Mario Party is a party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 game console. It was released in Japan in December 18, 1998, in North America on February 8, 1999 and in Europe and Australia on March 9, 1999. The game was targeted at a young audience. During development, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto served as supervisor. Upon release, it received mostly positive reviews from critics, who commended its multiplayer mode, concept and music, but voiced disapproval of its slow pacing while giving mixed reviews of its graphics. It is the first installment in the Mario Party series and was followed by Mario Party 2 in 1999 for the same system.