Mario Party DS

Mario Party DS is a sub entry in the Mario Party series and the second handheld entry, after Advance. It was the last Mario Party game to be developed by Hudson Soft, before NDcube would take over development, due to the former being absorbed by Konami in 2012.

Plot
Mario and the gang all get invited to dinner party at Bowser's castle, along with an apology from Bowser saying he's sorry for kidnapping Princess Peach for 20 years. The heroes get to the castle and discover its a trap, as they are caged soon after and shrunk by Bowser's minimizer. The miniature heroes get blasted away by Kamek, and land close to Wiggler's Garden, which is the first board. The boards get much more difficult from there on out, and ends in a Pinball machine owned by Bowser.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Decent graphics for a DS game.
 * 2) The Minimizer is a weapon so stupid, it's awesome.
 * 3) The Minimizer also grants the Mario crew a great variety in Party boards, as they allow the characters to party down in everyday places, like a music shop and a library.
 * 4) Fun mini games, including Hanger Management, Fast Food Frenzy, and Sweet Sleuth.
 * 5) A large improvement over Advance, which was a mediocre-at-best Mario Party entry for a handheld console.
 * 6) Good replay value.
 * 7) Decent boss battles.
 * 8) Catchy Music.
 * 9) Multiplayer only needs a single copy, unlike many other DS games.
 * 10) Many of the older puzzle minigames such as Bob-Omb Breakers (from Mario Party 4) and Piece Out (from Mario Party 5) return in this game, which can be a throwback to fans of Mario Party 3 through 7.
 * 11) Unlike the other handheld entries (if you don't count the Switch games), this one genuinely feels like a proper handheld Mario Party game.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Inconsistent boss battle difficulty. The first one with a Piranha Plant is near-universally considered the hardest by fans (especially since these fans were, or are, children playing the game), and the rest are easy up until Bowser, who is the second hardest.
 * 2) The AI during the board game sections is dumber than most of the other games, as they have no concept of how to save coins for stars and they waste items pointlessly, so they basically just charge towards wherever the star is placed even if doing so isn't in their best interest.
 * 3) Like with Mario Party 8, Bowser is too nice in this game as he's barely a threat during the Bowser Space events and he actually feels sorry for the player in last place during the Final 5 Frenzy.
 * 4) Only 8 playable characters to choose from, which is low for Mario Party standards.

Reception
Mario Party DS received mixed to positive reviews. It currently has a 7.3 on IGN, who called it "a huge leap over the last portable rendition."