Mario Party 12: Birthday Clutter

Mario Party 12: Birthday Clutter, sometimes just called Mario Party: Birthday Clutter or just Mario Party 12 is a board game being developed by Sapphire Dragon Inc. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch Console and, as implied, is the eleventh main installment of the ‘’Mario Party’’ Series and the eighteenth installment overall the series, being the second one released specifically for the aforementioned console, while its predecessor, Super Mario Party is the first installment.
Unlike Mario Party 9 and 10, Birthday Clutter maintains the old formula of Mario Party, been present since the first game to Mario Party 8, and was reworked again back to the old formula in Super Mario Party. This means that all players once again move on their own, participating on the gimmicks and events of the board. The Car formula is exclusive to the Bowser Party Mode, however. 8-player minigames from Mario Party 7 return as well.
Similar to the Orbs, Candies, Spells and Cards in past Mario Party games, Items take the shape of gifts, fitting to the theme of the game.
The game intends to bring back every playable Mario Party Character from the first game to ‘’Mario Party: The Top 100’’, with the sole exception being Koopa Kid, a character that was exclusively playable in Mario Party 5 and 6,and Bowser who was playable in Super Mario Party is now only available in Party, Minigame and Extras Mode along with Bowser Jr., though he's restrained from picking in the Main Story along with Bowser's Party Mode and introducing new ones such as Pauline with her new design and Cappy, both from Super Mario Odyssey, bringing back various of the best minigames from old Mario Party Games and some boards.
Mario Party 12 also introduces a brand new character to the series, whose name is Delia, the host of the game.
== Story ==
It was the birthday of the twins Mario and Luigi, so Peach invited them and their friends to board on a cruise whose destiny is to travel to the Birthday Island, a special island dedicated to attend the best birthday parties.
The owner of the Island and his daughter then appear behind Mario, Luigi, Peach and all of their friends, giving them a happy and warm welcome. And so everyone enjoyed their stance on the island, so late the time for the cake already arrived. Four chefs with an odd, mysterious appearance appeared behind them, pushing the table with the gigantic cake that contained a small figurine of each of the playable characters, and at the top of the cake there were the two figurines of Mario and Luigi.
However, Bowser Jr. suddenly pops out of the cake with his Koopa Clown Car and the four mysterious bakers revealed themselves to be the four unlikable Broodals, with Madame Broode and mysteriously, a robot with Mario’s appearance, appearing in front of them. Bowser Jr. told Mario and his friends that his father has a message for them, and a gigantic hologram appears, revealing the shady figure of Bowser, very angry because the owner didn’t host Bowser’s Birthday Party back then and worse, he wasn’t invited to Mario’s Party, so he threatened to kidnap the owner’s daughter and destroy Birthday Island, unless all the entire island becomes dedicated to attend Bowser and his son’s birthdays.
Robo Mario then attempted to kidnap the daughter, however the owner pushes her daughter away and is kidnapped instead. And that’s not all, because the Broodals altered the mechanics of Birthday Island, transforming it, and what used to be inoffensive boards became some dangerous and intrepid ones, which were the true original ones of the island, and due to the danger they represented, they were altered.
