The Mario Party series, to date, has a combined 70 boards and almost 800 minigames. You’d think we’d get remakes and compilation games more often, but Mario Party: the Top 100 for the 3DS is the only one we’ve gotten – and that was just minigames. We never really needed one – each Mario Party has been different in its own way, switching out items and rules quite frequently, but they’ve all been the same type of experience. You might miss Mario Party 2, but you probably won’t drag out the N64 to play it when you can play Super Mario Party on the Switch. But now you don’t have to make do: Mario Party Superstars brings us a compilation of 5 classic boards from the N64 era, and 100 minigames selected from every Mario Party title up to Mario Party 10. The boards have been updated for more recent mechanics and features, not to mention the visual upgrade, so you can throw yourself into nostalgia without all the clunky N64 baggage.

While the previous game in the series, Super Mario Party, is still a genuinely fun time, it was missing the heart and soul of the series: chaos. Seething in rage as one of your rivals tips the entire game in their favour from a single lucky roll is a quintessential Mario Party experience, which was lacking from the previous game. But as Superstars is taking its cues directly from the N64 games, all that chaos has come right back.

The N64 boards Superstars brings back are Yoshi’s Tropical Paradise, Peach’s Birthday Cake, Space land, Horror Land, and Woody Woods. All boards have retained their unique events, with the addition of a few ‘Lucky Spaces’ from Super Mario Party. They have a bit more oomph this time around, offering a more interesting array of possibilities. The same can be said for Bowser Spaces, which once again offer a shot of a Bowser mini-game or the infamous 100-star present. Chance Time Spaces make a return, too, so you can once again end long-standing friendships as you watch them take all your hard-earned stars. To top it off, plenty of quality of life changes have made Party Mode a smoother experience all around. It’s safe to say that lovers of the N64 boards will love to see them in their touched up form, while those who missed out on the N64 era don’t have a single reason to look back.

Does Mario need a new coat of paint?

Despite how good Superstar looks on a technical level, the lack of any visual flair to differentiate it from any of the past Mario games to come out on the Switch bores me to tears. Before I had even picked up the controller, I felt knew exactly what the game would look like. I hoped that the game would prove me wrong by wowing me with something unexpected, but that didn’t happen. It’s got the same minimalistic pause menu and plain text font that Odyssey, Mario Tennis, and Super Mario Party had, and the game has even removed a few of the N64 games’ uniqueness: the unique toads have been removed from the main menu, and those cute wizard costumes the character wore in Horror Land are also nowhere to be found. It’s a sad reminder of how Nintendo these days seems very disinterested in taking any risks at all. While it’s only a minor nitpick for now, Nintendo’s overzealous protection of its characters can only harm each new game, as they will start to look more and more homogeneous.

Mario Party Superstars does justice to the N64 boards that we love, and brings with it a collection of many of our favourite minigames of the past. The extra modes leave something to be desired, though, and I fear that the game will need free DLC support to go far.