I’ve been playing the Mario Party series since it started in 1998??. My mother and I used to play the stick-rotation mini-games with the palms of our hands. We both got blisters. We tried to call a truce and outlaw the practice, but in the heat of competition, someone would break, and it would be back to blister-city.

The series is something I can play with my parents and family. Because Mario Party is 80% luck, 15% cruelty, and 5% skill, winning is?n’t a foregone conclusion for me. Even with my decades of extensive experience, my victory isn’t guaranteed, so it’s more fun for everyone. I may never be able to pay my parents back for my upbringing, but I will not hesitate to rip a star from their grasp.

The series has had its ups and downs. Even if we could glean fun from any entry you can name, some are more beloved than others. Super Mario Party, we weren’t too hot on. It had four boards, and you hit the bottom of it way too soon. I always hoped we’d get DLC for Mario Party Superstars, and was a bit disappointed when Super Mario Party Jamboree was announced. My skepticism was unwarranted: this is the best Mario Party has ever been.

Super Mario Party Jamboree (Switch [Reviewed])
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: October 17, 2024
MSRP: $59.99

If you’re not familiar with the Mario Party series, it’s a cross between a board game and a video game. You pick a character from the Mario series, roll dice, and take them around the board. The goal is to gather coins that you can trade for stars and other items and events. The person who ends with the most? stars, wins.

When everyone completes their turn, you’re all taken into a short mini-game to compete. These are all very simple, sometimes involving direct competition, whereas others have you collect as many coins as possible. Some spots on the board will also start mini-games that have play??ers put their coins down in a winner’s pot, and others are duals between two players. Winning mini-games doesn’t guarantee you’ll win, however. It’s all about the stars. If you ha?ve 200 coins and no stars, the person who has one star will cinch the win. On the other hand, if two players have the same number of stars, the most coins decide who wins the tie.

To win, you really have to play the board. You have to be locked in on reaching stars before anyone else and take advantage of every opportunity to steal them from others. There are optional bonus stars at the end, rewarding players for sometimes random accomplishments, giving players one last opportunity to steal the game. There are lots of opportunities to screw over other players; Mario Party can be extremely vicious.

One thing I really want to stress is that this variation of Mario Party doesn’t really follow the deviations made for Super Mario Party. Character-specific dice aren’t included, and it reverts to the 1-10 dice blocks. However, rather than the old standard 20 turns, the default is now 10. You can pick up Jamboree buddies, which we’ll get to, but they’re not quite like the allies you could gain in Super Mario Party. Instead, they only s??tick with you for t?hree turns and can cause a lot of stuff to trigger twice, such as buying a star or even suffering Bowser’s wrath.

Super Mario Party Jamboree feels a lot closer to the original format, which is probably the intention after Superstars. There are board gimmicks, but they don’t entirely overshadow the central formula. If there’s one thing I’m glad they kept, it’s the amount of characters from Super Mario Party. Somewhere north of 20. I mean, I’m always going to play as Luigi, regardless of who gets added, but it’s nice to have a bigger cast for variety??’s sake.

There are also superfluous side modes, like one where you cooperate to fire cannons at Bowser and a few motion controller activities. There’s also a weird story mode where you explore under-construction boards and help with their setup. They’re okay distractions, but I don’t think they’re going to distract from the stan??dard Mario Party mode. That’s fine. I’d probably be upset if it felt like resources had been taken from the board gameplay, but considering how strong it is, the side activities are just a bonus.

Speaking of motion controls; they’re optional. That’s not to say that every mini-game can be played without them, but rather that you can just toggle them out of circulation. This reduces the pool ?of games that might come up in any given round, but at least it means that you can play on a Switch Lite or Pro Controller if that’s your preference.

Speaking of “pro�there’s a “pro mode�in Jamboree that should ease things for anyone who hates the luck aspect of Mario Party. What it does is set a number of factors to be more static. ??For example, there are no hidden blocks that would randomly award somebody a star or coins. When you send out a Boo to rob a player, they always return with 15 coins, but you can still pay them to steal a star. There’s only one bonus star at the end of the game, and its criterion is announced at the beginning of the game. There is a limited number of stock at the item stores. A game is also locked to 12 rounds.

I’m no doubt forgetting to mention a fe??w rules, but the important takeaway is that it’s a mode for people who want to take things more seriously. As I said, there’s still an aspect of luck when dice rolls are involved, but there’s less to get in the way of any strategizing. It’s a welcome inclusion for anyone frustrated by random chance and want their skill to play a more prominent role in their victory.

