Many series have their best ever releases on the Nintendo Switch. The console’s two core Zelda games are solidified as the top two in the minds of many Zelda fans. Odyssey set the bar so high for Mario that it became the standard for all other 3D platformers. “New Horizons” is a new peak for “Animal Crossing”. But Mario Party isn’t one of those series. But in Super Mario Party Feast, that’s still not the case. But this is the closest the series has come yet, and it came out in the embers of the Switch era.
The first place to start is on the board. Super Mario Party was criticized for having a rather pathetic roster of only four boards, which were all dull blocks, but Camping Out has fixed that problem. It comes with seven boards (some of which must be unlocked through fairly simple challenges), and each one has a more unique flavor.
Jamboree’s board is a winner
Mario’s Rainbow Castle is the shortest and simplest of the bunch, with a rotating tower. The star never moves, but everyone else who reaches it will be robbed by Bowser – unless they use their items cleverly, that is. There’s Roll ’em Raceway, where you drive a car around a track with a focus on speed and pit stops, and Rainbow Galleria, which gamifies a trip to the mall. My favorite, though, is Western Land, a Wild West circuit where you need to dodge (or ride) trains and sabotage your opponents by calling them for milk at a bar.
The general approach of the board here also seems to be different. It seems like a bit of a loss that character-specific dice are gone, which also forces changes to the companion system. Now, when you reach a character on the board, they will not automatically join you. Instead, this starts a mini-game where the winner gets a new companion. This kind of thing would work really well in a group of competitive players fighting for every inch on the board, but doesn’t seem to lend itself to a family-friendly atmosphere. brothers and sisters will Fighting over who gets to be Yoshi’s friend.
There’s also a Pro Rules mode, which is locked to 12 rounds, letting each player choose an item to start with and revealing what bonus stars will be awarded in the end to prevent any nasty surprises.
There’s a loose story, so loose that there’s almost nothing there, but the basic functionality of the story mode is pretty neat. In Super Mario Party, Story mode is all about playing each mini-game in succession. But there were only 80 people there and 112 here. After about 15 hours, including completing every challenge in the “story”, playing each board individually, and generally playing in free play, my score is 106 (addendum: just played, they’re all good).
Instead, this mode lets you wander around five of the seven boards in the game, exploring each path with relative freedom to learn how the tracks work. Some of the challenges here simply involve winning mini-games, but others mean interacting with unique mechanics, like waking up Wigler or traveling down a pipe. This is a great way to get familiar with the board and give each character a certain personality.
Single player mode can get confusing
The single player mode is surprisingly lacking outside of the main content (my brain is looking for “campaign” but that feels wrong for Mario Party)…things. Super Mario Party , an underperforming game with a sparse game board and an above-average number of failed games (and less production), at least excels in this regard. River Survival required four players to control a small boat through rapids, collect coins and choose unique paths into mini-games, but there’s nothing really about Jamboree.
In fact, it’s not fair. There is a true single player mode. They’re just not very good. Too many of them overcomplicate the single-player experience, trying to shoehorn a whole new game into Mario Party instead of presenting Mario Party in a fresh way. You can fight the monster Bowser or wave your arms to make Mario fly (only Mario, this mode is locked for him), but they’re not Mario Party. The ones that do use mini-games are too bland—nothing better than Mario Party 8’s strategic block racing or Mario Party 9’s garden planting. You either play a bunch of mini-games that have no structure, or you play a bunch of mini-games that don’t fit the structure. Not Mario Party.
Of course, this isn’t a game judged by single-player standards. As the title suggests, this is a party game. An orgy, in fact. But that’s what I’m getting at – the lack of mini-game-based modes outside of the board means you can only really play the board if you want to play with friends or family. Since the minimum game length is 90 minutes, this may be a problem that previous Mario Party games have solved.
You can save and exit at any time, but this solves a problem that shouldn’t exist.
Not surprisingly, the mini-games offer
But what about the mini-games themselves? I’m happy to report that they are excellent. I’ve never felt like any Mario Party had “bad” mini-games, but Super’s smaller roster means you’ll miss them more often. My highlights here include everything from perfectly working together to carve a steak, to shooting hoops, to paying homage to the weird tech WipEout. In addition, changes to the friend system have brought new game types.
There are ten characters who can be your carnival companions, and they all have a unique mini-game – these are also present throughout the story. These games are longer, more involved, and should fit the character’s personality. Some are like this – Mario’s challenge is a platforming challenge, Peach’s challenge is to be her assistant on a shopping trip. Others aren’t – Waluigi’s is just a long, often annoying pinball game, while Rosalina’s is a disgusting snowboarding race. As much as I enjoyed the latter, it didn’t scream “fairytale space princess.”
Super Mario Party Superstars is a return to form for a series that stumbled upon its arrival on Switch and barely stabilized on the success of Mario Party Super Stars. Jamboree brings a creative board and a host of fun mini-games, but the single-player content is a bit over the top. While the non-board multiplayer options are slim, there’s a Mario Party feast of joy here, and as long as you enjoy playing Mario Party because it’s meant to be played, you’ll find satisfaction here.
Super Mario Party Feast is an expanded version of Nintendo’s popular party game series, featuring over 100 mini-games and 7 boards. It also features online gaming for up to 20 players.
- platform
-
change
- Published
-
October 17, 2024
- Developer
-
Nintendo