Mario Party Superstars Review
Nintendo introduced the Mario Party franchise with the original trilogy on the Nintendo 64, a trio of party games featuring imaginative boards and fun mini-games. Nintendo has released many Mario Party games since then, though few, if any, have enjoyed the same acclaim as the N64 originals. Mario Party Superstars is the latest installment in the long-running series, but instead of trying to introduce new concepts, it relies on popular content from old games, remastering boards, mini-games, and more for the Nintendo Switch . Mario Party Superstars is Nintendo’s second Mario Party game for the Switch, following 2018’s Super Mario Party. Reviews of Super Mario Party were mixed, as the game was plagued by gimmicks that wasted time, poorly implemented motion controls, and lack of online multiplayer support at launch. With Mario Party Superstars, Nintendo addresses many of the complaints people had about Super Mario Party while giving fans of the franchise a chance to revisit some of their favorite content from the original games. Mario Party Superstars has many quality of life improvements that make it a more engaging game compared to Super Mario Party. For example, Mario Party Superstars players can easily adjust settings to speed up text, skip tutorials, and more. Divisive bonus stars can be killed before starting each game, with players presented with options up front instead of digging through menus.
Mario Party Superstars also does away with the fancy gimmicks that artificially made the Super Mario Party games so long. There are still moments on the game boards where players have to watch short scenes or talk to NPCs, but they are relatively rare and when they do happen, they are over quickly. This way, players can focus more on actually spinning the boards and competing in the mini-games, letting them get to the more entertaining aspects of Mario Party Superstars more quickly. And since most of the content in Mario Party Superstars is taken from the original Nintendo 64 games, players don’t have to worry about other distracting features weighing things down. The Mario Party games have had a heavy focus on motion controls since they debuted on the Nintendo Wii, but Mario Party Superstars ditches the motion controls, opting instead to recreate the Nintendo 64 and GameCube era mini-games as faithfully as possible. Most of these mini-games of Mario Party Superstars are easy to play and can be operated with a button or the use of a stick. This simplicity helps a lot with the pacing of Mario Party Superstars, as it eliminates the need to have mini-game tutorials active, with players having the option to turn them off entirely.
The removal of motion controls was a good move for Mario Party Superstars, in particular, as it allowed players to have more controller options. Some may recall that Super Mario Party was strangely restrictive when it came to its controller options due to the mini-games with motion controls, with players forced to play with a Joy-Con. Mario Party Superstars’ focus on old-school mini-games means players can use almost any Nintendo Switch controller they want. Players will be able to grab any Nintendo Switch controller of their choice and use it to compete with their friends and CPU-controlled players in various Mario Party Superstars game modes. The boards in Mario Party Superstars are the main attraction, where players can choose from five different boards from the first three Mario Party games: Yoshi’s Tropical Island, Space Land, Peach’s Birthday Cake, Woody Woods, and Horror Land. Mario Party Superstars remasters these fan-favorite boards with highly detailed artwork that makes them better than ever. In typical Nintendo fashion, Mario Party Superstars looks great, the music is catchy, and everything is polished, so fans won’t have any complaints about everything when it comes to the game’s presentation.
Not only does Mario Party Superstar bring back the classic boards from the original Mario Party games, but it also features 100 classic mini-games. While the Mario Party Superstars boards exclusively feature Nintendo 64-era Mario Party game boards, the mini-games are drawn from both Nintendo 64 and GameCube titles. Players are given a lot of freedom when it comes to which mini-games they encounter in any given game, as they can choose to only play mini-games from specific categories. 100 mini-games seems like a lot, but players likely played every mini-game offered after only a few matches. Since Mario Party Superstars is a “best of” compilation of Mario Party mini-games, almost every mini-game here is fun to a certain extent, even if they get repetitive before too long. Apparently even 100 mini-games aren’t enough to give Mario Party Superstars any significant longevity in that department. One thing that could ensure Mario Party Superstars lasts longer than its Switch predecessor is the inclusion of proper online multiplayer connectivity. Mario Party Superstars lets players battle others online, competing in the traditional Mario Party board game as well as in mini-game competitions. Jumping into the online multiplayer of Mario Party Superstars matchmaking is easy and fast. Of course, Nintendo Switch Online isn’t the most reliable online gaming service and so players can expect to lose connection from time to time, although if they do they’ll be given the option to rejoin whatever activity they’re doing before kicking them.
The inability to bring local players online feels like an oversight, but otherwise, Mario Party Superstars online multiplayer is a real selling point. The ability to play classic Mario Party mini-games and boards online is probably a game-changer for fans of the series, as it means they always have a real person to play with. The online multiplayer in Mario Party Superstars is a big selling point, but it’s also one of the only reasons why fans will want to stick with the game for so long. Unfortunately, Mario Party Superstars doesn’t have much in the way of noteworthy unlockable content. Unless they’re well hidden in-game, Mario Party Superstars doesn’t appear to have any unlockable boards, characters, or anything other than encyclopedia entries, music tracks, and other items that players can purchase in shop. Mario Party Superstars has an achievement system to give fans more to do and give them more direction than they’re used to from a party game like this, but achievements can hardly replace unlocking new characters and such. It’s a shame, too, because the Mario Party Superstars roster seems pretty thin compared to some other Super Mario crossover projects. The lack of useful unlockable content is one of the biggest downsides to Mario Party Superstars, but those only interested in using it as a party game probably won’t be all that disappointed. Mario Party Superstars has fun online multiplayer functionality and makes some important quality-of-life improvements over its predecessor, and so it’s still a big step in the right direction for the franchise, despite some of its shortcomings. this. Mario Party Superstars is out now for Nintendo Switch.