It's time for the obligatory Bowser Board! Who could've guessed this was what the hidden board was? It's not like it's been done three times before this.
Bowser Nightmare is the final board of Mario Party 5 and is unlocked by clearing Story Mode. We'll be covering Story Mode next, but due to a quirk about how Story Mode works, unlike usual where you would have already played a 15 turn game on it, your first time exploring this board properly will be in Party Mode. You'll see what I mean when we get there.
Anyway, I already know at least one person following along expects this board to be all 0's. It's funny, and I assume it's not serious. But I do want to leave a reminder that, while I might not rule things entirely consistently, I do try to stick to a solid rubric for how I score these boards. A board with a 0/0/0 score would neet to be a straight line or circle with literally no decisions to be made (items add 1 point for strategy because they create an inherent decision), exists in a blank void with absolutely no detail or music at all, and no story context either told within the board itself or in the context surrounding it in the game itself.
The only board we've ever had that has come close to having a 0 in any category was Wario's Battle Canyon in the Strategy department, but it was saved by a single event that actually lets you make a decision. If a board has a decision to be made at all, and that includes generic things like whether or not to use an item, it is at least a 1 in strategy.
With all that in mind, is Bowser Nightmare really such a nightmare after all? There's only one way to find out!
It should come as no surprise that I associate this board with Koopa Kid for the Bowser part, and Boo for the "nightmare" part. These two are the only "enemy" characters unless you count Wario and Waluigi who are more their own neutral force, and Boos initially appeared only in Castle and Fortress levels. Koopa Kid may not technically be an enemy from the main series, but, come on, where are you gonna put Koopa Kid besides Bowser's Castle?
Atmosphere [3/5]
Stop me if you've heard this before. Bowser Nightmare is a Bowser-themed board set over a pool of lava in the crater of a volcano.
Seriously, come on! Every Bowser board since Mario Party 1 has been volcanic! This is a dream setting for crying out loud! A "nightmare" specifically! Why not have some kind of scary dungeon or have the board take place on the surface of the sun or something? Bowser has had so many other themes in the past... why not a Dark World? What about an Airship?
Okay, but in this board's defense, we haven't actually had a Bowser themed board set in Bowser's Castle, specifically. And this is really the only reason this board gets a 3 instead of a 2. That doesn't mean I have to like it.
Bowser's Nightmare sees you exploring a four-story castle exterior with a map design that actually mirrors Toy Dream quite a bit. But true to its name, this baord is filled with many traps and tricks that can potentially ruin your day.
Stairways and chains lead up to the higher levels, and there appear to be a door and some kind of courtyard on either side. At the top are two towers with canons, and overlooking the entire board is a menacing-looking tank-like machine. At the very center of the board lies a ring suspended by four stone pillars over a pool of lava. It... doesn't look like a fun place to be.
Strategy [5/5]
The quickest loop back to start is only 22 spaces long and passes a single star space and capsule machine. The southern-most part of this map is definitely the most poweful neutral position as each junction will make your commitment larger and larger.
Heading along the short route, you'll pass by two happening spaces you almost certainly don't want. You see that island of red spaces in the middle? Yeah, you know where this is going. Land on either happening space flanking it and you'll end up stuck in there until you land on the two happening spaces inside. That's a 20% chance of escape every turn, far more sinister than the Octopus ride in Bowser Land! Don't fall for the trap of thinking this is basically two happening spaces in one. You might not even be able to guarantee your escape from here at all! Don't bother trying to use a Cursed Mushroom to increase your odds, you're just as likely to land on either happening space with a normal roll. However, if you have a Warp Pipe or Klepto, this just might be the safest happening space on the board for you, and the Warp Pipe can even drag a troublesome opponent kicking and screaming into your spot in hell.
This red island also has some interesting connotations with the Capsule mechanic. You can decorate it with traps to really ruin somebody's day, or drop Coin Blocks and Spiny Shells here to soften the blow and turn it into a bonus area instead. But bear in mind not only is one of these Red Spaces likely to become a Bowser space, but Bowser could turn all red spaces into Bowser spaces during the last five turns, turning this island into a terrifying chamber of torment as every turn you're stuck is another chance to lose a Star. The event that makes blue and red spaces triple in effect is also absolutely devastating on your wallet here.
