Mystery Land
Appears in	Mario Party 2
Difficulty	★★
Availability	Default
Description	"Become archaeologists in search of answers to the mysterious artifacts."
Music sample

“The map is divided by the four ancient relics, and each time you land on a? Space, you are warped to a different area. Cast the slow curse on rivals to limit theirDice Block to the numbers 1 through 3.”

—Mario Party 2 instruction booklet^[1]

“We’re here, everyone! This is Mystery Land!!! These are hidden jungle paths. Countless mythical artifacts tower over these mysterious pathways. As archeologists, search for the stories behind the artifacts. Your objective this time, is to defeatBowser Sphinx, a legendary monster that poses riddles to all travelers it meets. Whatever it takes, defeat Bowser to become the Super Star of Mystery Land!”

—Toad,Mario Party 2

Mystery Land is aboard set in some ancient ruins inMario Land inMario Party 2, and features severalSuper Mario-based parodies of real-life cryptozoological and historical mysteries. It is divided into four areas, to which players warp each time they land on a Happening Space. These warps are made to the next area over counterclockwise, as indicated by the stone arrows placed between each area. They can also pay 10Coins to have aBob-omb UFO take them to another area (only in the northwestern and southeastern areas), but sometimes the UFO will malfunction and take the player to a small area with ruins resemblingKing Bob-omb. There is a crossroad at the center linking the four main areas together, but it can only be accessed through the use of aSkeleton Key from the northeastern and southwestern areas. Other interesting features on this board include theShy Guy's Curse House, where a player can pay 5 Coins to curse themselves or another player to reduce the number on their dice block to 1-3, rather like theCursed Mushrooms andCursed Dice Blocks from laterMario Party games. TheItem Minigame isMallet-Go-Round, and theDuel Minigame isPsychic Safari.

At the end of the game whenToad is about to announce the winner, he is interrupted by a redKoopa Troopa who comes and alerts the players that the treasure has been found. A cutscene then shows a green Koopa with a golden Bob-omb statue. Then the villain of the board, the Bowser Sphinx, comes to challenge the Koopa to guess a figure shrouded in shadow. The Koopa guesses incorrectly, saying that it is a cow, and Bowser curses the Koopa by trapping him in a rock. Then, the winner of the game comes to confront him. The winner guesses Bowser's shadow riddle correctly, saying that the figure is him. The Bowser Sphinx disappears, a consequence of having his riddle guessed, and the statue breaks to reveal aBob-omb Buddy that was trapped inside. The other Bob-omb Buddies come to take their rescued comrade away on their spaceship and takes Bowser in their custody. The winner of the board is then congratulated by the other players, Toad, Koopa, and aStar.

Areas[edit]

Bottom right area[edit]

This is where the players start. This area contains a Shy Guy's Curse House, aKoopa Bank, and a spot where the player can summon a Bob-omb UFO to take them to the top left area. It is the only one of the four main areas without aBowser Space. A crashed airplane with aGoomba on the tail can be seen here.

Bottom left area[edit]

This area is Egyptian-themed and features a pyramid, some pillars, and aNazca Line-esque imprint of aBloober. TheItem Shop is here, and there is a door which allows players to willingly access the upper left or bottom right area if they have aSkeleton Key. It is the only one of the four main areas without anItem Space.

Upper left area[edit]

This area features a Koopa Bank,Boo, and a spot where the player can summon a Bob-omb UFO to take them to the bottom right area. It is the only one of the four main areas without aBattle Space.Dorrie can be seen above this area, in a parody of theLoch Ness Monster.

Upper right area[edit]

Princess Peach's Castle in the upper right area

Moais can be seen in this area, as well as a monument resemblingStonehenge with a limblessWhomp on top. This area contains aChance Time Space and a Shy Guy's Curse House. There is another Skeleton Key door here, which serves the same purpose as the one in the bottom left area. In the forest,Peach's Castle is somewhat visible through the fog.

King Bob-omb ruins area[edit]

This small area is not normally accessible, but a player may be randomly sent here after summoning a Bob-omb UFO. It consists of nothing butRed Spaces and Happening Spaces. A statue of King Bob-omb can be seen in the central sinkhole.

Spaces[edit]

The following table shows how manyspaces there are on the board, and how many there are of a certain type.

Type of Space	Number of Spaces
Blue Spaces	37
Red Spaces	9
Happening Spaces	18
Battle Spaces	3
! Spaces	2
Item Spaces	6
Bank Spaces	2
Bowser Spaces	4
Total of Spaces	81

Gallery[edit]

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  Board logo

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  A Koopa Troopa being abducted

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  The introduction's background

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  Toad introduces the Bowser Sphinx

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  Map of Mystery Land

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  Yoshi being beamed up

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  Mario is dropped off in the King Bob-omb ruins area.

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  DK in the board's second area

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  Yoshi near this board's Boo

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  A Koopa Troopa guesses the Bowser Sphinx's riddle incorrectly.

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  The Koopa Troopa is cursed.

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  Luigi (the winner of the board) solves the riddle.

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  The Bowser Sphinx after the riddle is solved

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  The Bowser Sphinx is defeated, breaking his curse.

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  The Bob-ombs thank Luigi for saving them.

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  Mario watching the UFO depart.

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  The board results logo

Names in other languages[edit]

Notes[edit]

• Wario's outfit for this board somewhat resembles his normal form fromWario Land: Super Mario Land 3. This is because the player wears an archaeologist attire complete with a sun helmet, whereas Wario is seen wearing such a helmet in said game.
  • On a similar note, Mario's outfit for Mystery Land resembles the outfit Mario wore inMario's Picross.
  • Also, Bowser's Sphinx costume for this board somewhat resembles his Koop Tut alter ego fromThe Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode, "The Ten Koopmandments".
  • In the ending for the board, when Sphinx Bowser gives a riddle, Koopa's (incorrect) answer was a cow, with the actual answer being Bowser himself. This was a subtle reference to Bowser's design process, where Shigeru Miyamoto initially envisioned him as an ox, but ultimately worked with Takashi Tezuka to mix both turtle and ox designs for his final design.
• The menu icon for this board resembles the condor figure at theNazca Lines.
• Despite the fact that this board has the fewest spaces of all boards in the game, Mystery Land has more Happening Spaces than any other board.

References[edit]

• Temples
• Forests
• Mario Party 2 boards

• Articles with unsourced foreign names