He's a hard-working one, that Mario, saving princesses, fighting dinosaurs, racing cars, golfing, travelling the galaxy, and goodness knows what else, so every now and then he likes to kick back and celebrate. Nintendo announced a new Mario Party game during today's Nintendo Direct presentation, which sends the series mobile for the first time on 3DS.

It'll pack seven game boards which each have their own rules, along with 81 new minigames. According to Nintendo president Saturo Iwata, "the gameplay changes dramatically on each boards." One sees Mario and friends riding rockets and charging up boosts, while in another they're quite worryingly deciding whether to hide in safety or charge into the path of a metres-high bullet which could plough into their faces at any moment.

The Mario Party will start this winter, but be warned: a Mario Party don't stop.