Super Mario Party Jamboree opens the fun to more players than ever

After 25 years of Mario Party games, the series formula has stayed largely the same. The idea is that four players come together on a giant game board, play for about 10-20 turns, pick up coins by playing mini-games, and buy Stars for 20 coins to win the game. Super Mario Party Jamboree doesn't mess with that recipe, but Nintendo has added some new game modes that bring many more friends into the fold through online play. Shacknews recently traveled out to PAX West to check it out.

While there are some noteworthy additions to Super Mario Party Jamboree, it's still a Mario Party title, meaning four players are joining up on some new boards in search of a Star. While the standard formula doesn't look to be much different, it should be noted that the series has never looked better. Visually, there's a lot going on with each of these boards. Over at the new Mega Wiggler's Tree Party, players are treated to Mushroom Kingdom denizens enjoying a picnic, vibrant green backgrounds, and a sleepy Wiggler sitting along the center of the board.

Board events can be found across many spaces. That includes a few spaces at the top, where a Beekeeper Spike encourages players to search for coins inside honeycombs. Of course, at least one of those honeycombs is filled with bees. Events can also be triggered by the game's various items. Standard item shops have the usual Mario Party fare, like Pipes and Boo Bells, but there are some other shops that have gimmicks specific to the current board. For example, the Wiggler Bell can reposition Wiggler and potentially throw anybody looking to cross over him for a loop.

Jamboree will boast the biggest roster in Mario Party history, featuring 22 playable characters. That means some newcomers had to be invited to the latest gathering, including Pauline (fresh off her star turn in Super Mario Odyssey) and Super Mario Bros. 2 baddie Ninji. The reason for the large roster is to help feed the new Koopathlon mode.

Koopathlon is basically a giant fun run around the Mushroom Kingdom. This is an online-only mode where 20 players race to the finish line with the winner being named after five laps. Everyone will participate in four rotating mini-games with the fourth one always being a Bowser game. The first three mini-games are individual affairs. This is where players close the distance to the finish line by collecting coins. The more coins that a player collects, the farther they'll run.

The Bowser mini-game is a different kettle of fish. Here, all 20 players compete simultaneously in an elimination bout. Failing the Bowser game will result in the mischievous King of the Koopas tossing all of the losers backward. The players at the front of the pack are subject to the most severe penalties, just because Bowser's a funny guy that way.

Some players might feel that four players aren't enough while 20 players might be too much. For a game that hits the middle ground more, there's the online-only Bowser Kaboom Squad mode for eight players. This is where players look to defeat an Impostor Bowser within five rounds by loading cannons and firing away at him. In the Chargin' Chucks map, players were tasked with breaking nearby boxes with hammers and escorting the bombs inside to the nearest cannon. Of course, the players need to be wary of both the football-addled Chargin' Chucks and the Impostor Bowser himself, who will look to get in the way.

The mini-games in Bowser Kaboom Squad work differently than they do in other modes. Here, the games are more collaborative efforts, where the work of multiple teams will add to the squad's cumulative total. Rather than work to be the last person standing or work to collect coins, everyone is aiming for an S-rank, which will reward the collective group with items for use against Impostor Bowser.

It took a while for the Mario Party series to get into online play, but Super Mario Party Jamboree looks to be leaning more into the idea than any of its predecessors. Whether modes like Koopathlon and Bowser Kaboom Squad have the same level of staying power as a standard Mario Party game remains to be seen, but they're a fun way to mix things up. It'll be interesting to see what the rest of the game looks like, including the two remastered boards from Mario Party's early days. The party organizers at Nintendo are still hard at work, but look for Super Mario Party Jamboree to hit Nintendo Switch on Thursday, October 17.

This preview is based on a private Nintendo Switch build from PAX West 2024 containing the public show floor demo and a separate section that was not seen on the convention floor. The final product is subject to change.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?