The Wasted Potential of Mario Party Superstars

when Mario Party Superstars launched two years ago all I could think of was how this had the potential to be the greatest Mario Party game of all time there were many quality of life improvements over previous entries in the franchise the presentation was polished and full of charm and it really felt like a celebration of the best parts of Mario Party by tapping into the series roots and bringing back the gameplay that made the franchise so popular in the first place it felt like Mario party was back in a big way Super Mario Party got the ball rolling but this was the reboot the series desperately needed and as someone who had become disillusioned with the franchise it felt in many ways like a game that was designed specifically for people like me which is why it is so disappointing to see that Mario Party Superstars has not lived up to its potential because I'd be lying if I said I was still satisfied with this entry two years later Perhaps it is my fault for assuming Nintendo planned on updating this game but considering the gaming landscape we live in with updates and DLC being the norm for a game of Mario Party Superstar success can you really blame me this is a game that has sold over 10 million copies as of the writing of this video and yet this entry has been completely neglected in that time it feels so strange when you consider other Nintendo titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros ultimate that have received updates in DLC over the years and at least from a Content perspective surface the definitive editions of their respective series why wouldn't Mario Party Superstars follow suit when its entire premise is built around that idea for a compilation styled game Mario Party Superstars could be so much more than it currently is and it's a shame its potential is currently being wasted I love this game and have enjoyed my time with it but there should be more boards to play on more playable characters in the roster more mini games available from throughout the franchise's past and more original content in general there's no reason Superstars shouldn't be expanding as a hub of all things classic Mario party because there is so much Source material to draw from and when Mario Golf super rush a game that came out just four months prior to Mario Party Superstars can get multiple free updates that add new courses characters and modes then I expect the game that sold five times as well too at the very least receive the same treatment the fact that there are only five boards and Superstars is honestly a travesty considering Mario Party 3 only has one board out of its six represented here why is it that despite having a combined total of 20 boards from the first three Mario parties alone but only five of them made it into Superstars not only is five Wards too small for this collection style game but Superstars has less boards than all but three titles in the entire Mario Party franchise in fact the very first Mario party which released over 24 years ago came with eight unique boards to choose from so there's no excuse for Mario Party Superstars to be under the series average of six at this point there should be a minimum of 8 to 10 boards with each of the first three games getting extra representation where are fan favorites like western land from Mario Party 2 or DK's jungle Adventure from the original Mario Party If Superstars is content to include mini games from the higher numbered Mario parties why not also include some of their boards as well koopa's Tycoon town from Mario Party 8 Fair Square from Mario Party 6 and Pagoda Peak for Mario Party 7 are all iconic boards with fun gimmicks that would make great additions to Mario Party superstars and even if those options don't sound good there are still literally dozens of other Mario Party boards to choose from that could be tweaked or modified to work well in Superstar's engine boards are the most pressing need for Mario Party Superstars because revisiting the same few options over and over again gets stale very quickly especially if you're already familiar with them from playing their original versions years ago additional boards would help to Breathe new life into the game and while it'd still be a little disappointing if no other content was added even just a few extras would make me feel largely satisfied with this game what helped even more was if Nintendo were to also create a brand new board or two for Superstars like they have created new tracks for Mario Kart 8 deluxe's booster course pass seeing the creativity on display in courses like squeaky clean Sprint and Yoshi's Island makes me want to see what novel new ideas could be utilized for a Mario Party board however at this point I take what cake will get because Nintendo has been radio silent on the future of Mario party for quite some time now it just feels like Mario Party Superstars is doing the absolute minimum of what it needs to do to not draw heavy criticism from fans even if it does offer quite a bit of content already case in point is its roster of playable characters which feels weak compared to every other Mario spin-off on the switch with just 10 characters its roster is the smallest for a non-hand-held Mario Party since Mario Party 4 on the GameCube despite the cast of Mario characters only growing larger in the 20 plus years since that game's release the character selection is also as basic as it gets sticking to the Core group of Mario Luigi Peach Daisy Rosalina Yoshi Birdo Donkey Kong Wario and Waluigi that appear in nearly every Mario spin-off there's no Diddy Kong no Bowser Jr no Petey piranha or King Boo in fact there are no playable Side characters or enemies to speak of at all as Superstars remains one of the few entries to not introduce at least one new character to the roster considering these characters don't have unique properties or move sets like they would in Smash or even other Mario spinos it's lost on me why new options haven't been added to the game if Mario Golf super rush can get charging Chuck and King Bambam Superstars should at least be able to