The gang's all here, the only thing missing is the party.
The game is centered around eight teeny-tiny Mario heroes, or as I call them, the crew. The game offers six options on the Main Menu; Story, Party, Minigame, Puzzle, and Multiplayer Modes. Oh wait, that's five . . . Oh right, and Gallery.
In Story Mode, the Crew sets off after being shrunk by Bowser. Cartoon-like moving comics depict the story. (Does that make any sense?) To get to Bowser, you head across five game boards. Of course, everything is giant, and each board has its twists and turns. Tap a spinning dice, and your character will run across the board, and this is the "party." Oh, translation? Toss and steal items, avoid booby-trapped panels, and groan when you tap a 1 and need to get somewhere far away. In addition, everyone is striving to collect as many Stars as possible to win. After all four players take a turn rolling (hitting) the dice, the players engage in a minigame. Minigames are "separated" into modes, whether it's 2 vs. 2, 1 vs. 3, 4 player, or good old Battle mode. After playing 10 rounds, the player with the most Stars goes against whatever Boss is terrorizing the board. The computer won't defeat the boss, so it's up to you to win on the board and take on the boss.
Party Mode drops the "story" and let's you race across any board you've completed and play any minigame you've unlocked.
Minigame Mode strips Story Mode down further, into six sections; Free Play, Step It Up, Battle Cup, Score Shuffle, Boss Bash, and Rocket Rascals. Any of these modes let's you dive back into the minigames on hand in a somewhat organized fashion.
As far as minigames go, Nintendo went with quantity, not quality. True, over 70 minigames is impressive, but when you get down to the minigames, there isn't too much depth. Most games are fun, and will have you scribbling with the stylus, button mashing, and puffing in the microphone. Replay content is pretty thin, but there are tons of unlockables for the hard core Mario fan. Puzzle Mode is just something jammed in the game, and you might not touch it once. Puzzle Mode is there for someone tired of the minigames, if 70 are too little for you.
Multiplayer is handy, but the only option is Download Play, similar to Super Mario 64 DS. And with no Wi-Fi, you won't be partying online anytime soon. Even with that said, you and three other people can actually party with just one game card and four DS systems.
Mario Party DS is a reminder of how minigames are meant to be mini. No, I don't mean mini as in made for mini Mario. Mario Party DS is pretty solid, but quantity doesn't necessarily beat quality.
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
SOUND: 9/10
PRESENTATION: 9/10
MARIO PARTY DS: 9/10