And speaking of skills, if there is one thing that bothers me about Jamboree, it’s the fact that a lot of the Jamboree Buddy games rely on skills that my family can’t match me at. Unlike Super Mario Party, you don’t gain allies simply by landing on a designated spot on the b??oard. They appear occasionally, and once you reach them, it begins a mini-game where everyone competes. The victor gets the buddy, regardless of who actually reached them on the board. The person who triggered the mini-game does get an advantage, but it’s not so immense that it’s insurmountable for everyone else. It would be less fun if it was, I suppose.

But the problem is that many of these mini-games are much longer than standard ones and involve reflexes for platforming or rhythm. Not to brag, but my family can’t compete with my expert-level Rock Band skills and Champion’s Road honed platforming. Not in the same way that they can in games about cutting a steak per??fectly in half. I? normally win the most mini-games anyway, even if that doesn’t mean I always win the game, but this feels like I will always have the best chance at companionship.

Understandably, that’s more of a problem in my personal circumstances and isn’t going to bother everyone. Jamboree Buddies don’t completely skew the overall outcome of the game, as they only provide a temporary advantage to a player and can actually wind up hurting more than helping. However, it’s also strange that these mini-games are so much longer than standard ones. It feels like everyone gets dragged into them, and the game stalls tem??porarily. It’s almost disorienting when they happen.

Circling back to my personal circumstances, it’s important to note that if my family didn’t play Mario Party with me, Mario Party Jamboree would be effectively worthless. You can play just about everything single-player, but the series is only really exciting if you have someone to play it with. That hasn’t changed with Jamboree. Y??ou can play it online, but I feel that something is lost when you’re not in the same room as the people you’re stealing stars from. Torpedoing someon??e’s success just isn’t the same when you can’t hear them mope and/or scream.

If you do have a reliable group �preferably one who you already play Mario Party games with �then Mario Party Jamboree is probably going to be your new go-to. In many of the recent entries, I feel a lot was phoned in. Not enough would be changed, but some aspects would feel weaker or even unwelcome. However, while Jamboree mainly just builds off the original framework, it’s a lot tighter and more rounded than we’ve seen since the N64 days. I’ll admit it can be hard to get excited about yet another Mario Party, but this one is absolutely worth attending.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Super Mario Party Jamboree appeared first on Destructoid.

Super Mario Party Jamboree is the much ant??icipated multiplayer sequel that has over 110 mini-games, a mix of old and new boards, and long-awaited characters that have yet to join the series.

It's going to be an exciting time for Nintendo fans when the party truly ??begins. Here's everything we?? know so far about the game.

Super Mario Party Jamboree release date and pre-order bonuses

Peach, Yoshi, Wario, and many other characters will compete for star supremacy when Super Mario Party Jamboree launches exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on October 17.

If you pre-order the game through GameStop, you'll gain a Mario Party Dice keychain with your purchase. Best Buy, meanwhile, is offering a free Super Mario Party Jamboree-themed tote bag??, which it claims is a $9.99 value. All copies of the game seem to come with three months of Switch Online for free as well, no matter where you get it.

Are you based in the United Kingdom? You can get the aforementioned dice keychain and a star pin set with your purchase of the game on the My Nintendo Store. GAME also includes the keychain w??????????????????????????ith pre-orders.

All Super Mario Party Jamboree characters

The Super Mario Party Jamboree features many series regulars, but it also has t??wo newcomers joining the fun-filled chaos. Here ar??e all of the characters confirmed for the game so far:

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Donkey Kong
• Bowser
• Toad
• Toadette
• Daisy
• Shy Guy
• Yoshi
• Wario
• Waluigi
• Rosalina
• Boo
• Birdo
• Goomba
• Koopa Troopa
• Ninji
• Pauline
• Bowser Jr.
• Spike
• Monty Mole

Despite some other Nintendo characters joining the Mario Kart series, we won't be seeing The Legend of Zelda's Link or the Inklings joining this Mario Party game.

All boards, retro and new

Similar to the Mario Kart series, however, there will be a mix of old and new boards to play on. Here are all of the boards confirmed for Super Mario Party Jamboree so far:

• Mario's Rainbow Castle (Mario Party)
• Western Land (Mario Party 2)
• Roll 'em Raceway
• King Bowser's Keep
• Rainbow Galleria
• Mega Wiggler's Tree Party
• Goomba Lagoon

All mini-games we know so far

Thanks to Mario Party Legacy, we have an idea of what some of the mini-games are called and what types to expect. There are also some returning mini-games like the last entry Mario Party Superstars.