include more recognizable characters like Pauline or toadsworth it can't be that difficult or time consuming to create models for these characters and it would be so much easier to do than creating a whole new map to play on for example it'd also be an easy way to bring attention to characters that deserve the spotlight and I'm surprised Nintendo hasn't viewed it as an easy way to cross promote their other products a character like Cranky Kong would have made total sense to include back when the Super Mario Bros movie was in theaters and someone like Gino would be perfect to help bring attention to the upcoming Super Mario RPG remake truthfully Superstars should have released with more characters to begin with but by now this should be the entry in the series with the most options to choose from as the roster is currently it feels like a major step backwards when Super Mario Party had 20 playable characters and featured obscure enemies like Pom-Pom that most fans don't even know I understand if Nintendo wants to get away from including less prominent characters from the franchise but if you're not going to let me play as the Womp king or a coup Patrol then at least allow me to play as popular characters from other franchises imagine how cool it would be to knock people off the stage with a Triforce themed Bumper Ball as Toon Link where to float into space is Kirby during Leaf leap of course not every game needs to turn into a crossover but the possibility really illustrates how many options Nintendo has to expand the roster in Superstars and as the second most popular Mario spin-off franchise behind Mario Kart I'm genuinely surprised there haven't been any crossover characters in Mario Party especially when considering the potential of crossover themed boards as well well Beyond characters and Boards it's also shocking to me that Superstars still hasn't received any additional mini games from the series past of all the ways to keep a game like this alive slowly releasing new mini-games would have been the easiest path for Nintendo to take while true that Superstar's 100 mini games are already tied for the most in a single Mario Party entry that doesn't mean there isn't room for some of the classics that didn't make the initial cut games like platform Peril toad in the box and locked out are a few great examples from the first three Mario parties but there are so many other solid options to consider and of course there is always the option of giving the game some exclusive original mini-games as well though I understand that's not exactly what superstars has set out to do but that's also a big part of why it feels like Mario Party Superstars isn't tapping into all that it could be unless they are saving ideas for a Mario Party Superstars 2 which I highly doubt then why wouldn't this game follow in the footsteps of Smash ultimate or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sure it may never reach the levels of hype that a new Smash character revealed would but it'd still be easy to regularly drum up hype for a game like this with all the different content you can release for it announcing new mini games new characters and new boards would almost certainly bring people back to a game they likely haven't played in months and bring with it the potential for a thriving online community while I'm generally not an advocate of live service games there's no denying the potential for a title like Mario Party superstars in the era we're currently in in an Ideal World Superstars would receive a steady troop feed of many games on a weekly or monthly basis similar to how a series like rock band would add new songs as there are nearly 1 000 mini games from across the franchise's history to pull from of course that's asking too much from a company like Nintendo that has done literally nothing thus far but there could have at least been DLC Packs released that were centered around a particular theme style of game or Mario Party title honestly anything would have been better than nothing and it feels like a major missed opportunity in spite of any gripes I might have with it Mario Party Superstars is a really solid game and it just makes me sad to think of all the ways it could have been made better over the last two years it's genuinely mind-blowing that game this successful from a franchise as popular as Mario Party is has gotten virtually zero post-launch support even outside of the big things we've talked about already there are plenty of other small updates that could have enhanced this title's replayability and customization options come to mind right away Superstars could have broken new ground by giving players complete control over their Mario Party experience but it really only dips its toes in the customization Waters it had the right idea in introducing minigame pack centered around a specific console or type of game but it should have went further and allowed you to create your own custom packs as well a menu where you could toggle mini games on and off like you can do with items in the Super Smash Bros series would have gone a long way in making these boards more enjoyable to play it allow you to avoid games you didn't like while sticking to your favorite ones and give you the opportunity to create fun interesting rounds based on a variety of Concepts imagine for example around where every mini game was somewhat luck based and all you got were games like Bowser's big blast Paths of peril and mushpit to maximize the randomness and chaos there are so many possibilities with just the mini games alone but it shouldn't stop there because we should also have been given the ability to customize other elements of the game setup I like how you were given the option to play with the classic bonus star rule set or the modern random rule set but why can't we select two or three from an entire list of possible bonus stars as a custom rule set similarly it's cool that you can add turns to around mid play but why are we still restricted to a few options for turns in the first place it seems silly to place a cap on something like that and if I want to play a 50 turn round