Mario Party[a] is a party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 game console. It was released in North America on February 8, 1999. The game was targeted at a young audience. During development, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto served as supervisor. Upon release, it received mostly positive reviews from critics, who commended its multiplayer mode and music, but voiced disapproval of its lack of originality while giving mixed reviews of its graphics.

Mario Party is a party video game featuring six playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Wario, and Donkey Kong. In the game's storyline, Mario and his friends argue about which of them is the "Super Star", a figure upon whom the entire world can rely. To settle their dispute, they set out for adventure to determine which of them is most worthy of the title. The gameplay is presented in the form of a traditional board game, and includes six game board maps themed after each of the playable characters. Two additional board maps become available later in the game.[9][10] Mario Party includes multiplayer compatibility; each game on a board map consists of four players, including at least one human player and up to four. Any character who is not controlled by a human will instead be controlled by the game as a computer-controlled character.