Super Mario Party Jamboree is some of the most fun I’ve had all year

It’s not uncommon to hear a company say their latest product is the “biggest” of its kind to date. Generally, though, that doesn’t mean much. But in the case of Mario Party, hearing that the latest game is also the “biggest” is pretty much what you want to hear.

Indeed, that’s exactly what Nintendo is saying about Super Mario Party Jamboree, the long-running multiplayer party franchise’s latest entry. With over 110 minigames, seven boards, thirty-seven items and several modes, it’s officially the “biggest Mario Party yet.” And honestly, what more can you want? These games live and breathe by their quantity and variety of their content, and in that regard, Super Mario Party Jamboree is a resounding hit.

That success starts with the new boards. There’s nothing like a good-old-fashioned Mario Party board, and Jamboree has maybe my favourite one in recent memory: Rainbow Galleria. Besides the pleasing, glitzy presentation (seeing all of the colourful stores and different shoppers sitting and walking around is especially charming), it presents some welcome twists on the formula.

For one, there are three floors that you have to ascend using escalators or an elevator, which adds a new layer to your navigational planning. (Seeing my main man Waluigi crankily hunched over on a slowly ascending escalator is also just golden.) On top of that, a flash sale might be triggered to discount everything, from items to even Stars, which can lead to more delightful chaos. In one online match I played with a Nintendo rep and two other media, I had used the new Markup Sticker to make Yoshi, who had a steady lead, pay double (so 40 coins, which he couldn’t afford) for a Star. I was feeling smug about my sneaky move until a flash sale triggered and cut the base price of a Star to 10 coins, meaning that Yoshi only had to pay 20 in the end anyway.

Other boards include the new Mega Wiggler’s Tree Party, which challenges you to avoid disturbing the giant caterpillar creature in the middle, as well as Mario’s Rainbow Castle and Western Land (returning from Mario Party and Mario Party 2, respectively). Mega Wiggler’s Tree Party, in particular, offers its own level of strategy, as the Wiggler acts as both a bridge and potential hazard if you land on a space and awaken it from its slumber. The satisfaction of royally screwing over a player who was atop the critter can’t be understated.

Across all of the boards is one of my other favourite features from the game: Jamboree Buddies. The first player who reaches the Buddy when they arrive on the board will have them as an ally who will provide benefits like double the coins and two Stars at once. They also have unique abilities, like Donkey Kong launching you elsewhere on the board or Bowser Jr. planting coin-snatching traps for other players. (Let me tell you just how gleefully I snatched up two Stars while messing with my MobileSyrup colleagues with Bowser Jr.) At the same time, the Buddies (of which there are 10) are balanced because they only last for three turns and can be stolen from other passing players.

But of course, Mario Party is all about those minigames, and on front, Jamboree more than delivers. Of course, some of them aren’t exactly winners; a rhythm-based one where you to press the Joy-Con’s tiny indented SL and SR buttons was especially awkward, especially if you have bigger fingers. But the sheer diversity of what’s on display is downright staggering. Whether it’s Indiana Jones-esque thrills of running from a giant boulder in Granite Getaway, frantic team-based coordination of matching rotating silhouettes of Shadow Play or the cleverly named Hot Cross Blocks in which you each have to try to pick a unique variation of Tetris-like block patterns to create a bridge over lava, I consistently found myself smiling at the wide assortment of minigames. As a nice touch, you can even head to a dedicated ‘Minigame Bay’ from the main menu hub plaza if you want to just play those.

Then there are the actual modes. If you want something different than the signature boards that’s still meaty, there’s the 20-player Koopathlon. Instead of collecting Stars, this mode has a refreshingly different focus: you have to race around a course and perform well at minigames to stay in the lead. I still prefer the back-and-forth shenanigans of the Stars, but it’s a nice competitive alternative. Other modes include Rhythm Kitchen (up to four players team up in timing-based cooking minigames), Toad’s Item Factory (up to four players operate the machinery that actually creates the board items) and Paratroopa Flight School (two players use Joy-Cons to flap their arms and transport passengers). I’ll confess that most of these aren’t really my own cup of tea, but it’s undeniably great to have all of that content as options.

The new mode that did stand out for me, though, is Bowser Kaboom Squad. With a team of eight people (human or CPU), you’ll have to defeat a giant Imposter Bowser by running a plaza to retrieve parachuting bombs and loading them into a cannon to deplete the fire-breathing turtle’s HP. It’s a gloriously frantic mode that encourages communication, especially as you complete minigames between rounds that give you power-ups. (Figuring out who’s going to place a banana to temporarily stun Imposter Bowser vs. a boost pad for a quick getaway vs. hearts to save incapacitated teammates is especially satisfying.) Should you win, the mode will even culminate in the team getting a Superstar to turn invincible and mash the interact button to pummel Bowser, which is immensely cathartic.

And really, that’s what Mario Party is about, that pure, visceral feeling of fun, and that’s exactly what Jamboree has in spades. From the delightful new boards and mechanics to the outstanding variety of minigames and genuinely fantastic Bowser Kaboom Squad, Super Mario Party Jamboree is pretty much everything you could hope for from a new Mario Party game. I’ve had a blast playing it, even mostly with CPUs and random people, and I can’t wait to get groups of friends together in the coming weeks.

Super Mario Party Jamboree will launch exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on October 17th.

Image credit: Nintendo