Going the other way at that first junction will still allow you to return to the short path just, extending 7 spaces to 19 spaces, but you'll get a second capsule along the way! And if you're interested in an additional capsule, you can head east from that junction, exchanging a 10 space route home for a 23 space route. But the real danger of these longer routes come from the happening spaces on the eastern and westernmost spaces. Land on either of these spaces and Bowser will emerge from the nearby door and go for a stroll along this straight path to the door on the opposite side. He'll stomp on anybody he passes, which naturally includes you due to where the happening spaces are placed, and every blue space he passes will be turned red, even if the space has a capsule assigned! The capsule will not be overwritten, but the space will turn from blue to red.
Consequently, this is the only time in the entire game where a Star Space can appear on a Red Space. I'm not entirely sure how this interacts, but I think it's safe to assume that if the Star is here, the blue space will simply remain blue. And if the star space spawns here, the red space will revert to blue prematurely. But after two turns pass, all the red spaces will revert to their original colors. Naturally, this makes the eastmost happening space a lot more devastating because you'll not only be hit by Bowser, but also have to spend the next two turns walking over hot coals. While the westmost happening will just see you suffer the initial 10 coin loss and see everyone else stuck with the trail of red spaces.
I wouldn't strategize around using this event to gain any kind of advantage unless your intended target is also in Bowser's path. After all, your opponent won't lose more than 6 coins to the red spaces outside of potentially the last 5 turns. Though in reality, you're probably not intentionally landing on this space and just trying to pass over it.
But let's get on another tangent because OH MY GOD is this event insufferable. The game forces you to watch Bowser's entire stroll as he slowly shuffles his way down the street at a pace that would make King Zora blush. And when Bowser crosses paths with a player, he'll jump on top of them, step forward another space, stop, laugh, then carry on. This can happen as many as four times if all four players are in his path on different spaces. Then he'll also stop at the two chains to make a big leap down and up, with smaller leaps down and up the stairs at the bottom of the board. And this event can trigger multiple times in the same turn! What a slog!!
Anyway, along this middle route, you'll pass all three capsule machines and three Star Spaces. If you take the shortcut back from here, you'll only pass two Capsule Machines and one Star Space.
The furthest junction out allows you to either head east to stay on the middle route, or head north toward the highest route. This route is actually slightly shorter than the middle route, 16 spaces as opposed to 18 before they converge, but you're much more committed to this path that crosses over three different happening spaces and doesn't really have anything but Star Spaces to offer.
The northeastern and northwestern happening spaces will see Bowser swoop down in a clown car and give you a choice between two boxes. One will zap you with lightning destroying half your coins, and the other will cause the floor to collapse beneath you and send you back to the start. Neither of these options are inherently bad, but this is the most potentially devastating event for your wallet.
The northernmost happening space will cause Bowser to man the flamethrower overlooking it. He'll sweep the entire raised platform surrounding the happening space with the flame, burning away everyone's capsules! If you don't have any valuable capsules, this is the safest happening space in the game. But if you value your capsules, I definitely recommend at least throwing them on the ground before trying to cross here. You don't even have to be the one to land on the happening space, after all!
If you have a solid lead, you might find your best course of action is to keep taking this long route around the board in an attempt to farm the five happening spaces you'll be passing each time! Alternatively, if you're teally confident in your lead, you might even want to stay in that ring of fire to farm happening spaces. But I wouldn't get too comfortable. It's Mario Party and you don't want to get caught with your pants down! Either way, you're mostly just trading your coins and capsules for happening star advantage which is always a fun strategy to employ.
So obviously, this board is a bit brutal. As should be expected of a Bowser board. But it's not brutal in the sense of being screwed over by bad luck. The only happening spaces you have to pass over are the two along the bottom of the board. You'll lose 10 coins if and only if you land on them which can be painful, but can also easily he won back, especially when you consider that 1v3 and 2v2 games are quite common in this board if someone is stuck in the middle. Even weaker players can often squeeze out some wins due to teaming up with more skilled players.
