But there’s a functional aspect to it as well. On a basic level, seeing old favorites is just an effective nostalgia play - I squealed when Pushy Penguins popped up, a Mario Party 5 minigame I played to death as a kid on a GameCube demo disk. It’s delightful to see classic minigames modernized here. Players get 100 of the series’ very best minigames with far fewer stinkers in the bunch. This time, every minigame has been plucked from previous entries, with about half of them coming from the original Nintendo 64 trilogy. Previous Mario Party games would invent over 50 brand new minigames apiece, which could result in a lot of duds as the series’ used up its best ideas. It’s not an ambitious entry, but after 15 years of mixed bags, that’s exactly what the series needs.Ĭuration is the keyword here. That creates a more focused and reliable party game that doesn’t distract with mechanical gambles. Nintendo has stripped Mario Party back down to its essence: it’s a board game where players roll dice, compete in minigames, and try to win the most stars.

There are no gimmicks or formula shake-ups here. If you haven’t played a Mario Party game since the Nintendo 64, you’ll feel right at home in Superstars. The commitment to online play at launch puts it ahead of Super Mario Party and makes Superstars the best version of what a Mario Party game can be.

The curated nature of it means that players get the best - and most - minigames the series has to offer, though the same can’t be said for its board selection. Mario Party Superstars is the best Mario Party game ever, even if by default. Most importantly, it’s a second chance for the series on Nintendo Switch after Super Mario Party’s potential was squandered by a lack of post-launch support.

It treats the Nintendo 3DS’ Mario Party: The Top 100 (a game that featured old minigames, but ditched the actual board game) as an awkward mulligan and gets its “best of” compilation idea right. But beyond that, it salvages moments of brilliance hidden within the series’ weakest installments. Mario Party Superstars – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Direct | E3 2021Īt its core, it’s a back-to-basics nostalgia trip that revives the spirit of the original Nintendo 64 classics.

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