Super Mario Party Jamboree Review - Now this is a Mario Party!

The trailers for Nintendo’s latest Mario Party, which promised 20-player online play and the most modes and boards ever, were promising, but the series has been so uneven since the GameCube days that I’ve been too scared to hope. Thankfully, Super Mario Party Jamboree provides an excellent variety of both single-player and multiplayer experiences. In addition to the standard Mario Party experience, there’s a bevy of modes for motion controls, plus two online-focused modes (the 20-player competitive Koopathlon and the cooperative 8-player Bowser’s Kaboom Squad) that feature unique gameplay. In addition to playing any of the other modes with NPCs, lone players can grind away alone or with friends at Toad’s Item Factory to unlock game items, or help Kamek and the others with party planning, which entails traveling between the boards, helping NPCs, and winning mini-games to score mini-stars and unlock decorations. While Mario Party has never been geared towards solo players, Jamboree actually provides incentives for doing so, as three of the boards are unlockable, as are many Music tracks, reactions, and decorations. The game also features a record 22 playable characters.

Although I commend it for trying new things, the first Super Mario Party in 2018 was a bit of a disappointment, with only 80 minigames, its overemphasis on motion controls, smaller boards, and character-personalized dice that made picking your character a strategic rather than aesthetic decision. Immediately afterwards, we got Mario Party Superstars, a return to classic form with a collection of some of the series’ best mini-games and boards, but with nothing new other than online play. It seems Nintendo carefully weighed the pros and cons of both approaches and came out with a game that is the most full-featured and easiest to recommend Mario Party in decades, albeit with a few caveats.

Seven Boards and Unpredictable Companions

The standard Mario Party mode will be familiar to older players, but Jamboree adds a unique twist in the form of Jamboree Buddies. Improving the partner mechanic first seen in Super Mario Party, Jamboree drops helpful NPCs in the middle of the map about 30-40% through each game. These companions, who stick around once summoned for 3 turns, allow you to do everything twice - whether that’s buying 2 Stars at once, gaining 2 rolls on Lucky Spaces, or getting blasted twice by Imposter Bowser (‘real’ Bowser is now playable). They also come with unique abilities, such as DK offering to warp you to a random space, Mario adding between 3 and 8 spaces to your roll, Bowser Jr. dropping traps, etc. Recruiting companions entails a fun and lengthy personalized mini-game. This new mechanic can be overpowered or even broken depending on the map. Adding to the chaos, Jamboree Buddies can be simply and easily ‘stolen’ by whoever passes by on the board, which negates all the time spent acquiring them. It feels like this mechanic could have used more balancing, especially because it’s not optional.

Another shakeup to the standard party is Pro Mode, wherein the rules are fixed to be less random. This will be a welcome addition for players who detest the randomness of Mario Party, but the trade-off is predictability and monotony, especially in longer games. Pro Mode is limited to 12 turns, and bonus stars are announced ahead of time. Lucky spaces will offer limited options, Boos will always steal the same amount of coins, etc. The mode also offers Star Duels, and introduces voting on minigames, which will transfer over to normal play once you try Pro Mode out and finish a board for the first time. I would probably try Pro Mode out with a group of similarly-skilled friends, but the lack of customizability docks it points. If you’re looking for a truly balanced multiplayer game, Nintendo has far better options out there. 

The boards themselves are all quite good. Mario’s Rainbow Castle returns from the very first Mario Party, as does Western Land from Mario Party 2 (unfortunately, sans the cowboy costumes). The rest of the boards are new, and all offer some cool new mechanics. While some mechanics, such as the shifting high and low tide in Goomba Lagoon, can be annoying and time-consuming to deal with, there’s nothing too game-breaking. The Rainbow Galleria Mall is probably my favorite, with its fire sales every five turns and 200% offensive sticker items, but I appreciate the simplicity of Roll ‘em Raceway’s focus on high rolling items with only 2 Star locations, as well as the many environmental hazards and massive coin vault in the final board, King Bowser’s Keep. I would assert that there isn’t a bad board in the bunch, which is far more than I can say for the many entries we’ve had in the years before Superstars. It seems they’ve gone back to the basics of what makes a good board.

Nintendo’s Devotion to Motion Controls

Jamboree allows for you to turn motion games on and off, allowing you to play through the main boards with a Pro Controller, if you wish. You’ll be missing out if you turn off motion games, though, as these are very well-implemented and provide a great deal of variety to the button-mashing, platforming, and puzzle/counting gameplay that is so prevalent this time around.

I got to play Super Mario Party Jamboree with my many nieces and nephews aged 6-14 for a few days, so I could see what worked and what didn’t for little kids. Not surprisingly, they preferred playing just the minigames, as well as the Rhythm Kitchen and Toad’s Item Factory modes over playing on the boards. The one time we managed to finish a 10-turn game, three out of four were forcing themselves to get through the last turns. Long-form board games simply aren’t as appealing to kids who expect instant and continuous stimulation from their digital media. 

Rhythm Kitchen features four different songs/meals and tasks you and three others with following the beat via motion-activated prompts. While holding a Joy-Con, you’ll be stirring, frying, skewering, plucking ingredients, etc. It’s fast-paced fun, reminiscent of Rhythm Heaven and WarioWare! Smooth Moves, and you and up to 3 other friends will be working together to achieve up to 5/5 stars from exacting Yoshi critics. 