But not everything is lost! The daughter, whose name is Delia knew that there was a legend in Birthday Island that if you clear all the seven true boards of the island, the Supreme Superstar itself would appear behind the winner and grant any of the three wishes you want.
So Mario and his friends decide to go through all the seven boards of Birthday Island, meet the Supreme Superstar not only to salvage Delia’s Father, but the entire Birthday Island and the day of the Mario Brothers. However, Bowser and Bowser Jr. are planning to participate along with Mario and his friends…?
== Gameplay ==
At the moment it's still unclear which controller type does the game use.
As aforementioned, Birthday Clutter maintains the traditional Mario Party formula, in where everyone moves at their own, strategically moving through the board and reach to the Star, the winner being the player who has gathered the highest number of Stars. Players move after rolling Dice Blocks marked with the numbers 1-10 and the result of the die is the number of spaces the player has to travel and land on a space with an event that can either help or hinder them.
There are 7 boards exclusive to the Story Mode, and after clearing this mode, 14 new boards will be awaiting to be unlocked in the shop, however, each board is completely different from the others, with a special gimmick used to obtain a Star, much like in Mario Party 8. Some boards feature the classic race to the scattered Stars and buy them for 20 coins.
The last five events return, which gives the losing player a Gift Item, lets it choose an event to help the losing player, such as earning coins, lowering the Star’s price or even earning a Star for free. It also lets the player choose a minigames, much like in past games.
Friend Spaces and Duel spaces from Mario Party DS also return, the first ones consist on giving the landing player and another player the landed one chooses 5 coins and the latter functions similarly, but instead of giving coins, it forces the player and the chosen opponent to bet the same number of coins or Stars depending on the quantity chosen by the roulette. The winner takes away all the betted coins or Stars.
Bonus Stars also return and can be turned off or on. When they are on, it proceeds to give 3 bonus stars to random players depending on some achievements obtained in the games. Here it shows the different types of bonus stars there are in the game.
*Minigame Star: It’s given to the player who earned the most coins in minigames.
*Gift Star: Given to the player who has used the most gifts and not just bought or obtained them.
*Travel Star: Given to the player who has traveled the most spaces on the board. These can be obtained easier when using Double or Triple Dice Gifts.
*Event Star: Given to the player who has landed on the Event Stars and suffered those, be it good or bad.
*Shopping Star: Given to the player who has spent most coins by shopping in the board. Simply visiting shops doesn’t count.
*Red Star: Given to the player who has landed on most red spaces
*Friendly Star: Given to the player who has landed on most Friend Spaces.
*Dueling Star: Given to the player who has landed on most Duel Spaces.
== Characters ==
Birthday Clutter introduces 32 playable characters, being the installment that has the biggest roster of any Mario Party Game. Koopa Kid is the only character that did not make its cut, though every other playable character returns.
Bowser and Bowser Jr. can only be used on Bowser's Party Mode, whereas Mii can only be used in Extras Mode and in Online Mode.
== Playable Characters ==
==== Starting ====
			
