arena mode, one player faces off against one opponent on each board in which when they get to the last board, Bowser will take the Star from the player and they will face against Hammer Bro or Blooper (who become playable characters once defeated) in Bowser's Warped Orbit, then once they defeat the character, Bowser will give back the Star Rod and the player will face off in a final minigame called Superstar Showdown. When they win the battle, the player wins the game. In the Minigame Tent, players can play several non-board challenges from the minigames. The Extras Zone has the eight extra minigames that do not appear in board-play. These could be played with Miis saved in the Mii Channel in addition to Mario franchise characters. Finally, the Fun Bazaar has the player use their carnival cards to unlock minigames and other surprises. In the Fun Bazaar, the player can use their carnival cards to purchase in-game music and character voices. Minigame records can also be viewed here. For general board-play modes, players take 10 to 50 turns rolling dice and moving across the game board, with the goal being to getting as many Stars as possible within the allotted turn limit.