Super Mario Party Jamboree: Return of the King – TEST

The Nintendo Switch Although it is in its eighth year, it continues to deliver games despite the more or less imminent arrival of its successor. The big play this year from a sales perspective is undoubtedly Super Mario Party Jamboreethe third and most certainly last of its kind on the portable console of Nintendo. After a Super Mario Party halftone and a Mario Party Superstars who tries to rectify the situation, Big N looking for the best solution and perhaps found it in the person of Super Mario Party Jamboreewhich offers Dantesque content with more than 110 mini-games and new modes. As quantity does not rhyme with quality, let’s take a closer look at what the game provides: it’s party !

A rich Mario Party mode

Sold as the largest Mario Party of history by Nintendowho has communicated a lot about his title in recent weeks, Super Mario Party Jamboree pulls out all the stops by increasing the number of trays available compared to its predecessors. Seven environments are offered (some are unlockable)two of which come from previous games, making them a perfectly suitable number to vary the experience. As a bonus, the title offers a single-player mode which allows you to roam the stages freely with characters who challenge you via mini-games. This mode allows you to understand the different courses as well as the tests, and above all to see the return of boss fights, which had made the charm of Mario Party 9. Once this is done, it’s time for the real plateaus, where many twists and turns can occur. The environments are pleasant to navigate and they are neither too big nor too small: a tour can take a long or short time to complete, depending on the strategy you adopt… and the luck you have.

Because yes, luck is always the spearhead in this Super Mario Party Jamboree and that’s good because it means that players will still rail against many of their friends. Many boxes and waypoints with items to buy (teleport pipes, mushrooms to increase the die total, double dice, traps, etc.) allow you to replenish yourself or, on the contrary, to make you sink while you were at the peak of your glory. You have no stars while the first one has four? Come across a random space, take two of them and watch his reaction! Also note the presence of Jamboree comrades who, if you pass them and win their challenge, support you and make your life easier. For example, he can double the number of stars you buy or roll a second die. Be careful though, because this friend can be stolen from you if another player overtakes you. In short, a bunch of random events await you and any situation is never hopelessis guaranteed.

There will be something for everyone!

And formulas Mario Party still works just as well in Super Mario Party Jamboreeit is also because the balancing seems more correct than before: the last player can quickly become first and vice versa, but there is still a dependence on performance in the mini-games. In addition to that, something new has arrived in this episode: Pro mode, which removes much of the notion of chance and heavily focuses the end result on mini-game results and how you anticipate your journey to the stars. This addition is appreciable because it opens even more doors to players who would like to enjoy the experience differently (while keeping the randomness of the dice roll). From there to imagine Mario Party Getting into esports is just one step away…

As for the mini-games, you will get your money’s worth because there are 112 of them precisely. As usual, some are more interesting than others but overall is quite satisfactory with free-for-all, 2v2, or even 1v3 challenges. Nintendo decided in this opus to mix the mini-games with buttons or Joy-Conand it should be noted that those with motion detection are very questionable in terms of their interest (fortunately, it is possible to completely deactivate their presence). This is all the more problematic since three modes are based on motion gaming: Cooking in rhythml’Toad Factory and the Aerial adventures. If they are nice the first time you play them, they quickly prove repetitive and we leave them aside to move on to two other modes which greatly refresh the license: the Koopathlon and the brigade anti-Bowser.

Super Mario Party Jamboree, it’s a great party

In Super Mario Party Jamboreethe Koopathlon is a kind of big race, which is done with twenty players who challenge each other to specific mini-games with coins to collect. These make you advance live on the stage, a progress that you can follow on the screen as well as that of the other participants. At the end of each round, Bowser joins the party and starts a mini-game in which you must dodge his attacks within the allotted time, under penalty of being awarded a penalty which materializes in the form of a step back in squares, more or less depending on the position you occupy. Oddly enough, Bowser’s challenges are not the simplest at the beginning and you will have to be particularly vigilant to survive. Regarding the brigade anti-Bowseras its name suggests, you must face Bowser with seven other players using a cannon throw, these attack phases being interspersed with mini-games allowing you to collect useful objects in combat.

These two modes are particularly effective in their approach and pleasantly change the experience and the image that one can have of a Mario Party classic. THE Koopathlon is very gripping, a feeling reinforced by the fact that you can directly influence the games of others by throwing annoying objects at them via obtaining coins. To nitpick, we can regret the low number of mini-games displayed but that does not spoil the experience. There brigade anti-Bowser makes a little less of an impression, due to the fact that the attack phases are repetitive, but the choice and relevance of the mini-games are very appreciable. As with almost all of the content in this Super Mario Party Jamboreeit is much preferable to play with several people and online reveals the full potential of these two modes. If you want to take a little break from the plateaus (because casually, a game lasts a very long time even if there are only 10 turns)the ideal is to head towards the Koopathlona short and intense format.

Another surprise, the last: Experience customization is at the heart of Super Mario Party Jamboree. When starting the game, you land on a central square which offers several services, such as consultation of records, different musical tracks but also and above all reaction and card shops Mario Party. When playing online, you can activate various reactions to show your shock, anger or joy at the events, while players can also view your player card, which includes a background and characters or decoration elements to place. These cosmetic items are obtained by earning points Mario Party via a system of passes and levels to unlock. Finally, the central square can also be personalized by, for example, adding flags and changing the fountain. So many elements that make Super Mario Party Jamboree one of the flagship games of the end of the year.