What genre is Mario Party primarily classified as?

Mario Party is primarily classified as a party game. The series combines a digital board game with short competitive minigames, making multiplayer social play its defining feature rather than a conventional action or adventure format.

In a typical match, up to four players move around a themed board, collect coins, and compete for Stars. A minigame usually follows each turn, with formats including free-for-all contests, team battles, and one-versus-three challenges. Computer-controlled characters can fill empty player slots.

The original Mario Party was developed by Hudson Soft and released for Nintendo 64 in Japan in 1998. Its board-game structure can make it look like a digital tabletop title, and that description is also accurate, but “party” is the standard genre label used for the series and its individual games. Role-playing, racing, and platforming are not their primary genres, even though some minigames borrow elements from those styles.