Best Gamecube Mario Party Boards

The Top Ten
1 Clockwork Castle

Alright guys, this is a perfect map in literally every single possible way. It's not just my favourite Mario Party 6 map, but also my favourite Mario Party board of all time! You guys know how much I love experimentation in a game series, especially in Mario Party. It's why I'm not a fan of the earliest titles, and adore the newer games. Well, Clockwork Castle is the KING of experimentation in Mario Party! It manages to make a star hunt so unique and fresh that it's easily the most bizarre Mario Party experience ever! At daytime, Donkey Kong will be the star and after every turn he will move a number of spaces depending on a dice roll. So you must get to him or he must get to you. But at nighttime, DK is replaced by Bowser, and the board is flipped, literally. This is the only map to really make great use of the day/night cycle in this game, almost as if the entire gimmick was born from this very board. While this board concept does sound hectic and luck-based in theory, it works ...more

2 Castaway Bay

Linear boards in Classic Mario Party is usually a recipe for disaster. They're usually just boring and monotous, especially in boards like Pagoda Peak or Goomba's Booty Boardwalk. However, some have actually been pretty good, like Mario's Rainbow Castle or Castaway Bay. Personally, I like this one the most, because even if it's linear, there's still strategy and alternate routes to pick from. You must reach the end and if DK is waiting there, you can get a star, but if it's Bowser, it's the opposite. They switch place after a player has arrived there. So you really need to strategize in choosing the long or short routes, depending on who's waiting at the docks. It makes it one of the most interesting maps in the whole Mario Party saga, not just in terms of linear maps. The music is pretty good too, although I don't care too much for it.

3 Faire Square

Although I don't really seem to like this map as much as some other people, I can't deny it's pretty lit, and S-tier as well! Then again Mario Party 6 has the best board selection in the entire series. What makes this map so great is that money actually matters a lot! Usually in every other map you have a stock of coins you can't even use because the star is far away, but the layout of this map makes it much more valauble. Why? Well instead of a star space spawning on different parts of the map, instead there is a set star space and once you arrive at it, you can buy as many stars as you want. I love this Star Splurge mechanic, because not only does it make it all more strategic, but it's also super satisfying once you do get to buy 5 stars at once! What's even better is the price change gimmick. At daytime, stars always cost 20 coins, but at nighttime it can either be 5, 10, 30 or 40. So it's basically a risk vs. reward board. Speaking of which, that's this entire board. You've got ...more

4 Windmillville

This board is a close second. In fact it's pretty muh tied with Pagoda Peak. I just have a certain nostalgia for that board that prevents me from putting this board ahead. This board has the best gimmicks and gameplay though by far. This board also brings a certain nostalgia to me because there is a certain board in Mario Party 8 that has the same type of gameplay and I played Mario Party 8 before this game which adds some nostalgia as well.

This is a sorta plains themed board with windmills all over the place and flowers decorating it. Yes this is a dutch-themed board. That's just one awesome plus point right of the bat. The windmills are also actually the point of the board in way. There are seven windmills, four red, two green and one yellow / gold. You have to buy these windmills by investing a certain amount of coins and depending on which windmill you bought, you will earn one, two or three stars respectively. But if someone invests more coins in a windmill you've already ...more

5 Snowflake Lake

I get pretty annoyed with the constant hate on experimentation with the Mario Party franchise. One type of board in the Mario Party franchise which constantly gets irrational hate are the star-stealing boards. In these boards, you must bribe Chain Chomps in these little pens in order to make them roll dice as well, so that you can ride on them. And if they pass another player, you get one of their stars. That's at least the Mario Party 6 and 7 variant. In 8, you use candy to steal stars. Anyways, I love this concept because it's a nice change of pace from the usual star hunt. While Snowflake Lake isn't my favourite Star-stealing board, it's still nearly as great as my favourite (Bowser's Warped Orbit in 8). What makes this one so good has got to be the visuals and music, which are both absolutely gorgeous! It's one of two winter-themed boards in Mario Party and I'm glad this is one of them, seeing as it's such a joy to play! The layout is also pretty good for a star-stealer. Overall I ...more

6 Neon Heights

The most futuristic and "modern" board in the game, goes to Neon Heights. This board is loosely based on the USA, New York specifically as in this board you are on the roof of a skyscraper with different sections. Skyscrapers is a thing New York is known for so yeah.

