Super Mario Party Jamboree

It's wild to think the Mario Party series, now titled Super Mario Party, was originally released in 1998. That means we're only a few short years away from a 30th anniversary, and I don't approve of this linear time business at all.

No matter the age of things, Super Mario Party Jamboree feels as youthful and fun as ever. It is one of the most packed titles in the long-running franchise, bringing together new ideas, terrific new boards, and quality-of-life improvements that make it the best Party title ever.

There are 7 boards in total, of which 2 are returning classics (The Wild West and The Rainbow Castle are back!). The remaining 5 feature new areas, including a fantastic race track and King Bowser's Keep, are varied and packed with surprises. They take longer to complete than previous games, too. Our first run with just two humans and two NPC characters clocked over an hour to finish the first board.

That might sound like a long while for what's ostensibly a party game, and some elements require more attention than before. Yet it never feels boring or like a chore. Instead, I found myself planning multiple moves ahead, only for those plans to crumble as we stumbled upon another anarchic mini-game.

With over 100 mini-games to choose from, Super Mario Party Jamboree has my favorite selection of frantic and bizarre sideshows we've seen yet. Some of these are returning favorites from previous Mario Party titles, but the vast majority are new. My favorites, burning bridges and rocky rope race, bring to mind the wild inventiveness of Super Mario World from way back when. Like in previous titles, they're easy to pick up and understand, but hard to master. On top of that, there's a constant level of unpredictability, which makes every encounter both tense and uproariously fun.

Mario Party Jamboree is best experienced with friends, and Nintendo once again excels at delivering a couch co-op-friendly experience. Nearly everything can be played split-screen with shared controllers.

The one major exception is the new mini-game-centric mode, Bowser Kaboom Squad, which requires each player to have their own Switch. I understand why, as the mini-games require everyone to see what's going on at all times, but it's still a bummer as I rarely found enough players online to join me in the antics. You can get computer-controlled NPCs to play with you, but it's just not the same.

There's also a single-player campaign called "Party Planner Trek", which is similar to the mission-oriented design of Super Smash Brothers. As Mario, you help out characters on the main islands, collecting stars and items from different areas, while playing through an assortment of mini-games. It's breezy and good fun, but clearly not the main draw. I spent a few hours with it quite happily, but there wasn't a single moment that I wasn't thinking how much more fun I had with the multiplayer mode.

Speaking of which, the mammoth Koopathlon is a hoot and one of the best parts of the sprawling package. In it, a whopping 20 online players compete in a series of mini-games to see who comes out on top. It's fast, furious, and totally insane. Up to 3 additional players can join in on the same Switch, so you can have a mini-party at home competing against a dozen or more strangers online. For those who don't have the time for a full session, Koopathlon is easily the next big draw.

I've really enjoyed my time with Super Mario Party Jamboree, which is surprising, considering it is a 30-year-old franchise. Surely, at this point, some kind of diminishing returns would set in, right? Not so. Instead, Jamboree is a testament to how well Mario reinvents himself yearly. Each time the recipe changes just a little, but enough that it never feels stale.

I wouldn't recommend Super Mario Jamboree as a solo purchase, though. Even with the online capabilities, I had a hard time finding players, and the single-player campaign is nothing to write home about. But if you have kids or friends that come over on the regular, Jamboree is the finest instalment in the long-running franchise, and one of the best games you can buy on the Nintendo Switch.