Mario Party 3D announced – Mario is having yet another party

Iwata tonight announced plans to bring a new Mario Party game to the franchise – except it appears to be exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS.

With only the tentative title to go by, Mario Party will feature seven different and unique game boards, each with their own specific set of rules. The gameplay footage shown during the Direct presentation highlighted that there will be board specific power-ups (as with previous games) though Iwata hinted that the game was going to get much more dynamic than previous titles. Examples of these power-ups included using a Bullet Bill-like object to zoom past your fellow players as well as the option to hide in caves to avoid painful outcomes.

In addition to this, the game will feature a whopping 81 new minigames that seek to test players speed, concentration, and the old Nintendo favourite – luck. Of course, as with previous games, players can skip the board game stuff and play minigames exclusively.

Interestingly, the game will also make use of the 3DS’s cameras, supporting AR Cards when the game launches. It’s uncertain as to whether this means they will interact with your current set that came with your 3DS or if a new set will be included with this new Mario Party game, but we’re interested to see how it turns out.

Mario Party (a tentative title) will be released this Summer (Dec-Jan-Feb) for the Nintendo 3DS in Australia both at retail and as a digital download from the eShop. Once we have more solid details, we’ll let you know.

Given that a huge part of the allure of Mario Party is playing this with your friends on a big screen – how do you feel about the announcement of the game for the 3DS?