Mario Party 9 celebrates mini-game madness

Nintendo's adaptation of the traditional board game combines well-loved Mario characters with wacky activities and a nod or two to some of Mario's other appearances.

Nintendo's adaptation of the traditional board game combines well-loved Mario characters with wacky activities and a nod or two to some of Mario's other appearances.

It's the first proper Mario Party game for five years, not counting 2010's earlier Wii Party spin-off, nor the conceptually similar Dragon Quest and Mario crossover Fortune Street (aka Boom Street) from 2011.

Players take turns making their way around a colorful course, all joining in with variations on hopscotch, ice-skating, American football, and even Mario Kart.

And despite the rise of the iPad and its tablet brethren as a modern repository for traditional pastimes, with Chess, Mahjong and Scrabble joined by Ticket To Ride, Uno, Risk and Monopoly, it looks like Nintendo's 15 year history with the Mario Party series puts it in a good position to push its own future of family board games.

Mario Party 9 is released in Europe on March 2, in North American on March 11, and in Japan on April 26.