Super Mario Party Jamboree review – Something old, something new!

I don’t know about you, but I grew up LOVING Mario Party. My first game in the series was Mario Party 2 for the N64, which provided me with years of fun competing with the neighborhood kids on who could be the true Superstar. In the Gamecube era came more iconic Mario Party games such as Mario Party 4-8. However, while the games remain popular, it seems like most people I know started having issues with the games after Mario Party 6 or 8 and began to fall off of the franchise. I personally made it to Mario Party 9, after which I gave it a rest. So for me, it has been about 10 years since I’ve played Mario Party. Sure, I’ve watched people play the ones since then, but I hadn’t picked up a controller to play one since 2012 or so. When Super Mario Party Jamboree came across my desk, I decided to jump into Mario Party one more time to see where the franchise is today! And well… I must say I was not disappointed.

Jumping into the game for the first time, you’re going to be introduced to the HUB world. You’ll have two main HUB locations: the “Party Plaza,” which will be where you can customize your information and unlock different music, emotes, and pictures while also checking your stats, and the “Hot-Air Balloon,” which will allow you to choose your game mode.

At the Party Plaza you’ll have the ability to change the number of players, the characters, and the message speed for the game modes with Toad right next to the balloon. There’s also a computer across from Toad that allows you to change your online information or find friends. These make setting changes easy, especially if you’re taking turns with friends locally or if people have to drop out of the fun at any time.

You also have two record-keeping stations: “Rankings,” which shows your worldwide rankings, and “Data House,” which provides game records and other fun records from your adventures. The thing that stood out for me in Super Mario Party Jamboree was the addition of the way rewards are set up. You can see this in the Data House as an almost Battle Pass situation without spending money. So as you play the game the rewards will pop up. It’s also the first time I’ve seen achievements in a first-party Nintendo Game. Everything from playing your first game to dueling three times to clearing stages in a certain amount of time or with a certain amount of points.

When you get points, you can exchange them for items at the Music Shop, Mario Party Card Shop, and Reaction Shop. Each shop sells what you would probably expect based on the names, and is decently affordable for how many points you get for just playing games in addition to being fun to look through.

The final part of the Party Plaza is the Party-Planner Trek. I had a lot of fun with this mode. It’s something you can do alone and you learn about the layout of the maps. You’re put in charge of helping the members of the map finish the touches on the map before it is revealed (even though you don’t have to do this in order to play the starter maps). You’ll play mini-games and help find items, all to find mini-stars to move you to the next map. It’s fun, doesn’t take long, and actually helps learn how the stages are set up in general.
Now, for the main course of the Mario Party: the game modes.

Once you’re in the sky in the hot air balloon, you’ll get introduced to the game modes you have so far. Mario Party, Rhythm Kitchen, Toad’s Item Factory, Paratroopa Flight School, Bowser Kaboom Squad, Koopathlon, and Minigame Bay are all there waiting for you to try out. Let’s go through what to expect from each mode.

Mario Party

This is your standard Mario Party experience. You’ll have four courses to choose from at the beginning with three more you can unlock.

My friends and I played four players on Rainbow Galleria and had an absolute blast using the “Party Rules” where anything can happen and bonus stars are handed out. This is the normal way to play Mario Party, where anyone has a chance to make it from the bottom to the top at any time. We really enjoyed the layout of the map and each took different ways around it. Some of us went stamp collecting to get extra coins, some took the shopping route and bought everything they could, while some fought over stars. In the end, it was extremely close, but Waluigi won with the most bonus stars and tied with the most stars.

Soon after this, we unlocked the first bonus course which is a remaster of Western Land from Mario Party 2. When this popped up I got so very happy as this was my favorite land from that game. My partner in crime Regan and I jumped into this game alongside two CPUs, Birdo (on Master difficulty) and Spike (on Easy difficulty). It was an up-and-down game the entire time, but once again, Waluigi won (Regan is awesome at Mario Party for someone who had never played before this game). It was awesome seeing the map I remember from Mario Party 2 looking so clean.

Another way to play Mario Party is with “Pro Rules.” This is truly for those who are looking to showcase they’re the best at the game. You’ll know the bonus stars from the jump and you’ll get items to choose from at the start. The game mode is always 12 turns with one bonus star awarded. Alongside the other changes, spaces will have very specific new rules such as Chance Time not being a space for this mode, Lucky Spaces only providing coins or double dice, etc. Item shops will also only sell so many of a type of item, for instance, only two chain chomp whistles from a specific area. It gives you a full breakdown the first time you run the game mode, which will explain everything.

We will discuss Mini-Games specifically in the Mini-Games section, but let me be very clear. If you have CPUs on Master difficulty, you’ll need to be on your toes the entire time!

Another newer aspect to the game is the Buddy System. This allows for you to collect friends along your way that give you dice bonuses, let you buy two Star’s at once, and more. To get them on your team, you not only have to land on their area, but win the mini-game. However, the one who lands on the Buddy spot gets an advantage. We found these to be fun but VERY powerful as you can start moving QUICK. So get to those Buddies!

At the end of the day, you’ll probably spend the bulk of your time in Mario Party playing Mario Party. The new courses are fun, and the returning courses are nostalgic and work well. All-in-all a fun return to the game for my friends and me!

