What is the best game in the Mario Party series?
It may seem like a difficult question with 10 plus games that are all not so different from
each other, but the answer is very simple: it’s the one you played as a kid. Simple
as that. But trust me, that is about to change. Super Mario Party Jamboree will be
the greatest Mario Party game we’ve ever seen, after seeing this trailer I feel very confident
about that. And once we’re done analyzing the first look we got at the game, I think you’ll
join me on the hype train. So let’s get started! We’re gonna start with arguably the most important
thing and problem of recent games: the boards. Boy, they knocked this out of the park with this
one. Before we zoom in on them all specifically, we need to address the number of them: a
grand total of seven. Seven! That’s more than every game in the series but the original! But
quantity isn’t everything, at the end of the day, it’s about quality and no worries, that’s here
in spades as well. Let’s begin with the original boards, not all of which we got a closer
look at, but one thing is abundantly clear: board themes are back in full swing. It’s been
a while since we’ve seen what I would consider boards with well-thought out concepts and strong
identities of their own. From the overhead view we get with this shot in the trailer, it seems that
the lay-out of them is a lot more intricate and, as such, interesting as we’ve seen the prior two
titles on the Switch. That said, I do understand why they decided to zoom in on the bottom row of
boards specifically, because the top two do feel a tad more familiar. Mega Wiggler’s Tree Party seems
to be obviously built around the giant Wiggler in the center, which actually has Spaces on it,
meaning we’ll walk across it, which is really cool. It appears to be asleep and, judging by the
Event Spaces near it, I think waking it up will be a core mechanic of the board, although what
exactly it will do once awake is hard to say. It could get mad, as is common in Wiggler culture,
but maybe it has more beneficial effects as well, that’s hard to say. King Bowser Keep is a
map like we’ve seen them before, with the large Bowser in the middle and lava everywhere.
While I can’t make it out from this small image, the fact the symbols for this board are gears
does suggest it may have a mechanical theme, possibly something like a lab or a factory.
Considering Bowser is playable, perhaps the giant Bowser on the board is actually an
animatronic? Would be cool. That said, he also has a purple hue around him that
regular Bowser doesn’t have, so maybe it’s an illusion of sorts, possibly created by
Kamek. It can also be seen in this Minigame. Next is Roll ‘Em Raceway, which does appear to
be the most linear board in the game, but who gives a crap. It’s a Mario Kart-themed board and
I love it. All players are even in karts for the occasion, which is just lovely and the track
itself does appear to be at least not a simple figure 8. We can see separate tracks closer to
the stands here, as well as what appears to be a shortcut through a tunnel here. I can already tell
this is gonna be a super fun board to play on, it reminds me a lot of a board from the Gamecube era,
which also always had very strong theming. The next board also has charm galore, being Rainbow
Galleria, a board themed after a shopping mall. This one is probably my favorite from this
batch, it appears to have a great lay-out where it plays around with the difference
between floors. As we can see with Peach here, you can take the escalators up and presumably
down to access them, although there are also Warp Pipe-themed elevators in the center. There’s also
a shot of a Peepa calling out a fire sale, which presumably causes the price of this Star to be cut
in half. This overhead shot shows that we can most likely also interact with several stores, although
it is hard to make out what they might be from the signs. If you have any ideas, let me know. There’s
also an advertisement here for the final new board of the game, Goomba Lagoon. Another fun-looking
stage with the biggest set piece of course being the Goomba volcano, the effect of which we can
actually see in the trailer, as Luigi triggers it. It erupts and shoots out a ton of Golden
Goombas, but what the purpose of this might be, I have no clue. Maybe rounding them up is what
grants you a Star? There’s also a crashed ship on the right side of the map, with two Event
Spaces right there, which I don’t think are ones you wanna step on. The main mechanic of this board
appears to be something different entirely though: the changing tides. I love this idea, it reminds
me of Mario Party 6, which constantly played around with day and night. Stuff like that
really keeps you on your toes, it’s great. Rounding out this already strong selection is
two returning boards, Mario’s Rainbow Castle and Western Land. I personally really like
both these boards, especially Western Land, so out of all the ones that hadn’t returned
yet, I’m happy it’s these two. Can’t help but shake the feeling this was meant to be DLC for
Superstars though. That said, I am very happy it’s only two old boards this time around. I may
have tons of fun memories from old Mario Parties, but I do feel like recent titles have relied too
much on nostalgia and the return of old boards and Minigames. Speaking of which, we also got a number
for how many this game has and it’s very high, over 110. Slightly more than Superstars, which
was all returning Minigames mind you, and significantly more than Super Mario Party. Once
again, a very positive sign. I do wanna hone in one specific shot though, this Minigame where the
players need to align an image. There are a total of eight characters present here, which could mean
a variety of things. It could be the return of an eight player mode, which would be neat I guess,
or possibly the return of partners, which I would very much enjoy. That would also explain why this
game carries the Super Mario Party title, as it would then be a continuation of that mechanic.
Either way, I’m curious what the exact reason is. And while we’re on the topic of characters, that’s
the next thing on my list to give some compliments to. This game already has the largest roster in
Mario Party history, but what if I told you it might be even bigger than we currently think.
At the start of the trailer, we get this shot of the playable characters, with already some
fun names returning, like Spike, Montey Mole, Toad and Goomba. But do you notice anyone missing?
Later, during gameplay of Rainbow Galleria, we also see a newcomer to the series, Ninji, meaning
this is actually not all playable characters. Could Ninji perhaps be unlockable? The original
Super Mario Party also had unlockable characters after all. Then there’s also the idea of more
new or returning characters we haven’t seen yet, like Dry Bones, Hammer Bro or perhaps Pauline or
Diddy Kong. It’s stuff like this that suggests to me they are taking this Mario Party seriously and
are giving it a serious effort to make it heavier on content than past titles have been. Another
thing that gave me this impression is this item we can see here in possession of Waluigi. I couldn’t
immediately make out what it’s supposed to be, so it’s new at least, but it kinda looks like
something you’re supposed to stick on a Space, kinda like the Hexes from Mario Party
DS. Another new item is the Turbo Dice, which might be exclusive to Roll ‘Em Raceway
to make it feel Formula 1 levels of fast. But probably the thing that most made me think
‘yes, this is the one’ was the Koopathlon mode. This just looks like so much fun and something
Mario Party has been sorely missing: a multiplayer mode that actually works well with random people.
While we can’t say for certain that this will work well, obviously, I do think it looks very
promising. I’ve seen some people call this a battle royale mode, but I’m not sure that is the
right word. It seems to be more like a race where your performance in Minigames decides how fast you
go, but no one is dropped for being in last place. Either way, it seems like a great way of adding
some additional, challenging and ever-changing single player content to the game. And to make
matters even better, the website explains that motion control Minigames will not be featured in
this mode, which I consider to be a good thing. So yeah, to summarize, why will Super
Mario Party Jamboree be the best game in the series? Because it puts content on top.
We haven’t even seen everything yet and there are already more characters than ever before, a
board count in the upper echelon of the series, a ton of Minigames, new modes that actually
look fun and, because they’re online, could have a ton of replay value. After
two entries on Switch that felt more like cash grabs than true effort to make
something special, this feels like the real deal. It might just be the most
hyped I’ve been for a Mario Party since 8. But hey, that’s just me. What do you guys
think? Let me know in the comments below, I’m always curious to hear how others
look at upcoming games like this. If you enjoyed this video, please consider
giving it a like and subscribing to the channel to stay updated on all my future
Mario content, Party but also everything else in the Mario franchise. For now, thanks
for watching and enjoy the rest of your day.