Toad’s Item Factory, which reminds me of the Donkey Kong marble-moving mini-game in Nintendo Land, involves using Joy-Cons to carefully move a marble from one side of the screen to the other, via rotating platforms, fans, cannons, etc. It requires precision play and does get tough in later levels, and doesn’t offer much replay value, but works well as a co-op diversion whenever you want to work with your friends for a change, and it’s a rewarding way to unlock game items. Paratroopa Flight School is a cute and clever, if forgettable, arm-flapping experience.

Let’s Settle This Online!

Two of the heaviest-advertised modes in Super Mario Party Jamboree were the 20-player Koopathlon and the eight-player Bowser’s Kaboom Squad, and both are excellent additions to this package. Nintendo is smart to offer a free one-month trial to the Nintendo Online service along with this game, both to increase player numbers for the release window and also to entice folks to give these modes a try. Bowser’s Kaboom Squad entails players working to break crates, gather up bombs, and launch them at a massive kaiju-sized Imposter Bowser, with mini-games between rounds. The simple game runs surprisingly smoothly given the Switch’s infamous framerate issues, and the addition of placable and activatable items adds another layer of tactics and strategy.

The Koopathlon is a fun diversion, with nine minigames unique to the mode. The format is that you’re running a race, with your standings changing based on how well you do in each of the mini-games. The limited amount of mini-games is the only thing keeping Koopathlon from being a full-fledged competitive mode, but at least the games themselves are fairly skill-based and balanced. Speaking of skill-based games, Jamboree continues the Superstars tradition of offering an online leaderboard for each of its minigames, as well as featuring online play for most modes.

Presentation-wise, Jamboree is a hit, with clean visuals, great framerate, and a fun soundtrack. The vast majority of Nintendo’s live-recorded orchestral tracks are real winners lately.

Nobody Likes a Sore Loser…

Of course, not all is perfect. One of the most frustrating aspects of Mario Party to me is that the characters don’t lose gracefully. They will cry, mope, overreact, and generally be sore losers, as well as cheeky and vindictive whenever doing things such as dueling or stealing via Boo. The games also encourage acts such as gambling, with literal pachinko, roulette, and slot machine elements in multiple games. You also wager coins for duels, which is especially unfair as only one party decides whether and whom to duel and how many coins to wager. This allows multiple players with purchasable dueling gloves to gang up on one player. For these reasons, even though I grew up with Mario Party, I wouldn’t buy this game for my kids. Whenever I recommend the Mario Party series, it’s generally to adults.

The board mechanics can also be woefully uneven. There are very few mechanics that are designed to help losing players catch up with the winning ones, and coins and Boos are so prevalant that the most skilled player can nearly always run circles around the competition. Because gaining 50+ coins is no biggie, Boos in general are severely overpowered at high levels, as the game features many options for acquiring Warp items, including boxes that allow you to warp to random shops and swap with opponents. Also, depending on the map, Jamboree Buddies can be totally overpowered. If you can keep away from the other players, you’ll have a strong chance at acquiring two stars at once for 40 coins.

As for the mini-games themselves, I’m sure fan consensus is going to be mixed as always. Some classics such as Three Throw are faithfully recreated, while many of the newer games focus on paying careful attention and answering quizzes or solving puzzles, which helps to balance things out for folks who maybe don’t have the best reflexes, but do have a good memory. Unfortunately, some of those games are lengthy and snooze-inducing. The 2v2 and 3v1 games feel mostly balanced, with a few notable exceptions. If you turn off motion controls, you’ll be missing out on a lot of content, but if you really can’t stand using Joy-Cons, the game is still very playable in handheld mode, or in smaller bursts - I just feel that I would be less inclined to recommend this game to Switch Lite or handheld-only owners as a result.

An After-party Worth the Wait

The more things change, the more they stay the same. While the Mario Party series has grown to be more kid-friendly and accessible, with simplified gameplay in most of the mini-games, it is still stuck in somewhat of an identity crisis as its cutesy veneer is strangely counter to its cutthroat nature. While all of the wacky edges have been sanded off in favor of cutesy reactions, the boards encourage some truly backstabbing behavior. This will be many folks’ cup o’ tea. For others, this is a surefire recipe for unneeded drama.

Of the Switch’s three Mario Party titles, Super Mario Party Jamboree not only provides the best value and the most content, but it’s a refinement of many of the series’ most iconic elements, with a variety of modes for every mood, skill level, and age group. Even if you already own Super Mario Party or Mario Party Superstars, there’s enough to do here to bring laughter to many a weekend get-together, or if you’re feeling competitive, you can take on the online leaderboards at your convenience. If you have enjoyed Mario Party in the past, then I have no problem recommending Super Mario Party Jamboree.

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Verdict: 4 / 5 (Excellent)

PROS

• Strong visuals, soundtrack, and performance

• Seven boards, 22 characters, multiple game modes, optional motion controls

• Options for both single-player and co-op multiplayer, including online modes

CONS

• Jamboree Buddies are intentionally uneven and sadly mandatory

• Pro Mode is lacking in customization options

• Switch Lite owners will miss out on the many Joy-Con minigames

What I’ve Played 

• Tried out every board and minigame over the course of 14+ hours

• Reached achievement rank 42/50

• Unlocked all boards and characters

• Fully beat Toad’s Item Factory

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