a 100 turn round or even a five turn round I should have those options available to me I really can't picture any of these ideas being that difficult to implement and yet there are still plenty of other easy ideas that can improve the experience in Mario Party Superstars how amazing would it be for instance to be able to customize the board's spaces to some degree even if you couldn't set each one individually just being able to pick from a few presets like you can with the mini games would be a creative way to keep Superstar's small selection of boards interesting a lucky setting where there are vastly more lucky spaces and item spaces a chaotic setting where there are an increased number of chance Time battle Mini-Game and event spaces and an intense setting where red and Bowser spaces dominate the board are just a few ideas that could work to make these boards feel fresh again Mario Party Superstars should have leaned more into its board game identity and granted players the ability to make their own house rules even when featuring stages with different gimmicks and layouts it's still just not all that exciting to return to the same few stages to try and be the person with the most stars at the end of the round like always it's strange to me that there has never been an alternative win condition for the boards in Mario Party and if Nintendo has no plans on introducing one themselves why not turn that job over to the fans with just the few ideas I've presented Mario Party Superstars could have become a game where creativity really thrives and it's easy to Envision many different game types spawning if these tools were available I for one have always wanted a mode that focused on collecting coins first and foremost because it would change your strategy on a board completely unlike Stars which are more stable your coin count is much more volatile and it lead to even more highs and lows than your typical Mario Party round produces suddenly it'd be crucial to win battle and double coin minigames and it'd become important to seek out boo as often as possible you'd have to reconsider the value of purchasing items and when you did you'd likely prioritize custom blocks so you could land on Lucky spaces the Koopa bank or possibly even Bowser if you're in last place and hoping for a Bowser Revolution and in the rare scenario where two players have the same amount of coins at the end of the round you could invert the normal rules and let Star count decide ties or do something completely different and decide the winner with a dual minigame the bottom line is that there are so many things Nintendo could have done to make Mario Party Superstars a better game over the last two years and most of them don't even require adding new content to the game something as simple as letting you set the prices for everything on a given board would make each game feel more personal and unique to you and your friends and would have prevented people from complaining about changes like Boo being free or the Koopa Bank charging less than it used to and is there really a good argument against including a feature like this if Stars aren't worth a static 20 coins would it really hurt the game in any way I don't think it would and it makes me disappointed to know that not only have we not gotten a feature like this yet we haven't even received the layup style content like new stickers either it's a huge disappointment that Nintendo has seemingly forgotten this title because at this point I'm not sure if it'll ever get the support it deserved I know this video has a negative feel to it but I think it's important to clarify that everything I'm saying comes from a place of love Mario Party Superstars does a lot right and introduced a ton of cool features like the ability to extend a game by adding turrets mid play the inclusion of double coin minigames every five turns and quality of life stuff like the option to fast forward board event animations these are all positive additions that make the playing experience more fun and not only wish that Nintendo kept going to try and enhance the game even further I want to see a game I really enjoy become the best version of itself that it can be and it's just frustrating when many of the fixes for it seem simple and easy to implement ultimately I won't call Mario Party Superstars a bad game because I don't think it is but there's no doubt that it could be more than what it is currently this title should have strived to be the ultimate celebration of classic Mario party but instead of being exceptional it's just satisfactory while it did take Super Mario party over two and a half years to receive its first and only significant update I'm not going to hold my breath for Mario Party Superstars to turn into the gem that I thought it would be pre-launch I accept that this is the game that will have to be content with until a new Mario Party is announced but if somehow Superstars does get a few new playable characters additional mini games and most importantly some new boards I'll be willing to take back whatever I've said about it thus far but until then Mario Party Superstars will always be wasted potential in my eyes and that's a shame but please let me know what you think of Mario Party Superstars down in the comments below what would you like to see added to this game or are you completely fine with it in its current state either way thank you so much for watching and remember if you enjoyed this video to give it a like and to subscribe with notifications turned on so you can be alerted whenever I release a new video [Music]

Channel: MrDrBoi

Views: 13,527

Keywords: Mario, Nintendo, Mario Party, Mario Party Superstars, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Rosalina, Donkey Kong, DK, Princess Peach, Daisy, Princess Daisy, Princess Rosalina, Birdo, Yoshi, Woody Woods, Space Land, Peach's Birthday Cake, Horror Land, Yoshi's Tropical Island, DLC, MrDrBoi, Boards, Board Game, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros Ultimate

Id: UEUIkoPJtM8

Length: 16min 15sec (975 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 15 2023