Review of Mario Party Superstars: We like having parties and Mario Parties
Our Verdict
An outstanding celebration of the series’ legacy, coupled with well-implemented online features and gameplay tweaks. Mario Party Superstars is a thrilling roller coaster of emotions that has refined this formula to near perfection.
Talent, pleasure, cunning, fortune, and treachery. A successful Mario Party game (and many other games) are defined by an undetectable balance between them, and it's a tight line that even little adjustments may damage. A handful of the most recent Mario Parties have overly altered the formula. Using a vehicle to go about wrecks the plan. The talent is ruined by too many motion-controlled minigames. And the joy may be readily ruined by just purchasing golden pipes and warping to the stars.
It follows that many still have pleasant memories of the classic Mario party games and hope that the franchise will be revived with all of its nostalgic charm. Fortunately for Mario Party enthusiasts, Nintendo took attention. Because Mario Party Superstars borrows heavily from the previous games, ripping off whole boards and minigames while also adding a dash of high definition gloss.
But as you relive the good old days with friends virtually, you also gain access to all the newest contemporary amenities, earn accomplishments, level up your player, and acquire more stickers and customization to flaunt. To put it briefly, there's a very strong possibility Mario Party Superstars will fulfill all of your dreams.
It's important to note that Mario Party Superstars looks amazing right away. Mario Party Superstars is a huge improvement over Super Mario Party, which I won't talk about too much in this review because, well, I'm not the biggest fan. It looks a lot more like an animated film and brings these characters and games to life with a joyful amount of clarity and color.
Peach's Birthday Cake is one of the brightly colored boards that best represents clever design. With its playful appearance and deft use of texture and depth of field, everything seems appetizing enough to eat. With luminous eyes peeping out of the walls, a fog layer descending over the board as night falls, and a spooky mansion that looks just like Luigi's Mansion 3, Horror Land is a sight to see.
The enjoyable visual aesthetic of all the minigames is still there, rewarding the straightforward character designs with excellent animation and stunning effects that make everything come to life. Every time he turns around, Donkey Kong claps his hands with delight, and I couldn't help but giggle at Waluigi's resolute "Wahhh" Even if it's not in stunning 4K, everything seems precisely as nice as it should, and the hilarious animation and amazing art style further heighten the impression.
The minigames are, of course, where the real action is, and I'm glad to say that's excellent news. Choosing a variety of Mario Party games from earlier releases, the curation is superb and strikes a wonderful mix between chance and ability. Games that are timeless, like Balloon Burst, Monty's Revenge, and Shy Guy Says, are excellent at rewarding skilled players without ever making others uncomfortable. These games are easily understood by all players and just need a few keystrokes to play. Mario Party is most effective when there is no restriction on who may win and you have a genuine sense of accomplishment over your grandmother.
Other games, such as Bowser's Big Blast, seem sufficiently strategic to be exciting while giving players a number of levers to press in order to set off a large bomb shaped like Bowser. In the end, it's all luck, but at least you had a choice, so it's never unjust. Super Mario Party's motion-based minigames often seemed meaningless to me since the controls were so sloppy or unreliable, which was my greatest complaint. You control every choice you make, every move you make is clear, and you choose whether you win or lose.
But not all of it is gravy—every batch has some duds. A few of the minigames still have a strong sense of being one-sided, particularly the 1 vs. 3 games. I've never participated in a game of Piranha's Pursuit, in which three players cheer on a Piranha Plant as it chases a player on a skateboard, in which the lone player loses. It's also important to note that certain games still use the classic analog stick mashing or button mashing controls. The analog stick in tug o' war still has to be spun as quickly as possible, something I didn't like doing on the already fragile Joy-Con.
Moving from motion-based minigames to fully button-controlled games was a nice change, therefore I believe a few more accessibility choices would be a godsend. Gran can't spin an analog stick as much as she can backflip, and not everyone can push buttons as fast as others. You won't notice if you're playing with only die-hard Mario Party fans, but this is a family game as well, and a few well-chosen choices might have further leveled the playing field. Not just for novice players, but I can see less skilled players maybe struggling as well.
The boards are one place where everything has been done well. These are a terrific collection, with five accessible right now and a fair mix of tactics amongst them. While Yoshi's Tropical Island may not be the most difficult, there is still opportunity for reflection and the chance to be a star struck at the last second. In addition to being quite visually stunning, Space Land has several excellent methods to irritate your rivals. With Bowser's enormous laser blast, you can make everyone move, and you can utilize the Sniff-Its to follow players throughout the map. It never seems unfair and keeps things interesting.
Woody Woods was the lone map that didn't make it into our normal rotation because, after a few plays, we thought that it lacked charm and justice. Every step on Monty Mole's road results in a different course, and even reaching the stars required effort. Even with the use of golden pipes and the Chain Chomp whistle, getting anywhere on this terrain still seems very difficult.
