In 2018, Nintendo released Super Mario Party for Nintendo Switch to lukewarm reception. Amongst the common list of grievances with the game, players noted a lack of variety in its mini-games, and a sense of repetition in rounds of play. Since then, Nintendo has seemingly strived to go bigger and better with every new Mario Party iteration, packing in new mini-games, boards, and features in a way that can be interpreted as defiant.
Super Mario Party Jamboree is the pinnacle of these efforts – a much larger Mario Party stacked with plenty of new activities, standalone mini-games, and even an entirely new campaign mode. You want more content? Jamboree has you covered.
Even being familiar (and loving) the Mario Party series, my first steps into this sequel were overwhelming. There’s a massive variety of choice here, with multiple new ways to play, new modes to explore, collectibles and decorations, and even more besides. It’s a smorgasbord of action, with eclectic inclusions all around.
You’ll begin your play with a trip to Party Plaza, where you can kick off rounds of Party-Planner Trek, the game’s solo campaign mode, or take a Hot Air Balloon to the skies, where you can explore themed islands. The largest is simply titled Mario Party, and here you can take on traditional rounds of board game-inspired play. If you’re familiar with Mario Party, you’ll know what to expect – players take turns rolling dice to make their way across courses, while attempting to earn stars.
Read: Super Mario Party Jamboree preview – A welcome invite
Look a bit to the left of Mario Party‘s main island, and you’ll find a cooking mini-game. And a flying mini-game, where you must physically flap your wings to survive. There’s a physics-based ball-rolling game. An island purely for playing mini-games solo or with friends. There’s an island dedicated to a Bowser bomb battle that feels like it could be an add-on multiplayer mode in any 3D Super Mario game.
Super Mario Party Jamboree is filled with novelty
This is a game that’s brimming with fresh, novel ideas, and space to try them all. You can play it like a regular Mario Party game, only engaging with the main boards – but if you head off the beaten track to try out new matches, mini-games, and modes, you can also unlock fresh new boards and other goodies. Each activity has purpose.
You might feel ridiculous standing in your living room flapping your wings, but with each completed flying course, or cooking game, or random activity, you’ll get closer to unlocking those later stage Mario Party boards.
The boards themselves are intricate and lovely, packed with little details that spice up each round. In Mega Wiggler’s Tree Party, you can ring a bell to have Wiggler change positions, opening up new pathways to travel. In the shopping centre-themed Rainbow Galleria, you’ll need to make use of escalators to travel past useful storefronts. In Western Land (a returning stage), you’ll need to contend with moving trains.
These are delightful little dioramas to explore – which makes it even better that Nintendo has chosen to double dip and “remix” gameplay so you can also explore these lands at your own pace in the game’s aforementioned campaign mode.
Someone needs to organise the party
The game’s campaign mode, aka Party-Planner Trek, is a fresh addition for Super Mario Party Jamboree that adds a wonderful sense of story to rounds of Mario Party. While in the traditional version of the game, you are a participant in the party, Party-Planner Trek lets you organise the party. Someone has to do it, and why not you?
What this entails is going around each of the game’s main boards completing quests for the NPCs that run each shop and board feature. Some of them are looking for items, which need to be discovered while travelling freely along the board. Others want to test your knowledge in quizzes or mini-games.
While travelling boards and completing mini-games might sound a lot like your average Mario Party session, tying these activities to quests and little snippets of NPC dialogue gives a refreshing spin. It’s a remix, but the music sounds sweeter. Mini-games have more purpose, and item fetch quests are a breezy, light-hearted addition to gameplay.
For players who enjoy solo rounds of Mario Party, but may feel a bit of emptiness in simply playing the multiplayer version alone, Party-Planner Trek is a meaningful inclusion. You don’t necessarily need a story mode in a Mario Party, but it’s a great mode to have, and expands just how much you can do in this feature-stuffed sequel.
Flying high, partying hard
Super Mario Party Jamboree is the kind of game you get only after years of iteration. It goes much further than its predecessors, with a spirit of ambition and experimentation inspiring a worthy array of new features. Party-Planner Trek is a strong addition that expands Mario Party with cheeky twists. The collection of standalone mini-games is fun, silly, and fantastic.
Mario Party itself remains incredibly strong in this sequel, with timeless gameplay elevated by fresh new stages – each delightful in their own right – and a collection of mini-games that chart the strange, bizarre, and hilarious. (Not to mention that some of them are genuinely complex and challenging.)
Nostalgia aside, this is the most feature-rich and engaging Mario Party we’ve seen yet, with each of its many facets combining to make a layered party game perfect for multiplayer or solo rounds. Mario Party is officially back, and everyone is invited to join in.
Four-and-a-half stars: ★★★★½
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: 17 October 2024
A code for Super Mario Party Jamboree was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review. GamesHub reviews were previously rated on a five-point scale. As of 29 July 2024, they are rated on a ten-point scale.
