When I watched the Super Mario Party Jamboree Bunduru Spectacular trailer, I had mixed feelings on the subject. Before I give my opinion, I’ve linked an in-depth analysis of the trailer for you to better understand it’s contents.

Mario Party Superstars was a solid game. It featured 80% of the classic Mario Party formula which was desperately missing from the previous 15 years of games. On that front it was a success. Yet even with its callback to better mechanics, it still featured baby mechanics such as free coins and items, and a nerfed item system.

Super Jubilee Party of Mario looks like the same cut of beef. I prayed it would right some of its previous wrongs while building on the good things it reintroduced. My prayers don’t look to have been answered. I’ll tell you what I like and dislike about the trailer.

Like

I like that there are 7 boards at launch. It makes no sense for games in 2024 to not feature more content but at least 7 is more than 5 from the previous game. I’m also happy that the game is sticking with the classic formula, and isn’t reintroducing unique character dice like the original Super Mario Party. When I saw the “Super” font in the trailer I expected the worst. I also appreciate the game having 110 minigames, which is an all time record.

Those are probably it’s best features, which aren’t even that “best-y”. The game features a lot more stuff that I dislike along with things that don’t factor into the experience yet are sold as if they do.

Dislike

Firstly, the 20 player online mode is a cool concept. I theorize that it will not be a well received feature based on previous experiences. I struggled to finish an online party from Superstars. Players would disconnect, the connection would be laggy, and/or the experience was tame by in-person standards. It lacks the emotional investment that party has always been about. I think this will be a waste of development time in the end. I can appreciate that they’re trying to implement new game modes though.

Jubilee Party Jamboree keeps the Lucky Space as a cheap and pathetic game mechanic from Superstars. All this does is treat players like babies and gives them free coins to make plays with. It’s like playing a basketball game and every minute getting 3 free points. It’s anti-competition and takes away from the strategy, weakening players investment in the outcome. It also delays the game unnecessarily having to watch the cutscene on repeat.

If you think I dislike Lucky Spaces, well, there are now Unlucky Spaces. Which are equally anti-competition and waste more of our time while making the events on the board even more random. I understand that it may feel natural to insert a mechanic meant to rival the unpopular Lucky Space. “How about unlucky space, dur?” a newly promoted Yokohama graduate said. However, the opposite of luck would be consistency. Instead of relying on free stuff, why not rely on your ability to win mini-games? We do not need more of these interruptions. If you want the game to feature opportunities for players to lose coins, how about give the players the autonomy to take from others. Which used to be the entire point of the games. Stop having these mechanics where players are gaining/losing without any interaction from other players. That’s not a party.

Without more information, it’s tough to really flesh out what the game can be. I need to know about the Bowser space, item lists, Boo, how well the economy functions, the music… There’s so much that goes into a party that I can’t form an opinion on. All I can do is comment on what I’ve seen, and while I’ll have fun with this game, I feel it’s left more to be desired once again.

The 10 Laws of Mario Party

1. Thou shall steal from other players
2. Thou shall win minigames if they want to make plays
3. Thou shall understand the board mechanics
4. Thou shall understand the item system
5. Thou shall understand when to take risks
6. Thou shall potentially lose coins from losing minigames
7. Thou shall not have unnecessary detractions in an already long game
8. Bonus Stars should be set, not random
9. Music shall be catchy and fit the board
10. Chance Time shall be somewhat consistent