With the exception of Woody Woods, the other maps give the greatest Mario Party experience and are a fantastic assortment of beloved games that have been beautifully rendered. Even if you fall short of the leader after a few games, you may still win with a few well-chosen moves. The star is never really out of reach, and there are still many of possibilities to interfere with other players.
Additionally, you have extensive customization options for your games, with the option to play a 30-turn marathon or simply 10 rounds at a time. If you're having a lot of fun playing a match with pals, you can even add turns as you go. Toggling additional stars is another fantastic addition. Either set them to classic, which rewards the players who won the most mini-games and who gathered the most money, or have them granted at random (most steps taken, most things utilized, and other random characteristics). Playing this manner seems like a lot more fun and encourages minigames even more since you know a star is at stake. You have the option to just turn them off as well.
Golden pipes are only accessible much later in the game, and stars now cost 20 coins as part of changes to the game's real mechanics. Warp pipes, for example, come back and let you switch places with opponents. The Chain Chomp whistle also shifts the star's position. Everything comes together to give the impression that everything is much more balanced and that anybody may win at any time. However, a few well-placed dice rolls can also get you across most boards, so gathering stuff isn't necessarily the wisest course of action.
Of course, there are still many methods to make people unhappy, such as Bowser spaces with their plethora of terrible selections that no one wants to get. One excellent approach to alter the game is to use Bowser Revolution, which takes away everyone's money and returns them evenly. You may also betray anybody if you dare since there are several methods to exchange cash or stars or take them away. I fear I will never get over the fact that during our preview, I unintentionally switched all of my cash and stars for a Nintendo representative. Still, it was worthwhile since I prevailed.
If you only want to play a few minigames without spending an hour on a board, there are still plenty of enjoyable games to be had outside of the main game. Visit Mt. Minigames to have access to a ton of different modes. You may play pre-made games online with daily challenges, and there are prizes for winning. You may play coin-collecting minigames online or with pals when you play Coin Battle. Additionally, you may play 2v2 or 1v3 minigames with tag match and trio challenge, respectively. There's also a survival option where you compete to survive the longest online against other players. It's wonderful that there are so many various ways to enjoy the fantastic selection of mini-games that are offered here.
Prior to debut, we had the opportunity to test the online play, and we are happy to say that everything functioned flawlessly. For more over an hour, we played a four-player game without experiencing any slowness, crashes, or framerate problems. In fact, the performance of even the most complex minigames was really amazing. An excellent innovation is that there are choices to stop and restart online gaming. The ability to stop a game with friends and pick it up another night is very much appreciated since these games may take a very long time.
Mario Party Superstars uses a sticker system that is similar to Triforce Heroes, so if you want to annoy your friends, there are still no alternatives for voice conversation unless you want to open Discord. Each character has their own variety to choose from, but there are a ton more that can be obtained with cash outside of games. Even if they're all really safe, it's still entertaining to post a Boo laughing hysterically at an opponent's misfortune or to criticize "MISS" before a pal throws a die. They may also be disabled, so you don't have to endure the humiliation of others criticizing your efforts and seeing "nice try" posts when you don't succeed.
Speaking of unlockables, Mario Party Superstars has coins that may be spent to unlock customizing options in addition to a "Mario Party Level" that you can level up over the course of many games. As you advance in level, the shop's inventory expands to include stickers, various player card backgrounds (which are viewable by friends online), and encyclopedia pages for the games, minigames, and characters. These entries honor the many timeless submissions throughout the years, making them a veritable gold mine of remembrance. Nevertheless, other from stickers, there aren't many worthwhile items to really unlock.
The final two boards or a few characters would be excellent to unlock, since this entry has reduced the number of alternatives to a basic eight. Bowser isn't even playable since he plays a major role on most boards. It seems unfortunate, however, to move from Super Mario Party's several unlockable and optional characters and the various dice they carried, to this game's straightforward list of beloved characters. Even reasonably safe entrants like Dry Bones, Diddy Kong, Monty Mole, or King Boo would have been fun to see return because Waluigi and Birdo are about as strange as it gets.
Nevertheless, this game has a really strong foundation, and even though I don't think Super Mario Party will get much attention, I sincerely hope that Mario Party Superstars will eventually add updates or DLC to its already enormous bundle. This game could gain some traction since it has excellent internet functionality right out of the gate and a great assortment of games and boards. Nintendo must keep players interested, but because this is a celebration of earlier releases, they have a ton of tried-and-true characters, boards, and minigames that they may eventually include.
A charming blend of nostalgia and contemporary flair, Mario Party Superstars captures the essence of the game brilliantly. Robust online capabilities make it a delight to share with others, and careful curation has brought some of the greatest aspects of the series into the current day. Mario Party has never been better, despite certain aspects seeming a bit basic at first. The fundamental gameplay is a ton of fun to play with friends and family, and clever additions to the excellent base make it even better.