Nintendo plays the extravagant host in ‘Super Mario Party Jamboree’

112 Minigames. 22 playable characters. 7 boards. 5 unique multiplayer modes and an exclusively single-player adventure to boot.

Super Mario Party Jamboree is stacked like no other game in the decades-old series. It’s not as consistent as its last title, Superstars, but it’s an appropriately extravagant celebration of the franchise’s rapidly-closing Nintendo Switch era.

Controlled chaos

Mario Party might be a digital board game about rolling dice, collecting coins, and racing to buy stars, but it’s always lived and died by its minigames. Jamboree’s collection ranges from satisfying to mediocre — better than 2018’s Super Mario Party but falling short of 2021’s Mario Party Superstars. Many of its worst minigames are motion-controlled, but they’re thankfully few and there’s an option to exclude them.

The most extensive (often best) minigames occur when you collide with a “Jamboree buddy” while running around the board. These allies parachute in from the main cast and challenge players to a special competition. Yoshi has you run a footrace, Waluigi has you play pinball, Donkey Kong has you drum to a beat — and so on.

Win and you’ll recruit the buddy, gaining access to their unique power and the ability to double some normal actions — allowing you to buy two stars instead of one, for example. These allies are so powerful that, unlike their equivalents in 2018’s Super Mario Party, they’ll only stick around for a few turns, and ditch you to join other players that pass you on the board.

Other revisions hearken back to earlier titles or streamline old annoyances. Stars again cost 20 coins, not 10, pushing you to hoard money and minigame victories. Bowser spaces have returned — land on one and a giant “Imposter Bowser” will steal from you or launch a “Bowser Revolution” to equalize everyone’s coin totals. The game also has a swifter tempo, with snappy animations you can fast-forward through. Finally, optional “Pro Rules” rein in the randomness — trading hilarious upsets for tighter tactics.

Party favors

Jamboree bursts with other diversions aside from this main event. You can cooperate through rhythm challenges in a fantastical cooking show. You can tilt motion controls to slide items around a factory. You can even exhaust yourself with “Paratroopa Flight School” — where you’ll literally flap your arms to soar through the skies.

If you’ve got a Nintendo Online subscription, you can jump into the co-operative “Bowser Kaboom Squad” or cutthroat “Koopathlon” modes, which feature their own unique minigames for eight to 20  players. ( Sadly, each participant needs their own Switch.) Conversely, if you wish to party alone, there’s a surprisingly involved single-player mode called “Party-Planner Trek.”

Many activities quickly wear out their novelty. “Paratroopa Flight School” is difficult to maneuver, leaving me literally sore. “Toad’s Item Factory” requires patience and teamwork at odds with the game’s typically frenetic pace. “Koopathlon” feels like Nintendo’s version of Fall Guys: blisteringly fun when you’re at the top of the pack and terribly demoralizing when you’ve fallen behind.

But in this overbearing variety, Jamboree lives up to its name. Even if it’s not the classic that Mario Party Superstars proved to be, I can already tell that its approachable gameplay and goofy chaos will make it a family staple for years to come.