Didn't we have a thread like this? I thought the common answer was "Easy: Don't release another Mario Party." Has Mario Party really become the Madden of party games? It'd make about as much sense to see Mario Party 2009 (or, sorry, 2010 since it's always a year ahead of the year that it's released... that always confused me) as the next title.
The only Mario Party game I'd seriously consider is one that includes EVERY minigame from the previous entries, with or without the upgraded-graphics duplicates (Bumper Balls is just as good on MP1 as MP2. Mario Bandstand only really caught my interest in MP1). If WarioWare can have 200+ microgames, then it's high time that Mario Party had 200+ minigames. Or even cut out the board together and just have minigame after minigame flying at you.
I forgot, out of the first four Mario Parties that I've played, the one with the best boards, best presentations, best screens, (some of) the best music... would have to be the first one. Whatever happened to seeing characters on top of towers of coins at the end of each minigame?
But I could do without every single minigame that requires rotating the control stick as fast as you can. Mario Party 2 had that, when winding up the Shy Guy toys. For shame, I thought it was supposed to turn away from that. I don't care if that means I don't get to see the cool scenery of the Paddle Battle minigame, I don't want it. Tug-o'-War is the worst minigame anyone could ever come up with. And yet didn't that appear in the sequel too?