Best Mario Party 10 Boards

My favorite board in Mario Party 10 is Airship Central. Even before I played all the boards in the game, I had a feeling that I would like this board the most. While ironically the music is my least favorite board soundtrack, everything else about this board is just great for me personally.

For one, the setting. Now, I'm actually one of those guys that normally do not like cloud levels at all. In fact, the cloud worlds for New Super Mario Bros. are among my least favorites. Considering this board is based in Meringue Clouds, AKA World 7 from New Super Mario Bros. U, you'd expect me to place this one last. While I dislike the music, the rest is different. This is the best board, actually.

This is a cloud level done right. How would you describe it? Well, I'd say it actually stands out from your basic grasslands board. One of the problems the New Super Mario Bros. cloud worlds suffer from is that they feel too similar to their World 1 counterparts. If you compare Airship Central to the grasslands board of this game, Mushroom Park, I'd say they are completely different from each other.

There are airships everywhere, and the golden clouds are stunning to look at. All the events here are pretty exciting. I love how after you beat the mid-boss, you are sent to the middle of a raincloud, and a lot of exciting stuff happens. It's now very blue, and there are Bullet Bills that will shoot at random spaces after every turn. Awesome. This part actually reminds me a bit of Metro Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey when it was under a storm, especially the music. When you get out of the raincloud, you meet a giant airship that you must defeat. It's not a boss minigame, though. It's something you beat on the board itself. You roll dice, hoping to land on a cannon space to damage the airship. When its health bar has no points left, the player who made the last hit gets a reward of loads of mini-stars. I love this. These are the main reasons this is my favorite... more

This is a rare occurrence of me actually loving something ghost-related in Mario. I mean, yeah, I liked Boo's Horror Castle and the ghost houses in Super Mario World, but other than that, ghost-related levels are my least favorite in Mario games. This might be one of the best ghost-related things in Mario. In fact, it's my second favorite board in the game, very close to being number one. The layout is awesome, and the graphics look amazing here. Just looking at gameplay of this board makes my jaw drop.

I really like, for one thing, how you both travel vertically and horizontally, and it's balanced between the two. In boards like Chaos Castle, there was both, but too much horizontally. With Magma Mine, there was too much vertically despite having both. But here, it's balanced, and I love it personally. I really like how it gives me some vibes from the ghost parts of Soda Jungle in New Super Mario Bros. U. I like that. Basically, the graphics and gameplay make this board so awesome.

Once again, there are two themes for the board, but they are really the same. It's just that the normal phase has fewer instruments and is played before the mid-boss, and the second theme is played after the mid-boss. Overall, I really like the spooky feel of it. It's pretty nice-sounding and creepy. As for bosses, none of them are amazing, but they are still above average. Sledge Bro is one of the better mid-bosses, and King Boo is alright, although a bit repetitive at times. So overall, this is number two.

The basic first board. I like it a lot. Despite being basic, it's got a lot of interesting aspects and gimmicks that make me like it, even if it's not very high on the list. It's still awesome.

While it's a plain grass board, there's a whole amusement park that comes with the plain grassland. It's huge! Everything here is influenced by the amusement park, except for the start with tiny Peach's Castle... but let's ignore that. There's a Wiggler roller coaster, a swinging ship with Bowser's head, a Bullet Bill ride, a Superstar Ferris wheel, a Blooper carousel, and so on.

The first half mostly consists of trees and not so many rides. The board does look kind of plastic and fake, especially with that grass texture, but it's not a big deal. The gameplay and layout are amazing.

This is the only board with just one soundtrack, and personally, it's nice. It's very calm and a bit boring, though. Toad Road from Mario Party 9 had a very upbeat and exciting theme, as the game marked the start of a new era of Mario Party. Unfortunately, Mushroom Park in Mario Party 10 has a rather stale soundtrack. I still like it, though.

The bosses are great. Mega Goomba is a bit boring, but I actually like it a lot. Petey Piranha is one of my favorite boss battles. It's super addicting, in my opinion. Overall, this is my third favorite board in the game.

My personal least favorite. This is the Bowser board of the game, and to be honest, it feels a bit uninspiring. It's mainly just your basic castle board with lava. I wish they could've done something a bit more impressive than a basic lava castle, but I'm okay with it because, even though it's last on here, I enjoyed this one nevertheless.

The only really boring part is the beginning. It gets a lot better as it goes on. For example, there was this part where you traveled vertically, basically upwards on the board, and I liked this a lot as it reminded me of Magma Mine, which is my favorite board in Mario Party 9.

Then, I think it was near the end, there was this part where Bowser stood at the end, and after every turn, he'd breathe fire that would be sent towards you. It's a bit complicated, but basically, there were two layers of spaces. One lower and one upper. After, say, every fourth space, you'd switch layers, and Bowser's flames would only be sent on the surface of the upper half's spaces. So, if you were under those on the lower layer, you'd remain unharmed. If you did get hit by the fireballs, you'd get sent back. I appreciate all the gimmicks in what could've ended up being a terrible board.

The music may be my favorite board theme in the game. While there are three versions, all of them are generally similar to each other, but in a nutshell, the first version is chill, the second version is a bit faster and more spooky, and the third version is rather epic and spooky. I personally loved the first one most, but all of them are great.

While the mid-boss, Mecha-Koopa, is my least favorite boss here by far, the Bowser battle is one of my not only favorite bosses in the game but also one of my favorite Bowser battles of all time. I just love the climax and twists in that one, as in the middle of the fight, Bowser becomes Dry Bowser, and it all gets so epic. So, while this is last, I still like this board a lot. Way better than the... more

Water levels have a reputation for being rather slow and tedious in a lot of Mario games. But the boards are not slow and tedious much, though. Whimsical Waters, a water board, happens to be a pretty great board overall, in my opinion. Or dare I say, an awesome board. This is my fourth favorite board in the game, just barely beaten by Mushroom Park.

My favorite part is overall the layout. I like how the first half is so colorful and bright, and it looks stunning. Then, about halfway through, you go way deeper into a much darker area, and it looks stunning as well. I think I know what this board could be based on, but I guess the underwater levels in New Super Mario Bros. U might be a decent candidate. Let's look, though, at the one flaw that puts this board relatively low on the list.

One of my biggest problems with this board is the constant dragoneel treasure events. You see, scattered around the board are forced events where a character, depending on whose turn it is, must choose a treasure chest out of five. Some are good, some are bad. This wouldn't be so bad if, 1. There weren't so many of these everywhere, and 2. if they weren't so tedious and long. It takes so long for the intro. If we'd just choose a chest right away, it would be nicer. That's the only real issue I have, though.

The music is nice. Not too good, but not bad either. As with a lot of other board soundtracks, there are two versions, but honestly, in this board, the versions are barely different at all. The only difference is that some of the instruments are different in the other version. I like it overall, though. I think the calm and nice theme suits the board very well. Overall, though, Blooper Beach from Mario Party 9 was a better board, honestly.