Mario Party 9

Mario Party 9 does offer players some exposition at the beginning of the game, though mostly it focuses on gameplay. One night at Peach's castle, Mario and Co. are gathered to watch Mini Stars through a telescope. Suddenly, Mario notices that the stars are being sucked through a vortex, and the culprits are Bowser and Bowser Jr. Mario and his friends then set out to save the Mini Stars from the nefarious clutches of the Bowsers.

In terms of gameplay, two or more players (or only one if playing on single-player mode) roll dice to move around a virtual board. Landing on certain spaces will trigger minigames and each board also features a boss battle. As players move around the board, they collect Mini Stars that can, at the end of the game, be used to buy certain collectibles after they have been converted to Party Points.

The game is completely accessible for kids and shouldn't be too difficult for anyone to pick up.

• Which Mario character is your favorite to play as? Why do you choose him/her?
• Do you like the minigames in which you team up with other players more than those in which it's a free-for-all? Why or why not?