Get ready to play five classic N64 boards and play popular minigames.
During the E3 2021 Nintendo Direct we got a bunch of announcements for new Nintendo Switch games. Among them was Mario Party Superstars, which is already available for preorder. It's not a wholly new Mario Party — it's kind of like a combination between a collection and a remake since it features boards and minigames from previous Mario Party entries. Still confused? Let's dive in.
What is Mario Party Superstars?
This is the latest Mario Party game in the franchise. Instead of being a completely new entry, it's actually a collection of remade popular boards and minigames from the series. For instance, there are five gameboards from the N64 era along with 100 minigames from throughout the series. The game saves after each round, so you can pick up where you left off.
What are Mario Party games like?
The way these games work, up to four players roll dice and travel around a virtual board game. If you don't have enough players, some of the characters will be controlled by the computer. At the end of each round, players are separated into teams or must compete against everybody else in silly minigames. Things tend to get pretty wild when you play with friends.
The winner(s) of each minigame are awarded Coins, which can be used to purchase Stars or other goodies on the game board. The player with the most Stars at the end of a predetermined number of rounds wins.
Players can also get special items on the board or steal Stars from others. The boards you play on provide different challenges and perks, so you'll need to strategize differently depending on which one you choose.
What's new in Mario Party Superstars?
While this is a collection of previous boards and minigames, there are plenty of new elements to help make the game fun.
- Online play: In addition to local play, you can play online against others.
- Stamps: Each character has a set of stamps that portray different emotions. Place them during someone else's turn (whether playing locally or online) to show all the other players how you feel in a given moment.
- Auto Saving: The game saves at the end of each round, so you can stop playing when you need to and come back later.
- Updated graphics: The desserts on Peach's Birthday Cake look so decadent and the characters all have a lot more texture and detail than they did in the original games.
- Path countdown: In addition to knowing how many more moves you have left from your dice roll, the game tells you how far away from the Star you will be depending on which paths you take (as seen in the image above).
- New Characters: When the original Mario Party games on N64 released some characters weren't playable or in the case of Rosalina, they hadn't even been created yet.
Mario Party Superstars Characters
I've made this list of characters by looking at screenshots and videos. It's possible there are additional playable characters as well. but we'll update if we learn more.
- Mario
- Luigi
- Peach
- Yoshi
- Donkey Kong
- Wario
- Waluigi
- Rosalina
- Birdo
Mario Party Superstars Boards
We know that there will be five classic boards from the N64 era. The ones we know of so far are Space Land and Peach's Birthday Cake.
Each board provides different perks and challenges. For instance, the Space Land board features a countdown in the center and every time it reaches zero, the Bowser Coin Beam goes off and takes away the coins of any player it hits.
Mario Party Superstars Minigames
We know that there will at least be 100 minigames in Mario Party Superstars. I've made the following list by looking through the videos Nintendo has released so far. Minigames always have a short tutorial before they start to make sure everyone knows how to play. It also lists which Mario Party game the minigame first appeared in.
4-Player Minigame
- Storm Chasers
- Messy Memory
- Mushroom Mix-Up
- Bowser's Big Blast
- Shy Guy Says
- Crazy Cutters
- Tread Carefully
- Mush Pit
- Hammer Drop
- Bumper Balls
- Slot-Car Derby
- Honeycomb Havoc
- Rockin' Raceway
- Snowball Summit
- Cheep Cheep Chase
- Mecha Marathon
- Parasol Plummet
- Face Lift
1 vs 3 Minigame
- Look Away
- Tidal Toss
- Boulder Ball
- Coconut Conk
- Archer-ival
- River Raiders
2-Player Duel
- Vine with Me
- Ticktock Hop
Can I play Mario Party Superstars on Switch Lite?
Yes! Mario Party Superstars is designed in such a way that both Switch and Switch Lite owners can play. This is welcome news considering that Super Mario Party intially could not support Switch Lite play unless owners used external Joy-Cons.
Does Mario Party Superstars have online multiplayer?
In addition to local couch co-op, this latest game also supports online play. That way you always can find someone to compete against. As always, you'll need a Nintendo Switch Online membership in order to participate in online activities.
Can I use a Pro Controller?
Yes, unlike Super Mario Party when it released, Super Mario Superstars does indeed support the Pro Controller. Enjoy the game the way you want, whether that's in handheld mode, with Joy-Cons, or the more traditional controller.
Release date
Mario Party Superstars sells for $60 and releases on Oct. 29, 2022. That's just in time for an awesome Halloween party! Play with your friends and you're sure to have a hilariously good time.
Silly game night
Mario Party Superstars
The perfect party game
Mario Party Superstars brings five classic boards from the N64 era along with 100 minigames from throughout the series into a fun new package. It's perfect for game nights or family get-togethers.