Mario Party It has been one of the most successful franchises of Nintendo in its different generations. The famous plumber and his friends have taken to the board format more than a dozen times to offer the most fun and interesting mini-games so that the party on the sofa is the most pleasant and laughter predominates. Nintendo Switch was already lucky enough to have Super Mario Party in its first months of life, a title that offered different options and novelties that had not been seen previously in the saga. Now, with the hybrid console in full maturity, comes Mario Party Superstars, a kind of tribute to the trajectory of the series that it offers a huge party that leaves its corresponding hangover.
During the last days we have been lucky enough to have access to the title to be able to carry out its analysis and we can tell you all the impressions that Mario Party Superstars has left us. We will explain these aspects in great detail below, but we can already tell you that, Although it is one of the most complete titles in terms of minigames -with a total of 100 chosen from other deliveries and totally remastered and adapted to current times-, there is a lack of additional content that causes the game to deflate as the hours go by, as much as the games are the most entertaining in a group.
Mario and his friends form a big party again
With Mario Party Superstars, Nintendo sets out to create the ultimate party, the one that manages to bring together all those users who have enjoyed the franchise’s board games for more than two decades. To do this, it brings together a total of 100 of the most representative minigames from the first Mario Party to Mario Party 10, counting on its particular representation so that all those who have a delivery as their great favorite feel familiar. It should be noted that all of them have been remastered in an exceptional way And that they look really fantastic with the graphic quality that the console treasures in the update and, in addition, being able to enjoy it in portable mode with Nintendo Switch OLED is a visual marvel. Because if, Superstars fixes one of the most criticized aspects of its predecessor: the inability to enjoy it in portable mode and that also means that it can be played with the Pro controller, something that many players will appreciate.
Five boards divided by difficulty
Nevertheless, from the first bars it is already intuited that the game is going to be lacking in content. Tal only has five boards, something that is striking given the great variety that has been during all these years. It is not something that catches us again, because Nintendo itself had already warned it before its launch, but it does squeak the choice of some of them, such as Peach’s cake, whose games become quite monotonous and lose a little the essence of the rest of boards that are available. What is interesting is that Day-night cycles or road changes are included during each shift, activating or deactivating certain events and causing the player to choose a path, which makes the games change completely as they progress. The experience is really fun and Each of the boards has its own difficulty, from easy to expert, something that also translates to AI.
In this regard, the behavior of the CPU is much more intelligent than what could be seen in Super Mario Party. In Expert mode it is practically impossible to win in certain minigames, so be very careful when selecting the maximum difficulty, although we have been able to win several times at this level, so it is not something too exaggerated. But it is true that in certain minigames its performance is excessive and makes it really difficult to beat it. Even so, the challenge is much greater than that of its previous installment and it is something that is appreciated.
An unbalanced minigame choice
The same cannot be said of the minigames, which are not lacking in content at all, quite the opposite. Mario Party Superstars has 100 minigames of the most varied and that have a compendium of very entertaining tests that bring lots of laughs as a group. However, it seems that the balance between games is really unbalanced and that some of them are not getting the full game that they should, given the great deliveries that the franchise has had throughout history. Well it is true that some of the most representative and the most furious during all these years are present, but there are also many others that have not enjoyed so much popularity and that have been included without any logical sense.
It should also be noted that the absence of motion control limits too much to the most current deliveries who used this technique in their minigames, so the representation from Mario Party 8 is much better. In fact, among the last three installments they only add up to 9 of the 100 minigames, something that is totally understandable to make sense of the decision not to allow the use of motion control in the Joy-Con for it. Also noteworthy is the high presence of games released on Nintendo 64, with more than half of the minigame in total (55 of the 100 available), something that is appreciated and more considering that time has passed for them and it does not forgive, but it greatly limits the options of the Gamecube titles, who are the big losers in this selection. The 36 remaining minigames correspond to this stage and the truth is that gives the feeling that the best selection has not been made in them.
Nevertheless, the compendium of minigames provides great moments of fun and the system causes you to try each and every one of them without practically repeating them until you have tried them all, so the freshness is maintained in the first hours. However, it is something that is diluted with the passing of the hours, because what is commented in these first two aspects is the only thing that the title has and, of course, many things are missing that could have been included to give it better depth.
Scarcity of game modes and characters
And is that Beyond the five boards available there are not many more options. Mario Party Superstars has a square of minigames where you can try them all and there are even some exclusive to this area, but they do not have a mode that invites you to gather them on a board or in a different game mode. The big mistake that Mario Party Superstars makes is not allowing more ways to enjoy the proposal, as it did Super Mario Party, which contained dance games and wild river games. A different way of enjoying adventure, beyond the boards, which are already scarce. It is a shame that no further exploration is made in this regard and that the game is seen as a title to enjoy on a Sunday afternoon with one or two games and not to play it again until next week, as your options are the best. more limited to play it on a day-to-day basis if you don’t want to wear down the formula and constantly face the same.
What’s more, There are only 10 playable characters, which while not the biggest problem, also amplifies that feeling that there is something missing in Mario Party Superstars. The absence of Bowser, who takes a back seat on the boards or other charismatic and characteristic characters in other installments is noted, since his role is based on a role destined to a single box and greatly limits the options at the time to choose, especially if someone has a character as their favorite.
Stable multiplayer and tremendous fun
What has really amused us is the online game, which we have been able to try together with the Nintendo team and other colleagues from different media. Online games develop normally and without any notable problems, so there is no trace of lagProvided that the connection of the participants is optimal, of course. During several games we did not suffer any kind of inconvenience, so it seems that Nintendo is beginning to solve these problems that have dragged on since the launch of the console, although it must also be said that it is not a very demanding video game in this sense, since mobility around the board does not require the interaction of many elements and the minigames, as a rule, do not exceed a minute in duration, so there is little room for error. Even so, the experience has been totally satisfactory And, obviously, facing other players who are looking for their own strategies and preventing the triumph of others is infinitely more fun than doing it against the AI, even if the most unfair results were given in these games, although that is also part of the game.
A party that does not fully exploit its potential
Definitely, Mario Party Superstars is a party that starts in style, with its balloons, confetti and all the usual paraphernalia, but that deflates as the hours go by and the lack of content begins to weigh, causing a hangover of which it is difficult to detach. Fun is guaranteed with its 100 mini-games, although you must be clear that you are facing a game with which you can enjoy from time to time in a meeting of friends, without becoming something habitual so as not to suffer the boredom of always playing in the same boards and repeat those mini-games frequently. If you take it as an occasional title, you will enjoy it every time you play it, otherwise, you will end up hating it. On this occasion, that of “what is good if brief, twice as good” is fulfilled.
▪ Release date: 10/29/2021