Peter James Mann
It’s ah-me, Daddio!
Super Mario Party is one of those games that feels like it needs to be in your collection. It’s a Mario Party game, it has Super in the title (that’s a very rare edition for Nintendo titles post NES/SNES), and it has some really great minigames that take advantage of the Joycon in some really innovative ways. But is that enough to say that, after three years, was it worth picking up? Let’s talk about it.
While the weather lightened up for today in my neck of the woods, this weekend was a rain-soaked, autumnal mess. So we had to make some different plans for family time. Luckily, we have a Switch and now a full 4 player team for Super Mario Party.
Each player takes 1 Joycon and picks from classic Mario characters to play as before entering the hub area, the Party Plaza! Run by toads (naturally), this area has different screens and counters to run up to for choosing what mode you’d like to play. There’s your standard Mario Party game, complete with a board, dice, and fun obstacles on your way to collecting the most stars and coins you can before the final turn. There is the mini game menu, where you can play all of the mini games as much as you want. The Dance Party has some fun rhythm based games that you perform during a dance concert. Finally, there’s river survival, where you and your team work together on a raft to brave river rapids, rocks and jumping fish on your way to the end. There are several paths that require multiple playthroughs to traverse them all.
And while 3 years is a lot to ask for of any game in terms of play time, the variety actually wore out in a matter of a few playthroughs. We’d play through the Mario Party boards, then the Dance Party, then the River Survival. Now, we get in to play some quick minigames before bed or on a rainy day. And actually, that’s not terrible. Especially since all four of us can play at once.
I mean there aren’t many games I can think of where two 30 somethings, a 12 year old and a 3 and a half year old can all play together. That’s actually amazing when you think about it from a design perspective. You could throw grandparents in on this too and there would still be minigames everyone could play no problem. The controls are mostly motion-based, and the joycons are limited in button layout, so for more “traditional” minigames, you simply use a joystick to move and 1 button to complete an action. My son has actually gotten better at playing games because of Super Mario Party. That’s crazy, too! Like, he beats us in games legitimately now. We don’t have to throw a game ever. Come to think of it, it’s a little scary…
And that’s kind of it. Yeah. I thought I’d have more to say about it too, but that’s really…that’s it! That’s all they gave us! There’s some points to spend on stickers! In a room! That you can’t play in! It’s just a page! There’s tips you can buy too! Where are you goi—
Now, the game is slightly relevant again for one particular reason: Online Play. That’s right. It took 3 years for this game to get Online Multiplayer support! And while that’s actually a great addition, our family would have also liked maybe 1 more board so there was 5 instead of 4. How about ten new minigames? New characters? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has more support than Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Party and Mario Kart 8 combined. I don’t feel like that’s hyperbole, either.
It’s strange, because with a little more support, Super Mario Party could actually be a hot game again. If Nintendo added just a smidge of what was previously mentioned, we’d be golden. But I don’t actually see it happening. I see them kind of letting it play out like this until the next Mario Party Title, especially given the time. Giving us online support was a way of Nintendo gesturing to the community of players still punching dice that they haven’t forgotten about us.
In the meantime, I think we’ll get a few more rounds of Off the Chomp, Candy Shakedown, and Slaparazzi in before calling it a night tonight. Especially Slaparazzi. The pictures are so good.