Rhythm Kitchen

This is the game mode I had the most issues with during my time playing through it. This is a four-player game where you’re working together to make the best foods possible for the judges. In theory, this game is a lot of fun. In execution, it can be VERY frustrating for some people. I am a drummer, and I tend to understand rhythm games pretty well. Guitar Hero/Rock Band, Elite Beat Agents, etc; I do pretty well with them.

I could not for the life of me get these rhythm games right. The friends that I played with did not have much success either and one of them had a bonus from the Character Buddy System in the Mario Party game mode. I’m not sure if it’s our TV, our Joy-Cons, or the way we’re holding the controller. I feel like we’re doing things the way we’re shown, we’re just ALWAYS early or late, rarely right on. I’ve tried playing this mode on the Switch with the kickstand out, on a 70-inch TV, and on a 20-inch TV; and had the same issue on every occasion.

The mini-games themselves are fun and creative. It would just be nice to feel like I’m getting the hang of it at all.

Toad’s Item Factory

Your job is to help the Toads make the items for the Mario Party. This one is pretty straightforward puzzle games you can do yourself or with one other person. Each person will control one Joy-Con that will control platforms. You have to get the ball from one Warp Pipe to another. These can get pretty tricky but aren’t too hard alone. With friends, it can sometimes cause some chaos! With 10 visible areas at the jump, this game mode will be a fun one to play in between Mario Parties.

Paratroopa Flight School

This was the game mode I found myself not enjoying as much, but I really like that it exists. While I don’t enjoy flapping my arms like a maniac to get Mario to take off using Paratroopa wings, I know there’s going to be a room full of people having a blast doing the motion controls together.

There are three game modes for this game mode, which I loved to see. Sky Battle puts you in a battle for who can collect the largest army of Para-Buddybuds while making sure you’re protecting yourself from the enemy. You can play this mode with a friend!

Koopa Paratroopa Tax has multiple difficulties and puts you and a friend in the position of a taxi driver taking the different characters to different areas of the map. Communication is key, but make sure you have plenty of room so you’re not punching your friends.

Finally is Free Flight, which allows you to explore on your own. Weirdly it feels very much like the Wii-Sports Resort flying areas where you’ll have plenty of ways to test your flying abilities!

Bowser Kaboom Squad

This mode can be played solo with computers or online with other players. You and seven others will team up to defeat Imposter Bowser using a cannon. To attack him, you and your team will have to work together to collect cannon balls to load and fire.

You have in-game commands you can send out alerting your team to focus on destroying boxes, collecting cannon balls, etc. This makes for a fun time yelling at your friends to get the cannonballs or to help with a task you’re doing.

There is a ranking system for this game mode which will try and get you teamed up with people in the same skill level. Early on you’ll probably run into people who just don’t understand the game or skipped the tutorial. Either way, as you continue to show you’re better, you’ll match with better players.

Koopathlon

This game mode was one of my favorites and least favorites at the same time. I LOVE the concept. 20 players all online fighting for first place in a race. The race is decided by individual mini-games everyone is playing at the same time. As you progress in the race, the mini-games (which stay the same) will get harder. For instance, the mole-whacking game mode starts with just three you have to hit. But it then goes to five, and then more activating behind you as well. While it’s fun if everyone is doing well, it becomes a little tedious if people are struggling. If the group lags, that just means doing more of the same but harder.

I would be very excited if there were more minigames added to this mode as time goes by, adding to the fun and making sure no matter how many people are lagging behind, there’s always something new to be looking forward to doing.

Again, I really enjoyed this mode, I just want more of it.

Minigame Bay

The bread and butter of Mario Party are the Minigames. As I mentioned, there are 110 minigames in the game and the Minigame Bay is the best way to learn them all. Inside Miningame Bay are five sub-game modes for you to try.

– Free Play allows you to play any minigame at any time. Perfect for groups just wanting to mess around with the minigames without the overall competitive atmosphere. It’s also great for practicing some of the minigames you’re not quite good at yet.
– Showdown Minigame Battle pits friend against friend to see who can get the most coins by the end of the time. Perfect for short competitive bursts without playing the Mario Party Courses.
–Survival is single-player and online only. You’ll be competing online with a ranking system that will move you up with wins and down with losses. You’ll get a choice of three minigames that you can choose from, then the computer will randomly select from there. Similar to the way Mario Kart chooses courses. Be careful though, if you don’t know a minigame, there is no practice beforehand.
– Daily Challenges will give you daily playlists of minigames to test your mettle.
– Tag Match is for two vs two with the goal to be the team with the most Stars by the end. These are going to be 2v2 matchups and you will be able to practice beforehand, at least offline. I was unable to play this one online during my playthrough due to scheduling and opponents kept quitting. You will need a buddy locally to play online with you.

This game mode is really fun for both groups and solo. I found myself using the free play to figure out some of the motion control issues we faced on some of the minigames. I do feel some of the motion control minigames can be a little weird at times. During the Tilt-a-Golf minigame, both of the human players had a rough time getting the islands to tilt the way we were tilting the Joy-Con. The CPU’s didn’t have this issue and won handily. When I played this on my own the next day, I faced the same problem. I can’t tell if this is user error every time, or if something is amiss on the calibration of the game, but this kind of thing happened quite a few times with our group Mario Party which led to frustration from our players.

Conclusion

After years of avoiding Mario Party for one reason or another Super Mario Party Jamboree took me back to the old Mario Party vibes while giving so much new content and game modes to try out. With a return of old maps and some really fun new maps, Super Mario Party Jamboree is worth picking up for anyone who hasn’t played a Mario Party game in a while.

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