However it also has some Los Angeles vibes to it because there are lots of mario celebrities found here and one of the sections of the skyscraper roof with a wild west theme, even has a movie scene where you can play in a movie for coins for frick's sake. So it kinda blends the east coast and west coast and we get this board (although it's definitely more New York based than Los Angeles). Speaking of these sections, the skyscraper roof is divided on a few sections. There's the start which is basically just a starting point. To the left of it a floor higher is the wild west section I already talked about. Uppwards is a bit space-like and very shiny (the whole board is shiny with all these lights coming out of ...more

7 Pyramid Park

This is a unique one definitely. It's a desert and egyptian themed board with lots of egyptian stuff like pyraminds, Bowser sphinx, an oasis, etc. I have a pretty unpopular opinion when it comes to desert themes because unlike lots of people I like desert themes in mario games. However the purpose and gameplay of the board is what really stands out. Like Snowflake Lake, this is also a star-stealing board, where you bribe Chain Chomps with money so they can take you around the map and hopefully nap stars from other players. This is such a fun gameplay mechanic. The music is very good as well. It can get annoying after a while but I love the egyptian desert vibe it has certainly. So overall this is my third favourite board in the game.

8 Pirate Dream

Of all the six boards in Mario Party 5, the only ones I really like are Pirate Dream and Undersea Dream personally. They are a bit bigger and don't feel stale like the rest of the boards. Deciding between this and Undersea Dream can be a bit of a pain because they are both pretty great but I'm going with Pirate Dream. It's probably the visually most stunning and has a lot of things going on in the background.

This board is set on what seems to be a cliff filled with crystals and pirate assets, as there is a pirate ship near the bottom of the board. I'm guessing this board is loosely based on Keelhaul Key from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door which is a nice touch. There's a lot going on in this board and there are a number of interesting things that can happen on this board. It seems a lot more events can happen on this board compared to other boards *cough*, Future Dream, *cough*.

Then again it's not an amazing board or anything unfortunately. May be because of how ...more

9 Sweet Dream

This is an good board I suppose. Even though I'm personally not a big fan of sweets at all, this board definitely looks pretty good (tasty maybe as well). All the events that can happen are pretty interesting like those bridges that bridge from one cake to another. Even more interesting how all the cakes seem to make a nice setting. There is like a forest at the bottom and a tall mountain at the top of the board. It's very interesting.

The music is pherhaps the best board music. It's not forgettable, but rather happy and candyish. It fits the board very well and it's one I'm most likely to remember so overall a good-to-great board

10 Grand Canal

I think this is the smallest board in the game. It's also the first board in the game you play if you play solo mode. It's a bit of a harbour/coastal themed board with bridges over water, boards, etc. It's definitely based on Venice, a city in north Italy (Veneto) located on the coast of the adriatic sea, most famous for having lods and loads of water, in fact cars are non-existent here. You use boats for transportation, and Grand Canal is a board that most resembles this. There's water everywhere although in this board you can cross bridges and stuff instead of having to use a boat.

This board is definitely a bit simple though. You just get to the star located somewhere on the map and when it's taken a new star spawns elsewhere. There are some other gimmicks and events to this board that makes it stand out from the rest but due to it being more basic than other boards it's a lot lower on the list but it's overall a pretty good board. Even the music sounds italian which is an ...more

The Contenders
11 Toy Dream
12 Mario's Rainbow Castle
13 Bowser's Gnarly Party
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