Read our in-depth review of the Super Mario Party Jamboree and discover why this game is a must-have for all Nintendo Switch owners.
If the Mario Party series has achieved anything over its 20-plus year history, it has been, above all, to become a trusted brand. There are some great ones and some not so great ones, but you know that Mario Party is synonymous with quality; with lots of laughs and banter that lasts until the early hours of the morning. And what I can tell you about Super Mario Party Jamboree after playing for hours these past few weeks is that it not only honors the legacy of this Nintendo franchise, but takes it a step further by expanding its game offering with plenty of tests and challenges to enjoy alone, against the computer, or of course with other players over the Internet.
As a result, the third and (unless there’s a surprise) final Mario Party on Nintendo Switch has become, on its own merits, one of the most complete in the entire series , and also one of the most fun and surprising. There are minigames for all tastes; from fooling around with the Joy-Con to more traditional action and platforming challenges, tests of visual acuity and memory, rhythmic challenges, and even a whole series of scenarios that will test your skill (and patience) in a way that, with all due respect, reminded me of the notable Mario vs Donkey Kong .
We’re talking about a gigantic video game with tons of content designed to organize the ultimate party on Nintendo Switch, so if you had any doubts about which game to buy this Christmas, in the analysis of Super Mario Party Jamboree I give you some clues as to why this would be a very good option.
The ultimate party game
The first thing that stands out about Jamboree is the great variety and quality of the game modes that Nintendo ‘s new game welcomes you with , to the point that I don’t even know where to start. But keep in mind that, with a few exceptions, all of them are really fun, and in all of them you’ll find a good excuse to come back regularly. This is already a key to Jamboree’s success. If you play alone, you have challenges to enjoy without missing anyone; if you’re looking for ‘war’, there’s plenty to choose from; and if, on the other hand, you fancy working as a team, this new Mario Party doesn’t disappoint either. Let’s start with the obvious.
The star mode of all Mario Party is back with seven boards (some of which are legendary and return) that feel unique and always find a way to give a new twist to the Mario Party action. Its design is frankly good, and I’m not talking exclusively about the graphics, which are of course also worthy of praise. Dice Run , for example, makes you feel like you’re in a Mario Kart race with that impetus to go around the track more than anyone else, adding to the action a special square that can make you advance dozens of squares suddenly (and without brakes), which is very good… and at the same time bad, if your objective was to brake to buy one of the precious stars necessary to obtain the final victory.
Rainbow Galleries , on the other hand, is a much more complex board, presenting multiple paths at various levels of height, which forces you to think carefully about where you are going in order to reach the stars before anyone else. All this while ‘surviving’ every few turns during the sales, which in this case, give you the opportunity to buy everything much cheaper. It is no small feat considering that objects such as triple dice, pipes, traps and others that you can use before your turn are super important ; especially when you play with competitive rules and you are accompanied by friends who want to fight for victory. Come on, between stealing stars, preventing them from advancing too quickly, or sending them to another part of the board, the clashes are guaranteed.
As I was saying, the seven boards in Jamboree are really good and it’s a pleasure to get lost in them. Goomba Island , with its volcanic eruptions and changes in sea level, is a vibrant setting; and Mario’s Rainbow Castle , with its rotating tower revealing Bowser’s presence, has transformed me into a true Mario Party villain, putting some friendships at risk. And since we’re talking about friends, it’s inevitable to mention the Jamboree Buddies , the big new addition to this Nintendo Switch exclusive. The premise is very simple. Randomly, and for a limited time, some of the great characters from the Super Mario universe such as Yoshi, Luigi, Wario or Peach among others will appear on the board, asking you to go find them to join you. The first one to arrive gets a bonus, but all players will have to compete in a special minigame to team up with these characters.
These tests, the minigames with character, are some of the best I’ve seen in the game. They tend to be more elaborate challenges, sometimes with multiple phases, that also include tributes to the characters they’re inspired by. There’s Donkey Kong playing the Kongas in a musical game, Yoshi proposing to compete in a race on the backs of other Yoshis, or Waluigi having us play pinball machines. The rewards are worth it. Teaming up with any of these characters for several turns allows us, from the start, to get a double ration of coins, perform an extra action in shops or special blocks, and even buy two stars at once. But obviously each companion jamboree has its own particularities, and they are what spice up the action of Mario Party.
There are those that give you extra coins, those that favor better dice rolls, those that allow you to change position randomly, and even those that troll your rivals by leaving traps around the stage to steal money. Sometimes, because of your position on the board, you can gain a huge advantage; but it is never easy and the fights to control them are a constant , since it is enough to get ahead of the rival who has a Jamboree buddy to ally with him. Well, it is an addition that does not break the game, and at the same time, it can be key to achieving victory.
A Mario Party for the whole family
With over 20 years of history behind it, the Mario Party series has given us some of the most fun competitive minigames ever. The notable Mario Party Superstars on Switch was a good way to relive some of the most classic ones, but what about Jamboree? With over 110 minigames, we’re talking about a very balanced party game . There are many, many challenges for all tastes and audiences; and the vast majority pass that difficult test of not exhausting the fun too quickly. Of course, it’s always better to play them with friends, but even if you bet on the artificial intelligence , on the highest difficulty, these challenges can be a good challenge, which is always great! But before I told you about game modes, and that’s where Jamboree ends up being crowned as one of the best Mario Party experiences in many years. The list is tremendous.
