The Mario Party series is racing to the Nintendo Switch with an October 29 release date for its newest title, Mario Party Superstars. Three years after Super Mario Party was released, this new installment looks like it's the game that a lot of fans have been waiting for. With Mario Party titles spanning over twenty years, there have been a lot of minigames dedicated to the digital Mario board game, and the new game is taking all those minigames into account. By combining 100 of the minigames from across the franchise onto five boards from the first three Mario Party games, it is essentially Mario Party’s own greatest hits collection.

While Mario Party Superstars is not the first installment in the series to take this approach, since The Top 100 did a similar thing with just Mario Party minigames. Older fans of the franchise have fond memories of the original Mario Party games, and many point to the N64 and GameCube releases as some of the best in the series. The update of older boards for use in a new Mario Party title will likely go over well for anyone that picks up the game, but some added features makes Mario Party Superstars stand out from its predecessors.

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From the jump, Mario Party Superstars looks like it is supporting everything the Switch was made to do, while simultaneously maximizing the enjoyment that fans can get out of the game. Where Super Mario Party was a fun time with friends, it was limited by the lack of core online play available. Mario Party Superstars has shed those limits to provide an experience that will likely remain unmatched in the series for the foreseeable future. While Super Mario Party has just added online multiplayer Mario Party Superstars will have it at launch.

With the ability to do fully-fledged multiplayer games, Mario Party Superstars players will be able to play on the boards and participate in minigames online. It might not seem like the biggest step up, but the feature was a glaring omission from Super Mario Party at launch, and one that many will be happy to see included. While the game is important to play with friends, being able to connect for online multiplayer and play full games of Mario Party is a feature that will get a ton of use from fans.

As fun as Mario Party games are, they can rival the longest Mario games and sometimes take forever to complete. With family and friends living in different time zones, having busy lives, and not always able to sit down for a multi-hour play session, the new ability to save game progress with online play will certainly help. Allowing friends to play together, save their progress, and return to the same Mario Party boards is a huge move in the right direction. It also continues to highlight Mario Party’s adaptation to online play, and allowing people to enjoy the franchise with others wherever and whenever they want.

These matches between friends online take the newly included Mario Party online multiplayer and also make it a little more accessible for groups that know each other. Scheduling virtual hangouts and picking up on play sessions over time has become a staple in how gaming has grown, and Superstars' collection of boards and minigames has capitalized on that.

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Alongside these new features, Mario Party Superstars has also added some fun communication stickers to use on the game’s remastered maps. With the way stickers were shown in the game’s Nintendo Direct E3 reveal, this should work great for both the matchmade Mario Party games and online games with friends. Coordinated sabotage and influence can be what keep a game of Mario Party going longer than many other party games. Luck can play a major factor in the game, but if strangers can communicate to keep someone from winning the stakes get even higher.

Little things like the stickers also flesh out the experience even more and make Mario Party Superstars look like the culmination of everything the series has done so far. While Super Mario Party was the series’ return to the board game format, Superstars looks like the buffed-out version of everything that was done with its predecessor. Hopefully, this well-rounded approach benefits other new Nintendo titles like the new WarioWare: Get It Together as well.

Beyond the sticker additions and the absolute increase in quality of life for the game, the remastered maps shown so far are stunning. While the original games were great, graphics have gotten leagues better since their release and the artistry present in the environments for Mario Party Superstars is noticeable. Even in the short reveal, it is easy to see the improvements that have been made so far.

The level of detail put into the boards show a game that is intended to be the best of everything that fans have experienced. Both Peach's Birthday Cake and Space Land have a look to them that clearly invokes the originals while modifying them to fit the 3D landscapes that are being used in Mario Party currently. With the events that are added to the board, it is a safe bet that while they will look like the originals the remastered boards will provide a unique experience something that all Mario games continue to do as Mario + Rabbids moves into space.

As a whole, Mario Party Superstars will likely be one of the most unique Mario games ever, right next to Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. Even though the title is a culmination of the past games’ minigames and boards, it is also a new title in its own right.

Hopefully, with all of this, there will also be some serious staying power. With how large the franchise has become over time it would be great to see Mario Party Superstars get some DLC and free updates, like Mario Golf: Super Rush, to keep the shenanigans going. Keeping the game fresh over time can help dampen droughts between games feel while providing the best Mario Party experience imaginable.

Mario Party Superstars is planned to release on October 29, 2021

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