Mario's Puzzle Party
| Mario's Puzzle Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Mario Party 3 | |||
| Appears in | Mario Party 3 Mario Party DS Mario Party Superstars | ||
| Type | 4-Player minigame (Mario Party 3 and Mario Party Superstars) Puzzle minigame (Mario Party DS) Sports & Puzzles minigame (Mario Party Superstars) | ||
| Initial record | 40 points (Mario Party DS) | ||
| Music track | On Your Toes / Come On, Chop-Chop! (Superstars) Think It Out (Mario Party DS) | ||
| |||
Mario's Puzzle Party is a 4-Player minigame in Mario Party 3 and Mario Party Superstars, a Puzzle minigame in Mario Party DS, and a Sports & Puzzles minigame in Mario Party Superstars. In Mario Party 3, a similar minigame in principle, Mario's Puzzle Party Pro, can be unlocked in the Game Guy Room after the game's story mode has been beaten as a Miracle Star. This minigame takes place in the sky with big clouds and a rainbow.
Gameplay
The player has to break the colored blocks by connecting two or more blocks to get points. Bricks occasionally fall to obstruct the player (they can be broken by making combos around them, however), while Thwomps occasionally drop and crush the blocks underneath them to half-size, which can aid the player in scoring combos. The player who reaches 100 points first wins. If any player runs out of space in the grid to place the blocks, that player's game ends. The last-man-standing rule can also decide the winner—if everyone's game but one player's ends, the player who is still running wins, regardless of how many points that player got compared to the others.
In Mario Party 3, when this minigame is played in Free Play Room, the score limit can be set from 100 to 1,000 in 100-point increments—once one player reaches that score, the minigame ends and that player wins. In any other mode, the score limit is locked at 100.
The Mario Party DS version has a few changes to the minigame. In fact, it functions similarly to Mario's Puzzle Party Pro. The top screen reminds the player about the Thwomps, while the bottom screen shows the gameplay. When the player manages to clear the screen of blocks, they are awarded 1,000 points. Dropping pieces in this version is also instantaneous, where the piece immediately drops to the bottom after the appropriate button is pressed. In addition to this, there are levels, which speed the game up and increase points earned the higher they are. The highest level one can get to is 99. Every 40 points the player gets equals one Mario Party Point. The two-player version, however, plays more like the original Mario's Puzzle Party.
Mario Party Superstars has three versions of this minigame. The first is the four-player version like the original version in Mario Party 3, though this time, there is no option to extend the target number of points beyond 100 in Free Play. The second, which is played with two players as with Mario Party DS, is found in the Vs. Puzzles mode and is similar to the four-player version, except that players can change the target score and, unless players are playing by themselves, computer players do not participate (although when this minigame is played in a ranked game against another player online, the target score is always 300 points). The third version of this minigame is played under Score Attack, which, like Mario's Puzzle Party Pro, allows the player to get as many points as possible under three minutes. The player must survive three minutes to record their score. Like in the aforementioned minigame, Brick Blocks fall into the playing field after every 100 points is reached. Characters now cheer whenever they score points, and they also provide disappointed vocals if their board falls.
Controls
Mario Party 3
– Move cursor
or 
– Rotate blocks
– Drop blocks
Mario Party DS
– Move
– Flip
– Drop
Mario Party Superstars
(Left and Right) – Move- (Down) – Quick Drop
- (Up) – Instant Drop
– Flip Block
In-game text
Mario Party 3
- Game Rules – "Break blocks by connecting 2 or more of the same color. Thwomps will occasionally fall and squash blocks for you."
- Advice – "Garbage blocks will break when the colored blocks touching them are broken."
Mario Party DS
- Rules (1 player) – "Connect two or more of a similar block type to clear them. Use Thwomps that occasionally fall to squash the blocks down to half size."
- Rules (2 players) – "Connect two or more of a similar block type to clear them. Whoever reaches 100 points first wins."
- Tips – "The next block to fall is displayed on the right of the screen. Stack the blocks strategically!"
Mario Party Superstars
- "Break blocks by connecting two or more of the same color. Thwomps will occasionally fall and squash blocks for you."
Gallery
Background in Mario Party 3
Blue block
Red block
Green block
Yellow block
White block
Black block
Brick Block
Mario Party DS
Mario Party Superstars
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ドッスンパズル[?] Dossun pazuru |
Thwomp Puzzle |
Mario Party 3
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| French | Mario Puzzle Party[?] | - | |
| German | Marios Puzzle-Party[?] | Mario's Puzzle Party | |
| Spanish | Puzzle Mario Party[?] | Mario Party Puzzle |
Mario Party DS / Mario Party Superstars
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese (simplified) | 咚咚益智游戏[?] Dōngdōng Yìzhì yóuxì |
Thwomp Puzzle Game | |
| Chinese (traditional) | 咚咚益智遊戲[?] Dōngdōng Yìzhì yóuxì |
Thwomp Puzzle Game | |
| Dutch | Pletblok[?] | Squash block | |
| French (NOA) | Casse-tête de Mario[?] | Mario's Puzzle | |
| French (NOE) | Thwompuzzle[?] | Portmanteau of Thwomp and puzzle | |
| German | Steinblocks Schacht[?] | Thwomp Shaft | |
| Italian | Blocchi Twomp[?] | Thwomp Blocks | |
| Korean | 쿵쿵 퍼즐[?] Kungkung Peojeul |
Thwomp Puzzle | |
| Portuguese | Quebra-Corbeça[?] | Pun on quebra-cabeça (puzzle) and cor (color) | |
| Russian | Головоломка Марио[?] Golovolomka Mario |
Mario's Puzzle | |
| Spanish (NOA) | Don Pisotón al ataque[?] | Thwomp attack | |
| Spanish (NOE) | Roca Picuda al ataque[?] | Thwomp attack |
Trivia
- In Mario Party 3, the winning mugshots of the six characters who have been playable since the first Mario Party (and are playable in both Party Mode and Story Mode) are reused from Mario Party 2. However, Daisy and Waluigi, who can be used only in Party Mode, are the only two characters whose winning mugshots from Mario Party 3 are used, due to this game being their first appearances in the Mario Party series.
- In the Mario Party DS version of the minigame, the icons for the characters are changed back to the icons from Mario Party 2 and Mario Party 3; this includes Peach and Daisy, who revert to their pre-GameCube designs. Toad's icon is the only new one, replacing Donkey Kong's; however, he uses an in-game render from Mario Party 5 rather than artwork from the Nintendo 64 era, due to this game being his first playable Mario Party appearance. Furthermore, Thwomps return to their Super Mario 64 design, making this minigame and a cameo appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (specifically, one of Kirby's Stone transformations) that design's only two appearances in any game originally for a seventh-generation or later console.
