Mario Party Superstars Review

Mario Party Superstars

Release: January 1, 1970
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Developer:
Genre: Action, Adventure, Family, Genres, Nintendo Switch Categories, Other, Party, Puzzle, Racing, Sport, Survival, Switch Reviews
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Mario Party Superstars is now out for the Nintendo Switch. Is it a fun game? How are the graphics? Is the online multiplayer worth checking out? Here is our review of Mario Party Superstars for the Nintendo Switch!

Mario Party Superstars is a Nintendo board game and mini-game extravaganza. That would be the best way of describing it. If you’ve never played a Mario Party before, you can easily jump right into this one. The game does have a story – kind of – but its not that important. Historical knowledge of the series is somewhat useful when playing those old mini-games, but again…not really that important. What you need to know is this: you can play mini-games if you want or you can play board games with mini-games. That may be a simplistic way of setting up our review, but an accurate one.

The game comes preloaded with 100 mini-games from across the entire Mario Party franchise, and includes 5 boards from the first three Mario Party titles on Nintendo 64, including fan favourites like Horror Land, Peach’s Birthday Cake, and Woody Woods. Ultimately a few games and boards will be missing that fans really want, but those could be added in the future with DLC. At least we hope so!

Mini-games can be played by yourself, locally, or online. We were not able to test out the local multiplayer but we did get a good look at the online. Lets talk about the single player though.

Editor’s Note: I (Adam) have been playing Super Mario Superstars for hours upon hours since the game launched on October 29th, and can state that local multiplayer is alive and well in this title, and is probably the best way to play if you can get a good group together. Whether battling it out on Mt. Minigames or playing one of the 5 included boards, there is something nice about having your competitors in the room with you. Always nice to yell at areal person rather than into the void!

Below, Daniel will note he really enjoyed online multiplayer, and that it was his favourite way to play. After discussions with a few folks, how you play Mario Party, and what mode you like the best, will depend on your living situation, family situation, internet situation….lots of situations. Safe to say, there is something for everyone.

The mini-games in Mario Party Superstars are pretty fun in single player mode. You can set the games to a higher difficulty if you want or play them all on easy mode – this flexibility allows for a very accessible experience, which is actually a theme across this entire game. This is a huge for parents with kids, especially. The same can be said for the board games. If you’ve played Mario Party before, you won’t find anything surprising in this game, outside a few nice quality of life improvements.

Of course, the most fun you can have with Mario Party Superstars is during the online multiplayer. Thank goodness this mode was introduced into Mario Party (added onto the last game in an update, but launching alongside this release). For those of us who don’t have anybody to play with locally, the online is a great addition, and a necessary one for those

So does the online work well? It does! As long as you have good internet connection, you should be able to play whole board game matches with friends or random people. During our time playing online, there was one match where it said the online was unstable but it did not disconnect. Otherwise, the online worked great.

The mini-games work even better because they are super short experiences, while you can expect for the board game matches to last you a bit longer! The online is really great and you should take advantage of it if you have the Nintendo Switch Online service.

You know what’s also great? Mario Party Superstar’s graphics!

Mario Party Superstars is a wonderful looking game. It is, without a doubt, the best that Mario Party has ever looked. All the characters, backgrounds, boards, and mini-games are full of HD colorful goodness. Your eyes are in for a treat!

The music and sound effects in Mario Party Superstars are pretty good too. Nothing surprising but all of it is very nice and fits the game. A lot of the tracks are remixed from their original sources, and many bring back fantastic memories of playing the titles this game is based on so many years…decades…ago.

Mario Party Superstars is an easy game to pick and play. Not only that but its a great looking game and supports local and online multiplayer. Superstars can be played alone but really, you should grab a friend or two or some strangers online. It is a party after all!

Superstars is another fun entry in the series. If you’re looking for some something casual and/or a good board game experience on the Switch, you should check out this Mario Party.

Thank you to Nintendo Canada for providing a digital code for this review. Mario Party Superstars is now available via retail and on the Nintendo Switch eshop!