The Switch has been mostly successful for Mario’s many spin-offs (the Mario sports games being lackluster would be a worthy sacrifice if it meant we could have good Mario RPGs again). It took a while for it to reach its peak truly, but the Mario Party franchise had a rather slow start to the Switch’s life cycle. Their first venture with Super Mario Party was a nice return to form after the 3DS Mario Party games failed to live up to the classic board game and minigame formula. It still had its issues, but the consensus at the time considered it a promising sign. Mario Party Superstars decided to turn the clock back further. They essentially created a remix of old Mario Party boards and minigames. It served its purpose of showing the players that they’re trying to recapture that old spirit of Mario Party while still advancing with the times with online play and the likes. Now with Super Mario Party Jamboree in the mix, we have them putting their best foot forward with the series as it’s undoubtedly the best rendition of the formula on the Switch, and able to stand toe-to-toe with the most beloved original Mario Party games.
Kamek is around to host the biggest Mario Party ever! With even Bowser and his crew joining in the festivities, he now has created an imposter Bowser to continue the series tradition of giving out Bowser spaces to cause mischief. However, other forms of mischief are afoot as Kamek is trying to get the party ready. With five different boards to go through, the player has to travel each one to see just what problems all the cast members are faced with, and how to solve them for the party to go on. From playing minigames to test them out, running around the board to help solve issues between characters, and even stopping bosses, even setting up for the party is one in itself here.
It’s the biggest Mario Party to date and they want to show it with better audio and visuals than ever. The music is as peppy and energetic as always, with each board giving off a unique theme that fits with the vibe of the board. Each character you play as also has their unique jingle whenever their turn starts, like Pauline’s being a peppy piano tune or Peach’s being a regal harp. Graphics-wise, the game homes in on the series’ classic cartoon-like nature being colorful and bright, yet still having enough graphical details to make the world feel livelier than ever.
In case you need a quick refresher on how the classic board game structure goes, it’s the tried-and-true tested method the series is known for. At the start of every turn, you roll a dice to go around the board. Pick up coins on blue spaces and lucky spaces, lose coins on red and unlucky spaces, interact with the board itself on certain spaces, and try to reach the star to get it for 20 coins. After every turn, you play a minigame, and depending on what spaces you land on, it could be a free-for-all, a 1V3, or a 2V2 matchup for 10 coins. Repeat this for 10, 15, 20, or 30 turns and whoever has the most stars and coins wins.
Coming into the game, we have 7 boards, with 4 unlocked from the start with 3 being unlockable through playing the game’s story mode or playing through the game’s free battle pass system. Each board managed to give off a fun, unique theme to go through and play in. From exploring a mall that comes with stamp stations to trade in for coins and a flash sale that cuts the price of everything in half, a racetrack that has a special 4 dice item to race around the track even if it means missing certain spaces, and even throwbacks to past Mario Party boards, there’s always something to do on these boards. While some are easier for beginner players to get into or harder with a lot of stuff going on, they’re all a fun time that each has something new to offer. There are even pro rules for those who want to try and focus more on skill than luck with their party games.
The new gimmick for this game is the partner system. Every so often, a random character comes floating in from the Heavens to be picked up by someone. If they are reached by someone, they get a couple of coins for getting there first and everyone gets to play a minigame to fight for them, with the one who started it getting an advantage. These characters not only have their unique gimmick, like giving you some coins before rolling or passing opponents, or even helping you roll bigger numbers, but they also enable you to do twice everything; from buying two items instead of one, using the boo space to take two stars if you have the cash, and even buying two stars if you pass by the star space. They can still be stolen if someone passes by you, so it’s still hectic and fun to try and get the most use out of these partners.
The minigames played between rounds are generally good fun times, but a couple of them can feel like they’re just dragging on. The partner minigames to fight for partners can feel like they just drag on a bit too long if there is only one thing to focus on, especially Donkey Kong’s rhythm game and Waluigi’s pinball. The traditional minigames are still good and varied with interesting ideas, ranging from stopping a sled from going into the icy cold water, avoiding getting crushed by sandwiches, and organizing with our teammates to cut the many cookies as possible with their cookie cutters than one player with free reign to all the cookie cutters at once. However, a couple of games can feel like they go on a bit too long as well, like the circus one that has you looking for pictures of balancing balls. Still, more often than not, the minigames are going to be a fun time to play through.
However, any good party game knows that it can’t just rely on one mode. While Mario Party games in the past have offered side modes, they either focused too much on them like in Island Jam or Star Rush, or only did it as a little side diversion, like the GameCube Mario Party games. This game is more along the lines of Super Mario Party having a dedicated mode for traditional Mario Party games, while also having several side modes you can check out, with them being at worst worth at least one try and at best being just as fun as the classic party games.
Special mention has to go to Koopathalon, which is an expanded version of Star Rush’s Coinathalon mode. You play through a series of 3-coin minigames to earn as many coins as possible, then face off against Imposter Bowser in the end. Failure means you get launched back, and winning means you get an item to help you. This is then repeated with the difficulty slowly rising, giving more coins for harder tasks in the coin minigames. It’s an easily addictive mode that helps give the player a fun diversion to go to when they’re not ready for a full party.
While the regular controls are on point, motion controls however still haven’t quite gotten fully good. Minigames that require motion controls can be hit or Miss. Some of them, like the mini golfing and spaceship games, can work with how little motion controls are required with the joycons. However, the ones that require more convoluted movements, like lasso swinging or doing a triathlon, are when the controls start to falter. There is an entire section for game modes that require you to use motion controls, but they are much more lenient. For rhythm kitchen, it’s simply timing moving the joycon to the beat, which is reliable. The toad factory and flight school modes are surprisingly not only consistent with your joycon movements but also fun and can even be absorbing trying to try and find everything out in these modes. Either solving puzzles in the factory to create items or flying around like a paratroopa to help taxi people around the island, they’re both enjoyable to check out for a bit.
As for online play, Nintendo always did have a rocky relationship with online gaming; never really managing to be up to snuff with the rest of the industry. This is one of their better attempts with more consistent frame rates and stable connections, and while cutscenes can be slow due to connection speeds, during the actual board game and minigames being played out, stay consistent. And in the smaller modes like Koopathalon, it’s practically perfect for it. It’s doing a better job finding games and staying connected than the state Death Note: Killer Within was released in.
Overall, Mario Party has finally managed to land a top-notch title like its glory days. The standard party mode is just as chaotic and engaging as ever, be it standard rules or pro rules, and the side modes all bring their fun offerings to the party. The story mode being you help set up for the party is such a cute yet genius concept pulled off well that it’s weird that this concept wasn’t done yet. While some of the minigames can be a bit too tiring to play, there are 5 or so other minigames to liven the party back up. It’s the best the series has seen in a long time, and well worth RSVPing!
