Platform:
Nintendo Switch
Released:
October 17, 2024
Publisher:
Nintendo
Developer:
Nintendo
Super Mario Party Jamboree is yet another well-polished, crowd-pleasing, multiplayer game starring Mario and all his friends and rivals, jam-packed with party boards, minigames, and extra modes. It adds a bit more chaos back into the mix, which we love to see, and even a whole new way to party: Pro Rules! Yet despite its inarguable quality, it feels a little too similar to the previous two titles to get my enthusiasm sky-high.
Super Mario Party Jamboree’s gimmick plays around with a gameplay element from Super Mario Party, namely having an NPC character follow you around as your ally. This time they’re called Jamboree Buddies, and they introduce a new brand of chaos that can quickly turn the tide of a game. Just how we like it! So what do Buddies do? Well, they make most things happen to you twice. OK, yeah, it doesn’t sound all that exciting at first… until you realise what that really means. Step on a blue space? That’s 6 coins, not 3. Pass the item shop? You can buy up to 2 items, not just one. Reach the star? If you have the cash, buy 2! Land on the Bowser space…? Uh oh!
I tested out Party Mode solo and with friends, and it passes with flying colours. The boards are pretty different in both theme and mechanics, and there are a generous number of them (four plus three more unlockable ones). The standout for us was Rainbow Galleria, the shopping centre that evokes fond memories of Mario Kart Wii’s iconic track Coconut Mall. True to the theme, this board incentivises shopping at its various stores and taking advantage of flash sales. Speaking of karts, another great board is Roll ’em Raceway, where each character races around the board in a kart for coin rewards. The faster you go in this one, the better. Each board has entertaining events and obstacles, without feeling derivative of any game board that’s come before it. And when you get hold of a Jamboree Buddy, it increases the risks and rewards twofold.
“Jamboree Buddies… introduce a new brand of chaos that can quickly turn the tide of a game.”
To obtain a Buddy, any player must pass the space they appear at. All players then face off in a minigame personalised after the Buddy, with the player who initiated it awarded an advantage. The player who places first gets the Buddy. The minigame is unique for each Buddy and reflects their own games or personalities: in Yoshi’s, you must complete an obstacle course on Yoshi-back, in Donkey Kong’s, you play a rhythm minigame à la Donkey Konga, and for Waluigi’s, you play Waluigi Pinball. These minigames are exciting and everyone loves a good reference! I’m disappointed that not all playable characters can become Buddies, as I would have loved to know what a unique minigame for Birdo, but it appears that only the core Mario Cast can become your Buddy. Each of them has a passive ability on top of netting you double rewards, so they are totally OP while you have them. They are not particularly loyal, however, as they can be stolen by any player who passes you on the game board. After 3 full turns, they leave the board for good.
The result? They are absolute game-changers, without leaving any one player with a permanent unfair advantage. In one game, one player with a buddy managed to obtain a whopping five stars across just two turns, quickly bumping him to the top of everyone’s (s)hit list. It was chaos, just like Mario Party should be.
A brand-new feature to Jamboree is an increased list of customisable rules that can be toggled on or off from the pre-game menu. Standard options like handicaps and bonus stars are optional, but you can now choose to vote on minigames rather than the classic roulette, or turn motion-controlled minigames off completely. If you’re some kind of weirdo who doesn’t like the randomness of Mario Party, a Pro Party mode is easily unlocked which cuts out much of the unpredictable elements of the game so that you can focus on skill and strategy. These rules include but aren’t limited to a set turn count to 12, removing Chance Time spaces, limiting the items available from shops, and Bowser Spaces always costing you 1 star.
I love the idea of “pro rules”, but it would have been better implemented as individual rules that could be toggled on or off, rather than a completely separate set of rules. Mario Party fans already have such varied ideas about which randomised spaces are too unfair, not unfair enough, and so on, why not leave it all up to the player to customise their own experience? Some cool-looking new rules, like the option for the random bonus stars to be declared at the start of the game, are locked behind Pro Party mode, meaning that I can’t try it out without subjecting myself to all the others.