I was especially won over by the musical challenges in Rhythm Cooking , which are absolutely brilliant on every level. Waluigi’s poses, the silly things you have to do, how challenging the game can become as the speed and complexity of the challenges increases… I would have loved to see even more levels of this style. But I also really enjoyed myself with my partner in Toad’s Factory , which in this case, has us transport a ball from one side of the stage to the other using the Joy Con’s motion sensors . Coordinating to do it well, especially in the later stages, is quite an experience; and between laughter and fights, I would have also loved to see more challenges of this style included.
The third and final game mode focused exclusively on dynamic controls is On Wings of Adventure , and in this case, I have to confess that I didn’t like it that much. In some ways it’s reminiscent of the legendary Pilotwings series, giving us the freedom to fly around an island where we can act as a taxi, transporting characters from one place to another with a friend, or fighting to see who ‘hunts’ the most flying wilt moths. Whichever option you choose, you need both Joy Cons separately to simulate that they are your wings, leaning forward, backward or to the side to direct the movement. The idea sounds good but in practice, it’s not very fun, and it’s normal to end up with totally sore arms.
Bowser springs into action
Another of the most talked about new features in this edition of Mario Party is called Bowserathlon , and I can tell you that it’s addictive. It’s a marathon for up to 20 players in which you move by accumulating coins, and these are obtained in a series of minigames that range from baking bread, to smashing moles with a hammer, running at full speed through a circuit full of obstacles, or even a Super Mario-style version of Arkanoid . Now comes the good part, because after each round of three minigames, the gigantic fake Bowser that gives us so many problems in Jamboree will appear to face us in a kind of battle royal, in which I assure you it is difficult to survive. There is no compassion in these exclusive Bowserathlon minigames, in which the slightest mistake is paid for with defeat. And this hurts, because when you fail, you lose positions.
In between, you can also pick up Mario Kart-style items to hinder your rivals’ progress. Almost all of my games have been solo, and even so, it still has some fun. Although I have also enjoyed it over the Internet with other users and the experience improves a lot. In this sense, the game runs quite smoothly and I have not noticed any latency problems or anything like that.
Returning to the evil, fake Bowser, in Anti-Bowser Brigade we will have to fight against him almost as if we were in a Godzilla movie, and here too, we find a game mode that is fun and challenging in equal parts that is easy to return to, even if it is to get the best possible score on the highest difficulty. Something that is not easy, by the way. The premise could not be more promising. We move through a scenario in which the gigantic Bowser and some of his minions will attack us while we collect bombs, essential to charge the cannon with which we will attack. Here cooperation is vital , because there is a time limit, and without help from your companions, it will take you forever to execute actions as simple as breaking a wooden box.
There are five stages, each of which ends with a fun cooperative minigame, and here too the variety of proposals is surprising. Fix pipes, pick apples, make cider and load it into the truck, reconstruct images… As I said, there are tests for all tastes and the fact that they all require a minimum of cooperation makes this mode even more special. Also, the better you play, the better items you receive to continue attacking Bowser; a villain who of course, will become stronger and stronger as his time approaches. In this sense, on maximum difficulty, it can be really hard to finish him off, which is not bad at all.
Story mode in Mario Party
As if all this weren’t enough, Super Mario Party Jamboree hides one more surprise in the form of a sort of story mode in which we have to explore the game boards from a different perspective. Don’t expect anything particularly complex. The idea is to get a minimum of 30 star fragments to unlock a battle against a final boss , which is just another minigame. To do so, you either compete in already known minigames, or you help the characters that roam around these boards by exchanging objects, answering questions in a test, or things like that. Among them there will also be the Jamboree friends, who after beating their own minigame, will become allies in that final battle I was talking about before (it could be, for example, finishing off a giant bee with the bomb jump).
Completing all the errands on each board will reward us with cosmetic items that we can then use in the Mario Party plaza, decorating it to our liking. It’s not a big deal, but at the same time, it’s another good excuse to spend hours on a video game that, in terms of aesthetics and music, is at a high level. It’s not just that the more than 20 available characters look fantastic, with animations and expressiveness that will make you smile ; the boards are also full of details that denote the love with which the game has been created. Wherever you look, there’s movement, there’s something that catches your eye. And what can we say about the minigames? There are some with a level of detail and color that are amazing, with special mention to the photorealism of the food textures, something very typical of Japanese studios .
5 things you should know:
- This new Mario Party is a gigantic game: 7 boards, 22 characters and more than 110 minigames
- The Compas Jamboree, and its exclusive mini-games, work very well, and give freshness to the classic games.
- Bowserathlon for competitive mode and Anti-Bowser Brigade for co-op mode are two quality additions…
- …but it doesn’t make sense that you can’t play locally on the same console.
- There are other extra challenges like Rhythmic Cooking or even a story mode that help to extend the action of the game even further.
I can’t think of a better game to enjoy this Christmas with friends, family and the little ones in the house. Super Mario Party Jamboree is gigantic, varied and above all, incredibly fun. In its most traditional aspect, the design of the boards, the variety of objects available, and the arrival of the Compas Jamboree contribute to making the games quite dynamic, encouraging those healthy rivalries between players that are the hallmark of Mario Party. But then you have cooperative tests, musical challenges and skill challenges that are equally fun. It has reached the end of the life of Nintendo Switch, but it has done so by becoming one of the best Mario Party games in history.