For 23 years now, the Mario Party cycle has delighted players who love to have fun with the company. However, there are not many people who have followed the series since the days of the Nintendo 64, and it has a huge history, which is why Nintendo has often turned to it in recent years . First in the unsuccessful collection of The Top 100 for 3DS, and now in Mario Party Superstars for Switch, which includes a hundred of the best minigames from all parts of the series and five maps from the first releases with Nintendo 64. Reason to shake things up!
The formula for success
If you have never played Mario Party, I will briefly explain its essence. Four players roll dice like in a board game and take turns walking on the virtual field, where each cell brings some bonuses. For example, you can earn or lose coins, get a useful item, or change the direction of movement at the forks. There is a star on one point of the map – all players try to get to it and buy it for 20 coins; whoever collects more stars by the end of the game wins. Sometimes the star changes its position after the purchase, sometimes it remains in the same place, but it will not work to take it again in the same place: the paths on the map are one-way, so you have to make a circle.
After each player has made a move, a mini-game begins. Depending on which squares the players stopped on, either everyone will be for himself, or the game will automatically divide the participants into teams in a 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 format. Of course, the tasks are very diverse. To be closest to the center of the frame at the moment the camera flashes; do not fly off the platform, the pieces of which are constantly falling into the abyss; shoot rivals while sitting in a toy tank … Control rarely uses more than a couple of buttons, and the task is always simple and clear: mini-games are not about depth, but about fun.
Each mini-game is preceded by a training session: until everyone understands the controls and confirms their readiness, the test will not begin
Both components of Mario Party are vital to each other. It would be boring to just roll the dice in a very random virtual board game, but mini-games add action. On the other hand, the mini-games themselves are not that attractive, so the pseudo-board component gives the players strong motivation: when you stand in front of a star and you desperately need coins, victory in the next competition becomes much more desirable, and the stakes are high. And both for you and for rivals who are ready to put sticks in your wheels.
In addition to cunning and sleight of hand, simple luck also plays an important role, and it’s not just about the cube, which can give a 1 at the most inopportune moment. There are cells on the boards that make players give each other coins and even stars – the person in the last place can calmly take all the accumulated good from the leader at any time. You can prepare for some situations in advance, but you will never be able to achieve a feeling of one hundred percent security. Mario Party is always ready to equalize the leader, who has taken the lead at the expense of his own skill, with the players lagging behind – and this is what makes it perhaps the most sought after series of party games in the world.
Super compilation
Superstars offers five virtual board games with their own features and rules. In the first, for example, the field consists of two islands: on one there is a star, and on the other there is a gopnik Bowser, who robs everyone who passes by. However, if one of the players stops at a special location, then Bowser and the star will swap places. Those who stood in line to the star will no longer be able to avoid a meeting with an evil bandit (after all, all the paths on the board are one-sided), but those who were farthest from the goal will suddenly win.
The rest of the boards are also pleasing with mechanics, but for a skit that adds practically nothing new (except graphics), they are still not enough, especially given the absence of alternative modes. Whatever one may say, I would like to see more content: in the releases for the GameCube, for example, there were a lot of blackboards, but here you can’t even count on DLC. Characters are surprisingly few too – just ten, compared to double that number in 2018’s Super Mario Party .
But there is no reason to complain about the selection of mini-games: there were about 70-80 of them in each part of the series, and here there are just a hundred of the best ones, moreover, they were quite competently selected for the collection. In the old Mario Parties, there were enough mini-games that completely depend on chance, but in Superstars there are almost none. Here the players never feel superfluous: the outcome of the competition depends on themselves.
Super Mario Party could only be played on TV and strictly with one joy-con in hand – it used motion control and vibration. And Superstars takes the old simple mini-games, thanks to which it provides more freedom: in a local party, those who wish can connect pro-controllers, and when playing over the network, you can switch the console to portable mode.
Yes, the main thing that Superstars gave to the series is full-fledged online multiplayer. You can create a closed lobby and play with your friends, or you can look for other solo players and have a remote party with them. During the day, the four participants are recruited in a matter of seconds, although you cannot communicate with them either by voice or by text – only with the help of funny stickers that no one will offend anyone. Not a bad find, and online as a whole works sensibly: there is no need to complain about lags (which could be critical in some mini-games), and if one of the players leaves the game, a bot immediately replaces him.
If you have never tried Mario Party, feel free to take Superstars: this is not the most outstanding, but still quite fun representative of the series. Just remember that online is good, but four-to-one gatherings on one screen are much better.
Pleased
- excellent selection of maps and mini-games;
- expressive stickers;
- intelligent online.
Upset
- too few cards and characters;
- lately, the series has rarely pampered new mini-games.