Super Mario Party Jamboree (2024)

Finally have had enough friend and family get-togethers to feel like I've really seen a fair amount of this, and while it has some downsides, I think it's a very fun game with some relatively fresh things about it.

The titular gimmick here is the "Jamboree Buddy" mechanic, which makes a traditional game of Mario Party a bit more dynamic in several ways. Being the first to reach these guest buddy characters on the board grants you a bonus in a more complex minigame or series of minigames themed around one of the game's characters, which adds a nice new goal to the map. Winning that minigame then gives a very powerful bonus that's also unique per character, in addition to the ability to activate special space abilities (including buying stars) twice in a turn. While this is super strong, another player can easily steal your buddy by simply running past you. I like this setup a lot as it's exciting to get it, varied in how you do so, generally well-executed in the theming and minigame design, and continues impacting the game for several turns in a way that leaves something for other players to fight for.

Another interesting addition is "Pro Rules", which lessens the impact of randomness on the game. I have always liked how random and ridiculous Mario Party can get, and think it's a good thing generally that players' fates can be swapped and swung in different directions throughout. This mode doesn't erase all of the fun, but simply makes the turn-by-turn events that can happen more predictable and limited, and as a result a bit more strategic. Additionally, you get a little more control, with the best feature being the ability to actually vote on minigames. I think there's room for both modes depending on whether you want something a bit more controlled and strategic or something a little more chaotic. While it's a welcome addition, I didn't see any way to mix and match some rules between the modes, which would have been pretty nice.

If like me you don't play this very often, you may find it a little annoying how they drip feed the content at first. Anecdotally, my different groups I have played with had to repeat quite a lot of the same minigames over and over, and it takes some time playing on the four starting boards to unlock one of the three unlockable ones. I wish it just let everything be available. Many minigames require each player to have a single Joycon, and I only have two, so the selection is already relatively limited. There are also other online-focused modes that only support one local player. So for my use case, this game actually does end up feeling somewhat limiting, even if the main mode and boards are generally pretty good.

There are definite duds in the minigame selection, annoyances in a couple of the boards, slight balancing issues with items, and so on, but at the end of the day it's still a very solid and fun Mario Party game. It has a nice roster of characters and has slowed the game down a bit in terms of turn length while keeping it engaging throughout—fewer turns in a game of the same duration has slight pros and cons but is still enjoyable. As someone who initially just wanted more content added to the prior game, I do think this entry's changes justify making it separate and make it a fine game to carry forward into the Switch 2 generation.

I'm getting a good chuckle out of what seem to be multiple reviewers who just discovered that Mario party is kinda unfair. Eurogame said:

Time and again I’d amass a huge fortune after wiping the floor with my opponents during the minigame sections, but I’d only ever scrape the bottom of the final leaderboard because I’d had bum luck elsewhere.

This is a completely understandable criticism given it's true, but it's also a central aspect of the entire Mario Party franchise. Yes, you can be the best at mini games, but also yes, the game is going to take your stars away and give it to other players. That's the franchise in a nutshell.