Parties are great places to expand your horizons, meet new people, and make fun memories, but the best celebrations are often those reminiscing with old friends. Mario Party Superstars is taking advantage of this idea and foregoing new content to deliver a compilation of the biggest hits from boards and mini-games from previous titles. The result is a celebration of the franchise that anyone can enjoy, regardless of their level of experience.
Mario Party Superstars features the same structure as almost every other game in the series: players take turns rolling the dice to advance on dynamic game boards with the ultimate goal of winning the most stars. At the end of each round, you take part in a four-player mini-game to earn extra coins. The widespread appeal of Mario Party is maintained across the package thanks to simple concepts and controls. While I enjoyed the 2018 Super Mario Party, I’m glad that Mario Party Superstars Pro allows controller support and doesn’t require the use of the cramped single Joy-Con.
Superstars pays homage to the series’ past, reflected in its mini-games and game boards. In addition, you can customize the rules for the duration of the game and even choose which pool of mini-games you want to come across during your session. I’m glad Superstars is giving me the option to turn off the pesky bonus stars at the end of the game or just play games based on skills. You also have preset options. For example, you can only play games that appear on Nintendo 64 or GameCube, or choose mini-games that are easy to enjoy for gamers of all ages.
As you play through the primary board game mode, you can choose from five of the most iconic stages in Nintendo 64 titles, all with modern graphics and music. Revisiting Peach’s Birthday Cake from the first title is great and I love Woody Woods from Mario Party 3. However, I was disappointed with the small number of boards. These levels are iconic, but I would have loved to see more than five, especially considering that they’re all remakes of pre-existing levels.
The meat of Mario Party remains its mini-games, and thankfully, Superstars makes up for its lack of boards with 100 of the most popular bite-sized contests from previous titles. Thanks to the diverse collection, players compete against each other in a solid mix of skill-based matches and randomized mini-games. I still love personal favorites like face lift, paint misbehavin ‘and motor rooter. The inclusion of games from almost every era of Mario Party, many of which are among the best of their respective game, gives Mario Party Superstars an unrivaled mini-game pool
I was excited to see a lot of my all time favorite games in Superstars. However, I am amazed at the revival of the infamous Tug o ‘War game that resulted in broken controllers and blistered hands on the N64 thanks to its stick rotation. This version includes a warning to avoid injury by not using your palm, but even ignoring the renewed potential for blistered hands, bringing this mini-game back seems like a dangerous choice as the Switch’s analog sticks are notorious for it to drift even after regular use. Fortunately, few mini-games in the catalog of 100 rely on fast stick rotations.
While most people associate Mario Party with the board game mode, the surprisingly rugged Mt. Minigames let you experience the mini-games on your own. Here you can take part in the free game, in which you can choose from any game from the collection, or run the gauntlet as an established team in modes 2v2 and 3v1. I love to have a dedicated space for the excellent sports and puzzle mini-games, with options that allow you to extend the duration of activities like volleyball, hockey, and the color match puzzle pieces.
In addition, you can host the competition online and play against people from all over the world. You can also connect to online-specific modes to see who can match the most victories in Survival, or take part in themed daily challenges that give you three mini-games to compete in. Daily Challenges are fun ways to enjoy a three-pack of activities with similar mechanics – I loved playing the Shoot ’em Up challenge which saw me compete in three goal-based competitions.
The speed of Mt. Minigames may make it best for online gaming, but you can also experience board game mode online. Random matchmaking is available, but playing with friends is more fun. Aside from being a great game for close friends, you can save your progress in friendly matches so you can pick up where you left off later. In my experience on pre-release servers, the latency was minimal, although it was more noticeable on time-based mini-games like Hot Jump Rope. Unfortunately, it lacks native voice chat, but you can choose different reaction stickers to communicate with other players.
The Mario Party franchise, with its interchangeable boards and mini-games, is made for the compilation format. Mario Party Superstars aptly embodies the idea of bringing together the best of the franchise while adding improved online features and options so you can play the way you want. Despite the lack of choice of game boards, Mario Party Superstars is a great thing no matter how many parties you’ve attended in the past.