			
			
			
==== Unlockable after clearing Story Mode ====
			
			
These characters are only unlockable after clearing the Story Mode, due to the fact that the player has to face against 3 of them in the last board, which unlocks all 3 of them.
==== Purchasable Characters ====
These characters can be bought at Toadsworth's Shop for 2,000 coins each, making this a total of 12,000 coins.
			
			
			
			
Note: The following characters Pauline, Boom Boom, Pom Pom, Luma, Cappy, Wiggler and Nabbit make their first appearance in the series as playable characters.
==== Exclusive Mode Characters ====
Bowser and Bowser Jr. are only playable in the Party, Minigames and Extras Mode. However if Bowser's Party mode is selected, they will play a new role and can be selected by either being controlled by the computer or by a player. Miis can only be used in Extras Mode though.
==== Supporting Characters ====
	
== Tag Team Party Default Partners ==
Partners	Partners	Partners	Partners
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
When Luma and Cappy aren’t unlocked, Rosalina and Pauline are partners by default. However, if either Luma or Cappy is unlocked, the other girl’s default partner will be a random character until her respective partner is unlocked. 
The same thing happens when a character was unlocked but their partner wasn’t.
== Boards ==
Since Birthday Clutter retains the same formula of the old Mario Party games, most new boards were set like that way. 7 new boards are introduced in the game, 6 available at the beginning in Party Mode and a last one that must be unlocked after clearing Story Mode. Birthday Clutter is also the very first Mario Party game to include Retro Boards, which means some boards from every past game return. Mario Party 9 and 10 boards are only available for Bowser's Party Mode though.
The most basic board, square shaped with three or four different paths, with no huge hazards and the main objective is to reach to the Star Space that is randomly placed somewhere around the board, replacing a blue space into a Star Space. A Star costs 20 coins and after bought, it will teleport to another part of the board. It takes place on some prairies full of flowers, with acorn trees and small honey hives the player can enter to perform events and earning some extra coins after landing on an event space. serve as the shopkeepers in this game. 	As the name indicates, it takes place underground, in a labyrinth where Rocky Wrenches and Swoops are usually seen inhabiting. To get the Star, the player must reach to a chamber with a giant boulder in the middle and a Rocky Wrench driving a drilling machine, and pay him with 20 coins to let him drill the giant boulder, and reveal a Star. However some boulders may contain coins or Bob-ombs instead of Stars, in which getting a unlucky will cause it to explode and the player will be sent back to the entrance of the mine. When the player got a Star, the mine will collapse, and every player will return to the entrance of the mine. After that the layout of the mine will change. Mine carts are also used for transporting to the other side of the board, with a small fee of 10 coins to use their services. Various are the Shopkeepers.
It’s a board that takes place underwater in a colorful and gorgeous reef. Players must find the scattered pearls around the board and give them to in exchange for a Star. The pearls are hidden inside clams, though empty clams might clamp the player taking away 3 coins when landing on one of these. 4 of the clams have white pearls while only one of them produces a black pearl, but which one produces which is random and shuffle around once gives a Star to a player and takes away the pearls of everyone else.However, Gooper Blooper will only want white pearls, otherwise if you give him black pearls he will punish you by taking away some coins or sending you back to the starting point of the board. A pearl takes a slot in the Gift Box inventory, so a player can carry a maximum of 5 pearls, sacrificing the use of Gift Boxes temporarily, and can be stolen or swapped much like the Gift Boxes. are the Shopkeepers.	Cake Rollercoaster TownAs the name implies takes place on a cake styled board, similar to Peach's Birthday Cake in Mario Party and two rollercoasters, along with three carrousels as part of the board. It’s a quirky board: the Star is located at the end of the rollercoaster. The problem? There are two rollercoasters, one that takes you directly to the Star and the other to the starting point of the board, so you must enter either one of the two eastern carrousels, but landing on an Event space changes the direction of the carrousels and the entrance of the rollercoasters, meaning that you may land on the undesired one, which sends you back to the beginning of the board! The real rollercoaster carries you to the western carrousel, whose direction won’t move and a Star will await for you, and send you back to the start of the board. To enter the rollercoaster, you must pay an 20 coins. This time, serves as the shopkeeper.