Party-Planner Trek is one of the solo modes, and is such a very cute idea that I can’t believe they haven’t done it before. The game’s master, Kamek, needs your help to set up the party boards in time for the party, and entrusts you to traverse the boards to help the various goombas, koopas, and other folks in a pseudo-adventure mode. It’s a little strange to see the boards in a state of disarray, props still being set up and the spaces greyed out and deactivated. It’s cool, almost like a ‘peek behind the curtain’. More importantly, exploring each board outside acts like a tutorial that actually teaches you about the mechanics of the board and allows you to familiarise yourself with them. This mode acts as the “campaign” mode, so completing it will earn you a lot of Party Points, as well as the end credits.
The other modes are mostly winners too, though I am not a fan of how many of them require the use of single Joy-Cons as well as motion control. If you have a Nintendo Switch Online sub, you can take part in daily minigame challenges and work your way up the global rankings. Playing these extra modes will net you Party Points, which is just in-game currency you can use to purchase humorous reactions to use in Party Mode and some other bits and bobs around the Plaza, the space that functions as your main menu. It’s just like a regular main menu, except it takes 20 seconds to get from the starting point to the Reactions shop! Mario Party has done this ever since Super Mario Party, and now that the novelty has worn off, I wish they would either quit it or do something more exciting with the Plaza. You can decorate it slightly, and that’s about it; when up in the hot air balloon it insists you ride just to select your game mode, you can take photos of little interactions between characters through a spyglass. I want more of this, and something more to spend Party Points on!
Partied out
When I was single-digit years old, I held my birthday celebration at a local witch-themed kid’s party venue. It had a stage show, creepy decor, a disco floor, dress-ups, and more party pies and sausage rolls than I could ever dream of shoving into my tiny mouth. Best birthday party ever, right? You can imagine my shock and horror, then, when the heavily costumed performers and Halloween decorations failed to spark joy the third consecutive year I went there. What could be the cause? Had the quality gotten worse? Was I just getting older? Or maybe, just maybe, three near-identical parties in a row are just not going to feel as special as the first time? You get it.
I have already complained at length in my last Mario Party review that the visual style of these games has stagnated, and that still holds true with Jamboree. Nintendo has brought out three Mario Party titles across just four years, and they all look awfully indistinct. If you put screenshots of the three games next to each other, you’d be hard-pressed to know which one was which. And if that were just down to diminishing returns on graphical improvements, that’d be fine. But it’s not; it’s the menus and UI, the lack of visual themes or flair. For a main-line Mario platformer, I’d kinda get it, but Mario Party? Where’s the fun in this plain, flavourless look?
Look, Super Mario Jamboree is really good. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that the criticisms I have are more serious than nitpicks, but they bug me so much for how easy they would be to eliminate. Super Mario Party, the first in the series to hit the switch, acted as a sort of ‘return to form’, ditching the much-maligned car of Mario Party 10 in favour of classic Mario Party goodness. The two games after it, Mario Party Superstars and now Jamboree, have standardised the changes it brought, combining the classic blue, red, and green event spaces, as well as chance time and Bowser spaces, with the new lucky and unlucky spaces. This combination makes for a fun Party Mode, but three titles using this same combination, with only changes to the main gimmick, are simply starting to wear a little thin. It’s a good thing that Jamboree still has the heart of Mario Party; some quality-of-life improvements and a facelift would be all it takes to get me in the partying mood again.
8
Great
Positive:
- Continuing the solid party game foundation set up by Super Mario Party
- Numerous memorable game boards with cool mechanics and events
- Jamboree Buddies are wonderfully chaotic gamechangers
- Most of the extra Game Modes are winners
Negative:
- The series has started to stagnate gameplay and visuals-wise
- Pro Rules are a neat idea, but should have been individual rule toggles
Super Mario Party Jamboree is yet another quality entry in the series, containing a generous number of new boards, minigames, and fresh game modes. The new Jamboree buddy mechanic adds a much-needed element of chaos, and the game boards contain interesting events and hazards. Its similarities to the previous two Mario Party titles for the Switch are starting to feel a little long in the tooth, but that won’t stop you from having a grand old time. I just hope Nintendo spices things up even more for the next one!
About the Author
Edie W-K
she/her
If it isn't video games, Edie doesn't care about it. She's been playing games since the N64 era, and only spent enough time away from her 3DS to earn a Bachelor in Games Design from RMIT.
