Super Mario Party has always been a staple for gaming in my household. Friends and family have duked it out on Nintendo consoles on game nights with Mario and company for many years.
While it has been touch and go with the last few titles failing to reach the high standard that these games usually deliver, Super Mario Party Jamboree has taken the experience back to its roots while adding interesting new mechanics, and elevating the fun regardless of whether you are playing in local co-op, online multiplayer or even single player. There is simply something here for everyone.
Party Your Way
Developer Nintendo Cube has learnt from the mistakes of the previous Switch Mario Party games and offers 7 boards to play on this time. They are unlockable through some pretty easy challenges, and each board provides a unique theme from Mario’s history.
Co-op has always been at the core of these titles with the game evolving from local co-op to online play. Here the single-player serves as an actual campaign, allowing to play through several boards, games and modes with the game’s AI or other players online allowing the game to open up to a new audience.
The gameplay is as expected; you choose a board and a mode, and each player rolls the dice and moves around the board with the aim to collect as many stars as possible. It’s not that easy though, there are plenty of mini-games, challenges and effects on squares that can help or hinder your progress.
Before starting each board it gives you a timeframe of how long each game will take (usually around the 20-minute mark) There are also other islands for you to explore with mini-games that are separate from the main title. There’s a cooking game, ball-rolling game, flying mini-game and Bowsers bomb battle (my personal favourite!) The more you play these challenges, the more you get towards unlocking more boards.
Taking on the aesthetic of the previous games and elevating them has also been a focus here, with Western Land and Mario’s Rainbow Castle. Each board is beautifully animated with characters, icons and reactions every time a player lands.
The Name of the Game
The Jamboree part of this game comes into play with Jamboree Buddies who can randomly pop up on the board. If you can reach them in time, you can attempt to recruit them into your party which can give you abilities like more coins, and more additions on each roll.
They can also help you buy additional stars, or cause lifelong friendships to end when you can steal stars from other players. Sometimes I had zero stars and my Jamboree buddy helped me win the game by stealing stars and slowing down the dice to maximise my points.
Keep in mind, it does work the other way too, it can force you to pass through Bowser squares twice, it really does depend on your luck and it does really through the fate of every player into chance.
Final Thoughts
Mario Party has never looked (or played) so perfectly. After the disappointing previous few titles on the Switch, Super Mario Party Jamboree smashes into the latter end of the Switch’s lifestyle and gives players many options to join the party with online co-op, local co-op or single-player.
The many modes and mini-games allow for a variety of different ways to play the game. The new boards offer a fresh coat of paint that still uses the classic formula for the main party mode, while giving a rich single-player mode, even offering a Party Planning mode that allows you to go behind the scenes of the gameplay and do missions for NPC’s.
Super Mario Party Jamboree makes a strong case for the title of the best Mario Party game in the franchise’s 24-year history. It manages to successfully combine single-player and multiplayer couch co-op and online multiplayer with a variety of different modes all the while making every part of these fun to play.
As a result, Super Mario Party Jamboree is the ultimate party game for every member of the family, regardless of their skill level with a gaming device.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: New ways to play, Added single player mode, Jamboree Buddy system keeps gameplay fun
Lowlights: Some mini-games are repetitive
Developer: Nintendo Cube
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Available: Now
Review conducted on Nintendo Switch with a pre-release code provided by the publisher.
