Growing up, Mario Party meant a great weekend with your mates while absolutely destroying your N64 thumb stick and the palm of your hand at the same time. Mario Party became a staple alongside Mario Kart, Goldeneye, and 1080 Snowboarding as the quintessential multiplayer games night… but somewhere along the way, I just got partied out. While Mario Kart still managed to secure a place in my game rotation, to me, Mario Party just fell by the wayside. Super Mario Party Jamboree is touted as the biggest Mario Party yet and aims to get invited to your next gaming party. What’s It Like? Roll the dice, prepare for some fun, and it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to as we review Super Mario Party Jamboree on Nintendo Switch.
Super Mario Party Jamboree takes the trusty and true Mario Party formula and uses it to create a faster, more streamlined player experience that incorporates players of all sorts. It features single-player modes, classic 4-player modes, battle royale style modes, and of course, online play. There are 110+ mini-games on offer for all of these modes, and they vary wildly creating a fun and exciting mix of gameplay, as well as 5 new boards, and 2 classic boards. Players must navigate these boards to collect stars and coins, as well as partake in the fun activities each board has to offer. This is certainly the strength of Super Mario Party Jamboree as it offers a more rapid-fire style of gameplay, offering interactions throughout the course of your game, meaning players rarely have a chance to disengage their interest while waiting for their next turn. The board has a lot of variety and mechanics to make each playthrough feel unique, and the Shopping Galleria course in particular manages to spread players out so that it can rain stars at times.
The new core mechanic to Super Mario Party Jamboree is the Jamboree Buddy, an NPC that shows up during your game to join forces with the players. It doesn’t fall down to reaching them first (although that can help) instead you have to play to win them. Each character has a unique challenge to overcome from playing bongos with Donkey Kong, winning a mini-game triple play with Mario, or surviving Koopa Jr’s video game. Whoever wins the Jamboree buddy will have the option to get 2 stars instead of one, and a passive ability to enhance your run. Jamboree buddies stick around for a few turns before returning home, maintaining the balance of the game.
There are plenty of other game modes outside of the standard Mario Party. There’s a single-player Party Planner Trek in which you help set up game boards by freely running around the map and assisting Toads by playing mini-games. Each mini-game awards you mini stars that go towards your completion, and progress is saved to the character you choose. You will also earn rewards to customize your party plaza and have a task list to work through to get the job done before moving on to a new location.
Bowsers Island offers some large-scale player modes in both Koopathlon and Bowser Kaboom squad. The Koopathlon sees you collect coins in a series of mini-games to complete a running race around the island. The race and mini-games are both played out in real-time, earning items to either enhance your efforts or hinder your opponents. I found this mode really exciting as there’s a Bowser showdown at the end of each round of the race that can really shake up positioning should you succeed or fail. Bowser Kaboom Squad focuses on large-scale cooperation, as you run around a mini city gathering bombs to fire at Bowser. Every 90 seconds, you are drawn into a game to help unlock a selection of items to make your next bout slightly easier. It’s all very fun and exciting and really adds to the replayability.
Finally, there’s 3 new motion control games that vie for your interest as well, with Paratrooper Flight School, Toads Item Factory, and Rhythm Kitchen. Paratrooper Flight School lets two players glide amongst the clouds in an almost Pilotwings-style event, flying through rings and exploring the lighthouse island. Toads Item factory requires 4 players to work in synch to guide items from one end of the factory by activating platforms and bouncing the item along. Finally, there’s Rhythm Kitchen, a 4 player rhythm game that sees you all aim to be the master chefs of the Mushroom Kingdom. Time your chops well, and you will secure a 5-star rating! All of these game modes reward you a currency and achievements that you can rank up like a battle pass (but its completely free) and unlock new customisation options for your party plaza, the central hub for Super Mario Party Jamboree, giving you a bit more personalisation and ownership over your game.
Super Mario Party Jamboree is presented in Nintendo’s signature style of bright and vibrant colours, making Jamboree a visual delight. Boards are populated with animated spectators, bombastic set pieces, and visual flair, making Super Mario Party Jamboree easily one of the best-looking Switch games on the platform. Each course is varied and exciting and it was hard to pick a favorite as they all offer something fun and unique. Each character is animated with personality and charm and leads to some hilarious moments like Spike standing slack-jawed after a swarm of bees attacks a party participant, as well as other players reacting to wins and losses. This is all accentuated by being able to use emotes and reactions while spectating to add to the collusion and chaos of your game. Super Mario Party Jamboree is very polished and runs at a solid framerate, during my playthrough, I didn’t experience any performance issues, crashes, or bugs.
For my partygoers looking into accessibility options, Super Mario Party Jamboree has a significant quality-of-life improvement to make it more accessible by allowing players to disable motion-controlled mini-games. Outside of that, there’s an option to slow text speed down for easier reading. As always, I recommend further research into finding out if Super Mario Party Jamboree suits your needs.
While it’s true I was all partied out with previous iterations of the franchise, Super Mario Party Jamboree has become a nightly tradition in my household, and with Kamek organising events, it’s a smoother and more refined Mario Party experience that’s a delight to play, and very hard to put down. It’s a gorgeous game with thoughtful course design, wonderfully animated characters, and the special Nintendo magic. Super Mario Party Jamboree manages to take gamers back to the golden era of the Nintendo 64 when games were all about bringing people together for a great night of entertainment full of fun, laughter, and the occasional family rivalry.
So, What’s It Like?
Mario Party Jamboree is a What’s It Like Certified Exceptional game.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by Nintendo ANZ, but this doesn’t influence my score.