The returning mini-games include:

• Domination (Mario Party 4)
• Three Throw (Mario Party 4)
• Granite Getaway (Mario Party 6)
• Treasure Divers (Mario Party)
• Platform Peril (Mario Party)
• Stamp Out! (Mario Party 4)
• Blame it on the Crane (Mario Party 4)
• Snow Brawl (Mario Party 6)
• Defuse or Lose (Mario Party 5)
• Jump the Gun (Mario Party 6)
• Leaf Leap (Mario Party 5)
• Bumper Balls (Mario Party 2)
• Shy Guy Says (Mario Party 2)

The new games discovered, thanks to the preview coverage (read ours here) at PAX East 2024 include the following:

• Sandwiched
• Hot Cross Blocks
• Sunset Standoff
• Prime Cut
• Tricky Turntable
• Lane Change

What is the Koopathalon in Super Mario Party Jamboree?

The Koopathalon is a new online multiplayer mode that has up to 20 people competing against each other on a track. As you win mini-games, ?you'll gain traction and get closer to the lead.

"While I have nothing against the traditional Party Mode, Koopathlon presents a more high-octane approach to getting you into minigames," said our preview. "There was no rolling of?? the dice to move, nor store to buy items, or Stars declaring the winner �from what I could tell."

There is also a new co-op mode called the Bowser Kaboom Squad. It has you trying to take down a huge Bowser destroying a city. You're running around the board and col??lecting bombs to place into a cannon. Once they're fired, Bowse??r's health goes down.

Does Super Mario Party Jamboree support online for party mode?

The party doesn't just have to take place on the couch as you can take the action online with four players. You'll all just need a Switch Online subscription, which in comparis??on to Xbox Game? Pass and PlayStation Plus, is cheap.

The post Everything we know about Super Mario Party Jamboree – Characters, mini-games, release date appeared first on Destructoid.

Despite its status as a spin-off, Mario Party has become a well-established franchise of its own over the course of many years. Since 1998, the series has delighted and, often, enraged many fans. Super Mario Party Jamboree is next in line, bringing new ways to play a??nd yell.

To be fair, most of the venting is due to the series of party games being surprisingly competitive, despite its delightfully spirited aesthetic. I've often joked that if you're looking to ruin friendships, few things work better than discussing religion, politics, or playing Mario Party. The games are a lot of fun for large gatherings, featuring exciting minigames to compete in as one of many dozens of Mario characters.

Party up in here

There are more than 20 Mario Party games across an assortment of consoles, handhelds, and arcades playing host to hundreds upon hundreds of minigames. It's impressive that the series continues to grow and add even more ways to play. Super Mario Party Jamboree will be no exception when it arrives on Nintendo Switch. It's a massive Mario Party game, featuring seven game boards, ?22 playable characters, and more than 110 minigames. It also sports some cool new modes �??two of which I got to try while at PAX West.

Sitting down at the event, I hopped into a traditional Party Mode with three others. We picked our chosen character, one going with Ninji, who makes their Mario Party debut. Pauline comes to Jamboree as the?? second of the two new characters to the roster. I went with my boy W??ario, because, let's just face it, he's the best. Accept no substitute.

Wigglin' on by

We played on one of the new boards, Mega Wiggler's Tree Party. Super Mario Party Jamboree has five new boards for fans to try out, along with two from the series' past. Mario's Rainbow Castle from the original game is getting gussied up for Jamboree, as is Western Land from Mario Party 2.

Mega Wiggler's Tree Party is pretty much as you'd imagine. It's a board dressed up with bright, green grass, trees, and mushrooms. Piranha Plants are strategically placed around the board, napping away until a player got close enough for a bite. A gigantic Wig??gler is holed up in the center �in a literal hole �with spaces on its back on which players could use to progress. Bells dotted around the map can be rung, causing the Wiggler to move and potentially ruin someone's grand plans.

The map ma??y be new, but the goal remains the same as it has for the last 26 years: Hit the dice, move around the board, grab coins, win minigames, and collect t??hose Stars! The one with the most Stars is the winner and the target of scorn.

Our mat?ch also started as expected. We took turns punching a rolling die, and the person with the highest number went first. For us, that was the newcomer Ninji, who managed to grab the game's first Star within a span of about two minutes. The tension was already rising.

