Super Mario Party Jamboree Is an Absolute Delight (Review)

Growing up, I played a lot of the first three Mario Party games on the N64, and I’ve got the scar on my palm to prove it. However, whenever I tried to check back into the series after that, I found that it didn’t quite fit with my memories of those titles, so I bounced out of the series for the better part of a decade. I’m glad to say, though, Super Mario Party Jamboree is an absolute delight.

Like with previous games in the series, Mario Party sees players facing off on a bunch of different themed boards to collect stars, coins, items, and other trinkets in the hopes of become a Super Star. Super Mario Party Jamboree adds a few additional game modes to the mix outside of , including Koopathlon (an online competition mode in which players race around a track), Bowser Kaboom Squad (which sees players working together to defeat a giant Imposter Bowser using a cannon), Rhythm Kitchen (which has players using their Joy-Cons in a rhythmic way to make food), and Paratroopa Flight School (where players use Joy-Cons in some other motion-based mini-games that revolve around, you guessed it, flying). There’s also a bunch of single-player missions in a mode called Party Planner Trek.

Overall, I found the additional, non-Mario Party game modes to be fine. They’re perfectly nice little experiences that I don’t foresee myself playing too much in the future. It’s not that any of them are necessarily bad. It’s more that none of them grabbed me, and I can’t really imagine myself playing more of them, especially since they’re not really the primary reason to play a Mario Party game. They feel a bit like something to whet your appetite before getting to the main course, which are the regular Mario Party mode and Party Planner Trek.

One minor exception to that is that I did quite enjoy Party Planner Trek. That mode sees players collecting Mini-Stars by completing various tasks and mini-games on the game’s various boards. Once you’ve collected the requisite number of Mini-Stars, you’ll be able to face off against a boss. In general, I found the mode pretty fun, and it’s a great introduction to the various levels and mini-games in Super Mario Party Jamboree. It’s still not the main reason I’d play the game, but it’s good fun.

As for the Mario Party mode, which is really the core of the game, it’s excellent. I played with some of my family, and we had a lot of fun. In classic Mario Party fashion, Super Mario Party Jamboree is chaotic, unpredictable, and unfair in the most delightful possible ways. No matter how well you do, there’s always a chance that you’ll lose to something entirely random, and when you’re playing with people who can embrace that chaos, it’s a ton of laughs and good times.

The mini-games themselves feel like a real return to form for the franchise. Everything is pretty easy to understand, but there are nuances and little tricks that turn what could feel mundane into something fantastic. There are, of course, some deeply unbalanced mini-games — especially when it’s 1 vs. 3 — but at the same time, it’s hard to be too mad about that.

The polish on Super Mario Party Jamboree is also fantastic. Everything feels responsive and like it works perfectly. There are great little touches — especially in the overworld, which is accessed from a balloon — that I really enjoy. Using a little camera, you can take pictures of things happening, and that’s very nice. You also collect points so you can decorate the main plaza, and little customization choices like that are something that I’m a sucker for in video games.

I will say that, I did attempt to play a bit of the Mario Party mode online with random people, and the experience just wasn’t as great as when I was playing with people I know. It’s no real shade at the game, but it’s more that, for all of its additional online features, they don’t really make Super Mario Party Jamboree a much better game. While playing, I came to really feel like the true delight of the franchise comes from the time spent with friends as you deal with a wheel of fortune that is utterly agnostic towards strategy or logic.

So with all that said, I’ll be playing a lot more Super Mario Party Jamboree with my friends and family, because it’s wonderful.