By Dean Moses
Game: Super Mario Party
Platform: Nintendo Switch Superstars
Rating: E for Everyone
Cost: $59.99
It’s time to party with friends on Super Mario Party! The fan favorite online board game with loads of minigames is back with a handful of intricate levels and characters.
It’s a me, Mario!
The first Super Mario Party game was released to the Nintendo Switch in 2018—and at the time did not have a multiplayer online mode that allowed you and your friends to traverse across a virtual board. Now, in this latest release, players select from a motley cast, albeit limited, of characters from the Mushroom Kingdom and then pick a board (There are only five choices: Peach’s Birthday Cake, Horror Land, Space Land, Yoshi’s Tropical Island, and Woody Woods). Like monopoly players roll the dice—virtually of course—and circle a board rife with traps, bonuses, surprises, and more as they journey in search of stars. After all four participants move, they engage in a minigame (there are over a 100+ minigames). Whoever finishes the game with the greatest number of stars wins.
Playing this kind of game alone can pass the time, but what is a party without friends? Taking things online feels like night and day, taking each other’s coins, racing for the stars, and battling it out in mini games strengthens bonds and sometimes even causes arguments, still it is all part of the fun. In addition, you can play with friends in-person and online at the same time!
In regard to the minigames, there are some great classics from the N64 iteration as well as game cube. Another bonus is that you can save your game, so that you can pick up where you left off at another time. (You also may choose how many turns to play with estimated gameplay times, such as 20 turns equals about one hour of competing).
Conclusion
The last iteration of Super Mario Party had its online limitations, such as games would end if an online player leaves, however, it also had nice bonuses such as featured character dice and supported amiibo (the latest game does not). Super Mario Party Superstars does not utilize the Nintendo Switch’s motion controls, and by doing so players do not need to have their Nintendo Switch docked and can compete in handheld mode (which looks great on the new OLED).
