Mario Party DS
© 2007 Nintendo of America
Fun, fast and very busy, this roll the dice, turn-based board game comes to the handheld Nintendo DS for the first time (prior versions ran on the Wii and GameCube). The best part about this game is that four children can share one game cartridge, thanks to the DS wireless capabilities. In addition, there's never a shortage of something fun or creative to do, with the touch screen, microphone or regular keys. For example, in the game, each player is represented by one of the Mario characters. If there's not four players, the computer takes over, so you can also play this game alone. After rolling the dice, you move through the board, where you might encounter one of 70 minigames, that range from blowing out candles with the DS microphone, to flipping giant hamburgers with the stylus. Each game board is based on a theme, with titles like Todette's Music Room or Bowser's Pinball Machine. In the story, Bowser (the bad guy) is trying to get five crystals, so he has shrunk everyone so they can't stop him. In Solo Mode, players make their way to Bowser's castle, winning first place on each game board and then beating the Boss Minigame to win. In Party Mode, players compete against human or DS-controlled players. There is also a Minigame Mode with just six of the bigger games that can also be shared by four players after they are downloaded to the other player's DS. Note that this is not a simple game. Reading the instructions is necessary, and there's a good bit of setup needed to get everyone signed up and on the same activity, at the same time. The manual to this game is 42 pages long. You can save up to two individual games on one cartridge. If you're looking for a great way to play with other DS owners, and don't mind all the Nintendo-themed characters, you'll love Mario Party DS. Created by Hundson Soft for Nintendo.
$30, Nintendo DS
Teaches: classification, logic, timing, reading, socialization, problem solving
CTR Rating: 88%