Mario Party Superstars

- Reviewed on Switch -

Mario Party Superstars released on October 29th, 2021. 

This Mario Party installment has / had a nostalgic twist to it and offers a lot more than the previous Mario Party title on the switch.

Yes, Mario Party Superstars does have its flaws compared to its predecessor (on the Switch), but in my opinion, these flaws don't outweigh the sheer enjoyment I got playing this over and over again!

Honestly, I believe Mario Party Superstars will become (if not already) a Nintendo Switch essential (game). 

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

For me personally, as hinted at earlier, I enjoyed this installment better than Super Mario Party (2018). 

Nothing against Super Mario Party, but this game (Mario Party Superstars) was just more enjoyable with the minigames, music, boards, and the biggest convenience, the fast-paced nature of each game mode (and the NPCs). 

Speaking of game modes, Mario Party Superstars has a wide variety of modes for you to enjoy either by yourself or with others via local or online play.

The two popular game modes you'll find yourself playing the most are Mario Party Mode and Mt. Minigames.

Mt. Minigames has a lot to offer and although some are online only, that won't (shouldn't) stop you from enjoying this unique feature.

Within Mt. Minigames you can choose to play...

    - Free Play
    - Sports and Puzzles
    - Coin Battle
    - Tag Match
    - Trio Challenge 
    - Survival
    - Daily Challenge

The addition of saving your game mid party and coming back later is very useful for on-the-go players.

With the new sticker feature, you can buy, select, and use them during the game to show off your emotions!

After playing either game modes from Mt. Minigames or Mario Party Mode itself, you will be rewarded with in game currency (coins). 

Along with coins, you will also level up and get to customize your own custom Player Card which I believe is a very fun feature even for offline players. 

Having something to look forward to within games like new shop items, leveling up, coins, etc. really (to me at least) keeps players interested in coming back to play more!

I like the inclusion of nostalgic game boards from previous installments (of Mario Party), but the selection (to me) felt a little weak (in terms of amount), and it would've been nice to have one or two boards from every previous Mario Party. 

Obviously, that was a suggestion, but the boards Nintendo eventually ended up putting in Mario Party Superstars are enjoyable, each with their own unique feature / style. 

The official boards (as of writing this blog post) in Mario Party Superstars are...

    - Yoshi's Tropical Island
    - Space Land
    - Peach's Birthday Cake
    - Woody Woods
    - Horror Land

One big flaw with Mario Party Superstars is the number of playable characters. 

In 2018, Super Mario Party had an outstanding 20 playable characters, and now for this installment, Mario Party Superstars has only ten! 

On the plus side, the dice you famously use in Mario Party games is now back at one through ten, instead of one through six. 

The over abondance of Lucky Spaces and Event Spaces makes it so you can achieve a huge number of coins in a single game, and some might see this as a bad thing, but on the other hand others might enjoy this (myself included) because it makes for a more challenging / immersive experience to try and get that first-place position! 

Going back to the number of playable characters, the actual characters you can play as are...

    - Mario
    - Luigi
    - Daisy
    - Peach
    - Waluigi
    - Wario
    - Yoshi
    - Rosalina
    - Birdo
    - Donkey Kong

The final aspect to this game I adore is the music. 

Not only do you get to listen to that nostalgic minigame music from previous Mario Parties, but you can also switch the game board music from either the remastered version or original version! 

I said earlier, this game should be a Nintendo Switch essential and I still (after going back and replaying / reviewing) believe this should be on that list for new Switch buyers / players!

Pros: 

    - Nostalgic Music
    - Extremely Fun Minigames
    - Plenty of Game Modes
    - Customization
    - New Items Shop 

Cons:

    - Small Number of Characters
    - Board Selection
    - Online Only Modes

My Rating for Mario Party Superstars (on Switch):

4 / 5


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Disclaimer

All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.



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