Bonneter CityInspired on the Cap Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey, the goal is pretty similar to Windmillville and Koopa’s Tycoon Town from Mario Party 7 and 8, respectively. Players have to reach through the Bonneter houses and invest coins to increase the house’s rank, usually paying 10 coins to get a Star. The player who has invested the most number of coins in a House will take ownership of it, and others who have a higher amount of coins than the invested one will take away the ownership. Investing 100 coins lead to fully ownership to who has paid it. also serve as the Shopkeepers. 	Bullet Bill StationThe board takes place on a subway station. Players must search for , who lurks around the station, inside the Bullet Train or even in the rails. Every time a turn passes, a hint is given to the players where Bandit is this time if he hasn’t been spotted because his location changes each turn. Players that manage to catch Bandit earn a Star but must escape out of the rails if they don’t want to be run over by the Bullet Train! The Bullet Train is only available to carry a player at the time, and the others must wait two turns for the Bullet Train to come back, or if they want, can also search for Bandit in the rails. are the shopkeepers.
Bowser's Cosmic MayhemThe seventh and final board of the game, unavailable at the beginning so to unlock it the player must clear Story Mode. Takes place on a small planetoid full of lava. The board is round and spherical. Each player is given 5 stars, and the goal of the board is to buy the Bowser Gifts or Bullet Gifts used to steal Stars from other players. The winner is the one that gets the highest number of Stars. However, similar to Petey’s Hazel Prairies, there’s a Ztar space located somewhere in the board and passersby will be attacked by it, taking away a Star. Toadies are the Shopkeepers. 	Bowser's Cosmic MayhemThe seventh and final board of the game, unavailable at the beginning so to unlock it the player must clear Story Mode. Takes place on a small planetoid full of lava. The board is round and spherical. Each player is given 5 stars, and the goal of the board is to buy the Bowser Gifts or Bullet Gifts used to steal Stars from other players. The winner is the one that gets the highest number of Stars. However, similar to Petey’s Hazel Prairies, there’s a Ztar space located somewhere in the board and passersby will be attacked by it, taking away a Star. Toadies are the Shopkeepers.
== Spaces ==
The Friend and Duel Spaces from Mario Party DS return.
Space 	Description 	Rarity
Blue Space 	Gives the player 3 coins after landing in it. 	Common
Red Space 	Takes away 3 coins to the player who lands on it. 	Semi-Common
Event Space 	It results in a random event that can either affect the board, harm or benefit players 	Semi-Common
Toadsworth Space	Results on a beneficial event, similar to what Donkey Kong did in Mario Party 8. They are turned into Koopa Kid Spaces after a player lands into one, however. 	Rare
Koopa Kid Space 	Triggers a harmful event that forces the player who landed on it to play some minigames to avoid losing coins or stars, similar to what Bowser did in Mario Party 8. After one of the events is triggered, they are replaced into Toadsworth Spaces. 	Rare
Lucky Space 	Results on a beneficial event for the one who lands on it. It’s taken away to a secret part of the board, where passing on every space of it gives the player three additional coins and a Star will be waiting at the end of the secret board. 	Rare
Unlucky Space 	Results on a harmful event for the one who lands on it. It’s taken away to a secret part of the board, where passing on every space of it substracts the player three coins and a Ztar will be waiting at the end of the secret board, taking away the Star of the player. 	Very Rare
Friend Space 	Arriving on this space makes the player choose another player and give both of them 5 coins. 	Semi-Common
Duel Space 	Replaces the Friend Space on the last five turns and forces the player to challenge another in a minigame, betting either coins or stars. The winner of the minigames receives all the bets. 	Semi-Common
Character Space 	Players can put Gift Boxes in a space, similar to how Spells worked in Mario Party DS. When an opponent lands on a space with a Gift Box, it will be afflicted by the event of the Gift Box (such as taking away some coins or changing spaces). However if the owner who lands on these has him/herself put the gift in will get a bonus of 5 coins.	Varies
Star Space 	Players that pass through it will be offered to buy a Star for 20 coins. They cannot land on these spaces, however. 	Rare
Ztar Space 	Players that pass through it will be attacked by a Ztar, taking away a Star. Only available in Bowser's Cosmic Mayhem. They cannot land on these spaces, however. 	Very Rare
== Gallery ==
Mario_Party_12_Birthday_Clutter_Boxart.png|Boxart of the game
Delia Birthday Clutter.png|Delia's artwork
Toadsworth Space Mario Party.png|Toadsworth Space
== Trivia ==
*Delia’s design is based on a pop tart, gift boxes and envelopes while her father has the appearance of a wine bottle and a coffee.
*Pauline is the only new character that’s not unlockable. Birthday Clutter also makes Pauline and Cappy's very first playable appearance in the history of any Mario game and their first appearance in the Mario Party franchise overall.
*A section of Wiggler’s body was removed so that its height could be comparable to the rest of the Mario Cast.
*Every supporting character and Boss from Mario Party DS, with the exception of the Piranha Plant and Koopa’s grandfather, appear as playable characters. The supporting characters are Toadette, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Koopa Troopa and Wiggler, whose makes its first appearance as a playable character in the series. For the Bosses, those are Hammer Bro, Dry Bones, Kamek and Bowser, though only the latter is playable on Bowser’s Party Mode.
*The Koopalings were planned to appear in the game, but due to the fact that the Broodals felt more fitting to the game’s theme, they were replaced. However they appear as obtainable badges.
Category:Mario Games
Category:Mario (series)
Category:Mario Party Games
Category:Mario Party (series)
Category:Nintendo Switch Games
Category:Board Games
Category:Sapphire Dragon Inc.