After over 25 years and 13 main console entries, one would think that even Nintendo fans would grow tired ofMario Partyespecially since new games tend to come every three years or so. Yet, the hype returns every single time, thanks in no small part to Nintendo’s efforts to bothadd something new each timeand bring fan favorite elements from the older games.Super Mario Party Jamboreeis no different in this regard, offering fansplentyof new games and features to play around with alongside a few beloved boards and minigames.
Review: Mario Party Superstars
Superstars is every bit the game Mario Party fans were hoping it would be, even if it does suffer from minor issues.
There’smorenew than old here, since this isn’t a dedicated throwback likeMario Party Superstars,but there’s enough returning that older players likely won’t be left wanting.Super Mario Party Jamboreedoeshave its flaws too, of course, so fans may yet want to consider the full package before deciding whether attending this party is worth the price of admission.
The first stop for every newMario Party Jamboreeplayer is the Party Plaza. It’s from this space that one can customize their game space, buy items from the shops, listen to music, check records and gather their friends before heading into the game proper.
Players aren’t going to be able to do very much in the Party Plaza at first, since they won’t be able to buy or unlock anything until they earn some points to spend. That’s fine, though, since just about everything that’s here is just extra cosmetics like reactions and stickers.
Super Mario Party Jamboreedoes have more interesting unlockables too, like new boards and characters, but those are obtained via other means. The characters,Pauline and Ninji,can be found just by spotting them from the hot air balloon, and the boards are all unlocked from the rewards pass by just playing the game normally and collecting achievements. It’s easy to do too, with the first map being unlocked after only doing a couple rounds of the main mode.
The main party mode inSuper Mario Party Jamboreeis something of a mixed bag of fun and not-so-fun elements. Starting with the latter, the first thing players will notice is that the rate of play is noticeably slower than in earlier entries. Whereas a fifteen turn game was estimated to take about 45 minutes inMario Party Superstars(actually closer to an hour), here the estimate has been more than doubled to 120 minutes! The player can feel that difference too.
The slower speed comes from most of the other, smaller negatives found in this mode and inSuper Mario Party Jamboreein general. Characters move around the board much more slowly without adjusting their settings, but that’s only for CPU characters. Human players have no speed options. Animations cannot be set to automatically fast-forward either, which can become annoying since there area lotof little scripted events and interactions this time around.
Additionally, several of the new minigames, the Showdown Games in particular, run for a much longer amount of time than games returning from older Mario Parties. The result is a much longer game with fewer turns for players to work with, making attaining an early lead much more powerful than in the past. On that last point, it also doesn’t help that there are, once again,only twobonus stars up for grabs at the end.
Again, it’s not all bad. There’s actually a lot of fun to be had here thanks to most minigames actually being fun and each board offering a distinct and interesting experience. They all still boil down to normal Mario Party in the end, but each encourages different strategies and items. For example, mushrooms reign in Rainbow Galleria with its multiple floors, but traps are the better choice on Roll ‘em Raceway since all players will be making multiple laps.
It’s also worth mentioning the new “Pro Rules” option, which changes the game to be more skill-based. Players get more information about star spawns, can only work towards one bonus star (declared at the start), cannot resist boo and generally must do without a lot of the random elements that tend to shake things up in Mario Party. Not everyone is going to like this ruleset, but it’s nice to have the option.
As far as minigames go, even though more than a few last too long, they’re fun and easy to play for the most part, with plenty of variety. Throwback games like Platform Peril or Three Throw have also gotten the full remake treatment, looking better than ever and even occasionally getting new gameplay elements. Platform Peril, for example, is now a coin minigame. All in all, Nintendo really came to play when it comes to the minigame selection inSuper Mario Party Jamboree.
In addition to the main “Mario Party” mode,Super Mario Party Jamboreeofferssevenside modes to try out. Some, like Bowser Kaboom Squad, are fantastic additions, while others, like Party-Planner Trek, are…not. Starting with Party-Planner Trek, its main problem is that it’s a single player experience.
While it isniceto have a dedicated mode, it’s still solo Mario Party, which just isn’t great most of the time. In this mode, players can explore the party boards at their own pace, play minigames and collect cosmetics for the party plaza, but unless onereally enjoys playing minigamessolo, it’s likely to get boring quickly.
Paratrooper Flight School, Rhythm Kitchen and Toads’ Item Factory are all dedicated Joy-Con motion control modes. They’re fun enough if one enjoys motion controls, but they’re not so fun that they’ll change a non-enjoyer’s mind. Paratrooper Flight School has players fly and glide around mimicking flying motions, while Rhythm Kitchen just has them make different motions to the music beat.
Again, both are okay, but one has to be in the mood for motion controls and flailing around to enjoy them. Toads’ Item Factory is the standout here though, as it instead offers fun little ball puzzles for players to solve. Its motions are simple, and the puzzles all tend to be nice, bite-sized pieces of fun. Even those who don’t like motion controls can enjoy this one.
Mini-game bay is just a dedicated minigame mode; players can compete online, try different batch challenges or do only team games. It gets the job done as a dedicated minigame mode, but otherwise there’s nothing all that special here. Koopathlon, on the other hand, is something different.
Players can compete with twenty others to collect coins and race to the finish. The games are all nice and short, there are enough shake-ups to keep things interesting and races can be completed quickly. Competent players can get massive leads, though, so winning likely won’t come easy for most.
Of all the side modes, Bowser Kaboom Squad is the standout. Games are not overlong, players get to cooperate in teams of eight and both the fields and the dedicated cooperative minigames are rather, well, fun! There’s a real sense of fast-paced energy to this that’s kind of lacking in the other modes and there’s even room for a little bit of strategy with item choices and such.
Of all the side modes, Bowser Kaboom Squad is the standout.
Playersmustcooperate to gather bombs, load their cannons and take down the giant Imposter Bowser, and thankfully, there are easy-to-use tools to facilitate that. It’s not all that deep of an experience (this is still Mario Party after all), and there are only a few maps, but it’s still, surprisingly, a blast to play. With a bit more time and attention, this could easily get spun off into its own game someday.
Closing Comments:
Super Mario Party Jamboree is something of a mixed experience. Its main mode, while offering a truly solid selection of fun minigames and interesting boards, suffers from a frustratingly slow rate of play. Unless it’s addressed in a future update, most players are probably going to eventually get tired of everything taking longer than it should. Most of the side modes are “take it or leave it” affairs as well, but Koopathlon, Toad’s Item Factory and especially Bowser’s Kaboom Squad are together good enough to make up for that. Fans with friends to play it with will feel satisfied withSuper Mario Party Jamboree, but those who don’t probably need not rush to pick this one up.
