

^ a b Kemps, Heidi (November 22, 2013).^ a b "Mario Party: Island Tour for 3DS Reviews"."A Mario Party is Getting Started on 3DS This Winter". ^ a b Whitehead, Thomas (April 17, 2013)."New Mario Party coming to 3DS this winter". ^ "NINTENDO ANNOUNCES LAUNCH DATES FOR ANTICIPATED Wii U & NINTENDO 3DS TITLES FOR 2013"."Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Mario Party: Island Tour hit 3DS Nov. Pocket Gamer said, " Island Tour will provide you and a bunch of mates with a great evening of laughs, but most of the time you'll be laughing AT it rather than with it." IGN said, "Mario Party: Island Tour’s rich multiplayer options are sullied by boring minigames and unfortunate motion control." Nintendo World Report listed Island Tour's pros as being the game boards, "extensive" single-player mode, and the fact that it utilizes almost all the Nintendo 3DS features, and the cons as the fact that the difficulty of Bowser's Tower is not changeable, the instruction screens, which they described as "repetitive", and also that there is no online multiplayer. That said, there are definitely some missing pieces that keep it from being a memorable entry in the franchise." GameSpot commended the game's usage of four-player local download play, great minigame designs, and also Island Tour 's single-player mode, but criticized "a few bad games in the bunch", and the lack of online play. GamesRadar said, " Island Tour isn't the Mario Party you remember, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Game Revolution praised the 7 new boards and boss minigames however, the repetitive gameplay, character voices and board music were criticized. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of all four eights, for a total of 32 out of 40. Island Tour received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. There are 10 playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi, Boo, Toad, and Bowser Jr., who is unlocked by beating all 30 floors of Bowser's Tower. The game has 7 boards: Perilous Palace Path, Banzai Bill's Mad Mountain, Star-Crossed Skyway, Rocket Road, Kamek's Carpet Ride, Shy Guy's Shuffle City, and Bowser's Peculiar Peak/Bowser's Bizarre Volcano (which is unlocked by completing every board except for Shy Guy's Shuffle City). Each board has its own rules, such as racing to the finish and using items to enhance the amount of spaces advanced as well as hinder opponents and collecting the most Mini Stars to win. The minigames can be played any time, even when not on a game board the game also features AR ( augmented reality) and StreetPass. By rolling the Dice Block or using a card, the player advances on the game board and might trigger an event or minigame. The gameplay is similar to previous installments in the Wii Party and Mario Party series. Mad Ladders/Rung Direction, one of the 81 minigames with four players
