Super Mario Party

Super Mario Party
Party Anywhere, Any Way!
Protagonist(s): Player's Choice Genre(s): Party Platform(s): Nintendo Switch Release Date: October 5, 2018 Developer(s): NDcube Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan Series: Mario Party Predecessor: Mario Party: The Top 100 Successor: Mario Party Superstars (by release date) Super Mario Party Jamboree (direct sequel)

Super Mario Party is a party game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It released on October 5th, 2018, and is the first main console Mario Party game to not be numbered.

Qualities That Can Party Anywhere, Any Way!

1. It's a much-needed improvement over the 3DS Mario Party games: Island Tour, Star Rush and The Top 100, with the gameplay returning to a more traditional style (similar to that of the Hudson Soft games) that hasn't been seen since Mario Party 8.
2. While the gameplay returns to the more traditional style that the Hudson Soft games had, it also incorporates elements from more recent titles as well, such as the ally mechanics from Star Rush, along with some new ideas, including the choice to roll the standard 1-6 Dice Block or the newly-introduced character-specific Dice Blocks.
3. The Joy-Cons are used to play motion-based minigames in creative ways, similarly to Mario Party 8 and its Wiimote controls. Some examples include flicking the Joy-Con vertically like a pan handle in "Sizzling Stakes," spinning a horizontal one as if you were pedalling a tricycle in "Trike Harder," etc.
4. Awesome soundtrack composed by Kenji Kondo.
5. Amazing and beautiful graphics that are a step up from the 3DS Mario Party games.
6. Besides the main Mario Party mode, there are a lot of fun modes, such as:
   • River Survival: Four players row an inflatable raft down a river while avoiding rocks and other obstacles.
   • Sound Stage: Players participate in rhythm-based minigames to get the highest score. Speaking of which, it is an improvement over Rhythm Recital in Star Rush.
   • Partner Party: Two teams of two players compete on non-linear boards to collect as many Stars as possible.
   • Challenge Road: Players complete minigames along a road and clear challenges as they go.
7. This game introduces Goomba, Monty Mole and Pom-Pom as playable characters, along with making Bowser fully-playable and introducing Diddy Kong to a console Mario party game.
8. It's the first game to support online multiplayer, as both boards and minigames can be played online.

Bad Qualities

1. There are a handful of unfair minigames, such as Trike Harder, Pull It Together, Penguin Pushers, Don’t Wake Wiggler and Tow the Line.
   • On a similar note, the final challenge of Salty Sea is very hard to complete because you can almost never mash the button quickly enough to catch up to Wario, possibly forcing you to resort to using a round object to mash the button for you. Players have reported their Joy-Cons breaking because of this.
2. Unlike previous Mario Party games, there are no color-coded items for different players.
3. There are only four boards this time around, which severely hampers the replayability of the Mario Party and Partner Party modes.
4. Due to some minigames requiring detached Joy-Cons for motion controls, you can't play with a Pro Controller or in Handheld Mode; fortunately, Superstars fixes this.

Reception

Super Mario Party received "generally favorable" reviews (scoring a 76/100 on Metacritic, the highest of any Mario Party game since Mario Party 2), with praise being directed at the wide variety of game modes, characters and especially the mini games themselves, while its limited boards and being unable to play without detached Joy-Cons were criticized.

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