The next Mario Party title will include a mode that allows one player to endlessly troll their friends as Bowser using the Wii U's GamePad controller — the appropriately named Bowser Party mode.
During a hands-on demo of Mario Party 10 today, we tested out two different minigames as Bowser. Up to four other players can participate in these minigames using Wii Remotes or Wii U Pro Controllers. These minigames functioned similarly to one-versus-three challenges featured in previous Mario Party titles, except this time Bowser lorded over the other players and attempted to harm them.
Both games required us to use the gyroscope function of the Wii U GamePad, tilting and rotating the controller to achieve our goals. The first minigame placed four players in a fenced-in stone square with two lines of fireballs criss-crossing through it. As Bowser, we had to tilt the GamePad in any direction to move the two lines of fireballs front to back and side to side in an attempt to trap players in the fire. Each player began with five lives, with Bowser's goal to knock out all twenty available lives. The minigame ended with two players still having lives, but it didn't matter — they didn't win anyway. They just lost less poorly to Bowser.
The second game required us to hold the GamePad up vertically and move it from side to side. On the TV, the four players were again trapped in a square with five lives each we had to knock out. As we moved the GamePad, we would press A to breathe fire at our four helpless victims, blowing steam until they were defeated.
Bowser Mode is a full-time commitment in Mario Party 10. At the start of the game, players can choose to play in classical Mario Party mode or in Bowser Mode. Once in Bowser Mode, every minigame is run by the player who chooses to be Bowser.
At this time, Nintendo is unable to share more details on how this dynamic will function on the main game board and how players will collect points while Bowser is constantly trying to ruin them.
Mario Party 10 will launch for the Wii U at an unannounced date.
