19 Years Ago, Nintendo Launched Mario Party 8

On May 30, 2007, Nintendo released Mario Party 8, which quickly became one of the company's most popular multiplayer games on the Wii console.

The Mario Party franchise began in 1998 on the Nintendo 64, which introduced 50 exciting new minigames for fans to play with their friends. The original game was a huge hit, with fans appreciating the small-scale gameplay that they could easily switch on and play without too much practice or skill needed.

Nintendo clearly realized they had a hit on their hands because over the next seven years, they released seven new variations of Mario Party that introduced new video games, new characters, and new gameplay mechanics to make the multiplayer fun even more chaotic.

Mario Party 8 was the first installment in the franchise to be released on the Nintendo Wii, which had just come out a few months prior. The console had much better graphics than its predecessor the Gamecube, and its enhanced multiplayer gameplay mechanics made it a perfect fit for this franchise.

The new Mario Party sequel was a huge hit; Nintendo gave fans plenty of new characters to choose from, as well as increasing the number of minigames to roughly 80. These included free-for-all minigames, team-based minigames, and solo games for fans to practice when friends were busy.

Mario Party 8 eventually became the 12th-best-selling game for the Nintendo Wii, which is a huge accomplishment for a console that had an extended lifespan of over 11 years. The game significantly outsold its sequel, Mario Party 9, which received mixed reviews from critics.

Despite its success, Mario Party 8 also faced some criticism from industry professionals, who believed that its graphics were too outdated for the Nintendo Wii and the gameplay was too reliant on random luck over skill. While these criticisms didn't necessarily hinder the game's success, they were taken into consideration for later sequels.

The most recent Mario Party game, Super Mario Party Jamboree, received very strong reviews and is generally considered a high point for the franchise. There's much less reliance on luck, more varied game modes, and interesting multiplayer mechanics. For a franchise that's been popular for so many years and been through iterations, MarioParty keeps reinventing itself.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 7:02 AM.