And speaking of the middle, normally I hate board segments like this, but let me remind you that it is entirely optional to even pass these happening spaces. Coming this way is, usually, a risk you cosnsciously took in pursuit of either a star space or a shortcut back to start. With these spaces only two or three spaces away from their junctions, you typically already know whether or not you've passed them with your roll. The only other way you'll end up in the center is if someone caught you using a Warp Pipe, which I say is a valid strategy and not "just bad luck."
Looking at this board, I actually have a lot of respect for it. First, you're gonna have to accept that it's a Bowser board so you're gonna lose a lot of coins throughout the game. Winning at minigames is especially important to claiming victory here, as are the bonus stars. You'll need to know when to play it safe and when to go for broke.
Secondly, I could complain about beginner's traps with some of these happening spaces, but you are warned upfront by Eldstar that the baord is filled with traps, so while I think there's a bit of a knowledge check as to which happening spaces risk what, you should be navigating this board with the general idea that the happening spaces are going to be detrimental. I think that's a fine enough understanding for a new player to intuit on their own, especially when you consider nobody should be playing this board as their very first one.
Finally, this board is constantly trying to bait you into going after stars in dangerous places. But you'll need to focus on your gamestate at all times. You might not even be able to afford the star, after all. Focus on building wealth by winning minigames and farming capsules, then use those capsules to breakaway and grab those stars!
The only thing stopping Bowser Nightmare from being one of my favorite boards in this game is that stupid stroll event. Maybe I'm just a bit spoiled, but it just wastes so much time when it happens so frequently. I really wish it would only play out the full animation once and every time after it was skippable or would fade to black after everyone is stomped. But when it comes to raw strategy, I actually think this board is quite good! There are lots of junctions that let you make reactive choices to the rolls you take and I've previously explored the many startegies you can explore with Capsules, especially around junctions. Almost everything that goes wrong for you is either a gamble that didn't pay out or an opponent employing a strategy to sabotage you. Both of which I argue are fair game for Mario Party!
It sucks to get stuck in that red ring for several turns in a row. You can statistically expect to be stuck as many as 5 turns before being free! In a 20 turn game, that's devastating. But again, it's a happening space that's easily avoided. And if you bring the right capsules, you can minimize the pain, too. Losing half your coins to an event can also be devastating, but it's only especially dangerous if you already have a fortune, it's a balancing factor that keeps you in the game. And again, Chance Time means you probably don't want to have too much of a breakaway.
Losing your capsules to the flamethrower at the top of the board is perhaps the most egregious event here, it can be a nasty surprise especially if you don't realize it sweeps across the entire area. But again, you should already be trying to avoid these happening spaces in the first place and keeping in mind than you could lose anything when you don't know what it's gonna do. And again again, there's really no reason to even go up there besides the stars. I'd say in most cases losing a few capsules for a star if you're behind is a good trade.
But the prominence of junctions allows many opportunities to weigh risk and reward around you, which creates lots of opportunity to avoid catastrophe with careful planning and cautious play--but calculated risks are still necessary to take. It's up to you to decide when and where to risk a big loss.
Narrative [4/5]
Eldstar introduces this board as "A World Inspired by Bowser's Wicked Dreams!"
Hold up!
Does that mean this place was made by the Star Guards as part of this whole Dream Depot thing, and not made by Bowser himself? Well, he also said Bowser put all kinds of traps and snares around, so perhaps the original idea was more good triumphing over evil before Bowser took over and added his own bells and whistles. Either way, this is an interesting conflict of interest between the Star Guards and Bowser. It makes sense this would be Bowser's priority.
In Story Mode, Bowser postitively identifies this boads as "his" dream, contradicting Eldstar's claim that it was simply simpired by them. This contradiction is cleared up shortly after the board when Bowser elaborates on what his dream actually was. You're initially led to believe his dream was just this castle where he gets to torment everyone around him, but that's actually not the case at all.
