Rate top gamesSuper Mario Party
About
Super Mario Party is the eleventh game in its series of party games and the first to be released for Nintendo Switch.
Plot
The characters from the Mario universe decide to start a party with a lot of competitive games to determine who of them is going to be the Super Star.
Gameplay
The player controls his or her character from the third person view and navigates it in the Mario world to collect stars and participate in mini-games.
Characters
The game features all the main playable characters from the previous Mario Party games, such as Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, and Bowser. There's a roster of 20 characters, four of which need to be unlocked. Toad is not playable and serves as the party's host and judge instead. Super Mario Party introduces several characters that are new to the series, such as Monty Mole, Goomba, and Pom Pom, as well as reintroduces characters that only featured in the handheld spin-off installments, namely Diddy Kong and Bowser Jr.
Multiplayer
The game allows a variety of multiplayer options. Up to four players can compete the main Party mode, taking turns. In the Partner Party mode, the players compete in teams in the vein of Mario Party: Star Rush. Super Mario Party allows two players to use a single Switch, with each player taking one of Joy-Cons. The players can also synchronize their Switch consoles locally.
System requirements for Nintendo Switch
Where to buy
Super Mario Party reviews and comments
At the core, Mario Party games are intended to be casual no-pressure experiences, where you just goof off and have fun with friends. However, the game still provides a win condition, and therefore pressure to compete. Getting good at the minigames gives you a quick advantage against more casual players. But the game then constantly subverts itself with random prizes of coins, stars, and items... and an ending sequence where three additional stars are handed out based on random statistics.
It's a competitive game where being a competitive player is subverted by random chance. For me, as a player, this gives me a bad experience. As a casual player, I spend an hour or two constantly being crushed in minigames by "better players", and I can still walk away "with the win" because "good" players can have all their efforts blown away by a few random rolls of the dice.
But hey, the rest of my friends love it, so maybe that's just me.