We hopped into a few minigames while traveling around the board. One had us sliding around an icy platform while giant heads blew a gust of wind that threatened to push us into the cold water. Another had us ground-pound a button that sent out a ring of light; get hit by the light three times and you're out. Most of the games we played were were a blast, offering a blend of challenge and humor. Jamboree lets you practice the mini?game and learn its rules before starting, ?which is typical.

We didn't manage to get too far. The Ni??ntendo reps quickly moved us to the first of the game's new online modes before Ninji claimed another Star. I put down my chair.

A race to the top

Next was Koopathalon, a new, online multiplayer mode for up to 20 people. Our match was mostly filled with bots, but that didn't leave things any less competitive. In Koopathlon, you choose a character and dash laps around a large race track. Winning minigames allows you to advance on the course, whi??le losing sets you back.

Of course, this means that the stakes are so much higher for winning those minigames. The last player standing gets a massive boost forward, while the stragglers end up eating dust. Things certainly felt more heated in Koopathlon, and I found myself nearing closer to the edge of my seat as we hopped from minigame to ??minigame. Being a somewhat competitive person in multiplayer games, Koopathlon kept me focused. I caught myself holding my breath a few times as my vision tunneled around the screen.

I found myself closely behind the player in first place. We raced on, using minigames as fuel to propel our characters forward. I discovered I'm quite good at a racing minigame where you press left or right to switch tracks while avoiding obstacles and collecting coins. I'll count my years grinding rails in Sonic games for that skill. There was another minigame that stood out in which you had to pull bread out of an oven at the right time. As someone who spent years working in professional kitchens, this one stressed me out m?ore than taxes.

I ended up really enjoying Koopathlon. ?While I have nothing against the traditional Party Mode, Koopathlon presen??ts a more high-octane approach to getting you into minigames. There was no rolling of the dice to move, nor store to buy items, or Stars declaring the winner �from what I could tell. You move, play minigames, and move again. So far, it feels like a fantastic alternative for those who want to ditch the Stars and chase the checkered flag.

Cooperative kaiju battles

The last mode w?e tried was another one new to the series. Bowser Kaboom Squad is an online multiplayer mode that's co-op, where you work together with a crew to take down a massive, city-stomping Bowser. The round-based mode tasked us with running around a board, busting through crates to collect bombs to toss into a cannon. When 20 bombs were loaded, it would fire at Bowser, chunking away at his healt?h bar.

There were still minigames to play in Bowser Kaboom Squad. But afterward, you could collect items to help your team win. You could pick a banana peel and place it on Bowser's path, causing him to slip and fall on his scaly butt. Grabbing the mallet lets you break through the wooden boxes containing bombs faster. But my favorite is the pads that give you and your allies a brief burst of speed. Think of them like those Boost Pads in Mario Kart.

Bowser becomes more dangerous the longer the match goes. At low life, he belches fireballs into the air that land and continue to burn on the ground. The fire would block off certain paths, making it harder to get bombs to the cannon. Items like the boo?st pads could also be destroyed by the fire, slowing your progress.

We managed to win in the end. The final salvo of bombs was hand-delivered by your truly, and Bowser was beaten. (For now.) Bowser Kaboom Squad feels like a goo??d addition to the roster of modes coming to the game. It was exciting to team up with the crew to take down a single big bad, as opposed to trying to one-up each other. The mode should pr??ove to be a great for folks not wanting the high competition the other modes bring. It might also be a welcome palate-cleanser for those long party sessions.

Just around the corner

Super Mario Party Jamboree is shaping up to be a fantastic addition to the long-standing franchise. While fans of the traditional mode should be h??appy with the game, I'm glad to say that it has plenty of options to prevent t??hings from getting stale.

I'd love to play more Koopathlon shortly, but I'm also looking forward to its co-op additions. Things should hopefully stay less stressful that way. Super Mario Party Jamboree is heading to the Nintendo Switch on October 17.

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The 2024 Nintendo Direct revealed the latest installment to the Mario Party series, Super Mario Party Jamboree. Fortunately, you won't have to wait too long to jump into the friendship-making (and destroying) actio??????????????????????????ns with your friends, as it's releasing this year on October 17, 2024.

Super Mario Party Jamboree is the biggest game to launch in t??he series yet, with over 110 minigames, seven game boards, and up to 20-player support in an exclusive Koopathlon mode. You'll jump onto an island resort and, much like previous games in the series, travel around the board to sabotage your friends and claim the most stars to win the match. It also features mostly new game boards, with two from the first two Mario Party games, Mario's Rainbow Castle and Western Land, making a grand return.

Super Mario Party Jamboree will be released as a Nintendo Switch exclusive on October 1??7, 20?24.

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