Featuring gameplay similar to the prior series entries, players compete against each other and computer-controlled characters to collect the most mini-stars, traversing a game board and engaging in minigames and other challenges.

There are multiple game modes, including one where players traverse a board in a vehicle, sabotaging each other and making choices to collect the most mini-stars by the end.

It was further detailed in a January 2015 Nintendo Direct, alongside the announcement and release of the Amiibo figures.

[2] Five maps are included in Mario Party: Mushroom Park, Haunted Trail, Whimsical Waters, Airship Central, and Chaos Castle.

[9] Should Team Mario reach the end of the board, the operator of the vehicle must find a star hidden behind one of three enemies to win the game.

Amiibo Party takes place on a small, circular board, with the goal of collecting the most stars within ten turns of gameplay.

The players take turns rolling the die and advancing on the board by scanning their Amiibo, landing on spaces that give and remove coins, move them forward or backwards additional spaces, reward them with powerups, and engage in minigames.

[6] Mario Party 10 also has several smaller games and modes: "Jewel Drop" sees two players compete to match falling jewels by color without them toppling over, "Badminton Bash" features badminton gameplay for up to four players, and a tournament challenge consisting only of minigames.

Shuichiro Nishiya reprised his role as game director, and Jumpei Horita served as producer.

They also decreased the amount of text to help make the game move faster: before each minigame, the game plays a video demonstration instead of explaining the controls in writing, and the characters were made more expressive so their reactions would clue the players into what was happening without the need for text.

The team involved with minigame creation took these ideas, usually just one-sentence descriptions or drawings, and expanded upon them or merge them with others.

To help Mario Party 10 stand out from these titles, the developers based the minigames on "surreal" concepts and environments.

Another goal was to emphasize using the Wii U GamePad to allow for new ways of gameplay, which resulted in the Bowser Party game mode.

When first envisioning the mode, the developers conceptualized a large Bowser on screen with Mario charging toward him on the GamePad.

[13][14] When Nintendo sponsored the 2015 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, the ceremony advertised Mario Party 10.

[6][8][2] The shorter runtime of rounds and its high-definition graphics were appreciated by critics, with Samuel Claiborn of IGN enjoying how much more discernible split-screen multiplayer was because of the latter.

[3] Ray Carsillo of Electronic Gaming Monthly considered the use of the Wii U GamePad to be lackluster in the Mario Party game mode,[7] a sentiment Hilliard shared, especially compared to the GamePad's use in Nintendo Land.

[3] Other critics preferred the continued linear gameplay that was established in Mario Party 9 over that from prior series entries.

Hilliard favored the progression as it sped up movement,[20] an opinion shared with Nintendo Life's Martin Watts, who also cited a more tactical gameplay as moves directly affected the other players.

Hilliard lauded Bowser Party and considered it to be the best mode in the game for its emphasis on skill-based gameplay.

[20] Carter criticized Bowser Party for its linear progression, which often resulted in little interaction between the two teams as one would usually have an advantage or a string of luck that would keep a continuous distance between them.

Carter enjoyed the mode for its return to classic Mario Party rules but criticized the boards' size.

[26] In the United States, roughly 290,000 physical and downloaded copies had been sold by the end of March 2015.