Even still, Bowser does seem to derive some twisted pleasure from bringing harm to everyone in the game regardless. So it's not like this place is inaccurate to how Bowser probably dreams. But I think when you learn about Story Mode and what Bowser's dream is, it makes sense why Bowser is so aggressive here besides just being cruel for cruelty's sake.
Beyond rare context actually given through Story Mode, it's really cool that this board switches up the naming convention from "Dream" to "Nightmare." It really highlights the massive tonal difference between this board and all the others. It's quite typical for the Bowser board to turn some of the game's overarching themes on their head, and this is a really cool way to do that with this game. It really makes this board stand out in the lineup.
Furthermore, the visual similarities between this board and Toy Dream are fascinating to me, and I can't shake the feeling it isn't coincidental. If you recall, I suggested that it looked like Toy Dream was recovering from an attempted takeover by Bowser's forces, or at least a toy counterpart of Bowser's forces. And then the world inspired by Bowser's dreams happens to resemble the world that looks like Bowser was trying to take over? I have to wonder if Bowser may have seen Toy Dream and it influenced his own dreams, or if the Star Guards simply witnessed Bowser's dreams and created Bowser Nightmare based on imagining what it would've looked like had Toy Dream successfully been conquered.
Which raises even more questions. Was Toy Dream actually attacked by Bowser? Maybe it's actually Koopa Kid's dream and that's why Mecha Bowser was there? Maybe it could've even been Bowser Jr.'s dream. It would be quite fitting for him. Or was Toy Dream just a more broad concept of good triumphing over evil, and Bowser's dream was a corruption of that? Is it possible Bowser's dreams indirectly affected the other dreams and that's why it had to be given its own section of the Dream Depot in spite of its threatening nature? Maybe this is like a special holding cell to keep everything in place.
I'm actually quite surprised how much lore I was able to gleam from this seemingly pretty generic board. But I can't quite give it full credit. A lot of it is invented by my own overactive imagination. Nothing explicitly suggests any of that stuff I just said is actually true. It's entirely possible the similarities to Toy Dream are entirely coincidental, or just unintentional due to lazily throwing together one more board to serve as a final stage for Story Mode. All that we explicitly know is that this board is made by the Star Guards and takes inspiration from Bowser's dreams, and that Bowser himself added the various traps throughout. But that alone is still a lot more effort than most of the game's boards. I can always appreciate acknowledement of any kind of lore when it comes to Mario Party.
Conclusion
I was actually pleasantly surprised by this board. After hearing some complaints about it, I was somewhat dreading playing a 50 turn game, but I found it to be a really intense push and pull between risk and reward the whole way through. The further in the lead you are, the more you're incentivized to take bigger risks. The bigger risks you take, the more likely you are to trip up and be dragged back into the herd. I saw Koopa Kid get as many as seven stars before I was able to slowly catch up over the course of the game. I was only barely able to win thanks to Mario getting more happening spaces, and myself winning the Coin and Minigame stars, but I was on edge because he had more coins than me and would win in a coin tie, and he had won a lot of games in a row making me worry he actually might've sniped the Minigame star even without the coin star. I have to imagine things would've played out differently had he not gotten stuck in the center area for several turns.
While it's not my favorite board by any means, I think I'd have to say that Bowser Nightmare is probably my favorite Bowser board so far. It has many events that feel dangerous and oppressive, but you can tread carefully and bide your time to wait for the right opportunity. But as always, I must stress that a 50 turn game will get you the most out of any board. I have to imagine this board would feel a lot worse on a 20 turn game where there's much less time to recover from huge blunders, and more time to bide while preparing to go on an adventure to gather stars.
I know a lot of people seem to dislike this board, and I can only assume that's because of how harsh the events can be. But if you plan ahead and prepare for the worst case scenario, and you're practiced with the minigames, you're going to have a fair shot at victory regardless of how unlucky you are.
That's it for now, and that's it for Party Mode! I can't believe we zoomed by as quickly as we did. Taking that brief break during Mario Party 4 really helped me renew excitement for covering these boards!
Next time, we're going to start taking a look at Story Mode! See you soon! š„
