Nintendo Launches GameCube Mario Party 7 Hardware Bundle

Nintendo of America has announced a special new North American GameCube hardware bundle, featuring microphone-compatible party title Mario Party 7, which also launches as a standalone game for Nintendo's current-gen console in early November. The new hardware package includes a GameCube, two controllers and Mario Party 7 (which includes a packed-in GameCube Mic), all for $99.99. This compares positively to the more than $170 needed to buy the items separately, and shows Nintendo's continued willingness to find new ways to sell the GameCube, despite a distinct slowing of hardware sales and software support. Another recent family-friendly hardware bundle from Nintendo in North America was the basic system in the previously available Platinum color along with a copy of Super Smash Brothers Melee for $99. In addition, the company announced recently a European bundle of a pearl white GameCube and copy of new GameCube title Mario Smash Football (Super Mario Strikers), also to debut in early November. Mario Party 7 itself sports 80 new mini-games, and up to eight players can compete for the first time, including two new playable characters, Dry Bones and the infamously gender-confused Birdo. Nintendo also took the opportunity to reveal that the Mario Party series, which started out on the Nintendo 64, has now sold more than 5 million copies.