Super Mario Party review: Your favorite character has suspicious dice

The big picture

Super Mario Party supplies an impressively varied evening of competition for people who would otherwise have to invent their own reasons to shout at a television. You roll dice, collect Stars, tackle brief challenges and occasionally become far more serious about a tiny physical gesture than you intended. Its basic trick is changing the activity often enough that nobody has to remain terrible at precisely the same thing all night. Nintendo overview

Developed by NDcube, now Nintendo Cube, and published by Nintendo, this entry released October 5, 2018. Character-specific dice and team-based board movement give it a distinct identity, while motion games shape how it feels to share. The biggest practical warning is simple: compatible controllers are required. Your friend's willingness to play is useful, but it cannot turn a Pro Controller into a Joy-Con through force of personality.

Choose a face, inherit its relationship with probability

The board game combines coins, items and dice rolls in pursuit of the most Stars. Four boards, including Whomp's Domino Ruins and Kamek's Tantalizing Tower, provide the settings. Optional personal Dice Blocks make character choice more than selecting the face you find least irritating after an unfortunate result. You are also choosing another way to approach chance. Board guide

Those dice give specific movement goals a tactical wrinkle without requiring everyone to turn the evening into a probability lecture. Luck still has considerable influence. Good choices can improve your position and then watch the board develop other ideas. A group needs enough competitiveness to care and enough flexibility to remain pleasant when caring doesn't produce the desired result.

Four boards also make this a relatively compact choice for anyone primarily interested in board variety. If that is the part your group plays repeatedly, recognize the limitation before assuming the large minigame number means an equally large selection of places to travel. There are many ways to be ridiculous, but only so many boards on which to arrange it.

New minigame, new opportunity to look briefly talented

Free-for-all, two-against-two and one-against-three challenges keep rearranging who competes with whom. Joy-Con activities include pedalling tricycles and flipping food, giving spectators something recognizable to follow. Somebody who struggles with one task gets a fresh chance in the next. Being hopeless at a tiny cooking challenge doesn't have to define the whole evening, although certain friends may ensure it defines the conversation afterward. Minigames

Motion controls are part of that appeal and part of the limit. Gestures can make the action easier to understand from the sofa, but players seeking traditional button controls may not enjoy the same selection. Check comfort with the intended movements rather than assuming everyone will get into it once the game starts. Reluctance rarely becomes more entertaining when given a countdown.

A partner gives your plan somebody to argue with

Partner Party puts players in pairs, sharing dice rolls and moving freely around the board. Coordinating a route gives the strategy a social outlet. Instead of privately wondering whether your choice is foolish, you can hear a second opinion, which may be either reassuring or considerably more foolish. Pairs who enjoy planning together have a particularly good reason to investigate it. Partner Party details

River Survival asks the group to cooperate on a raft journey and earn time through minigames. Sound Stage emphasizes rhythm and motion, while Challenge Road offers solo minigame goals. These keep the cartridge useful outside standard rivalry. Solo challenges provide something between gatherings, though bringing people together remains the clearest reason to choose the collection. Mode guide

Controllers first, invitations second

Each player needs one Joy-Con, or one Joy-Con 2 on Switch 2. Nintendo supports original Joy-Con wirelessly on Switch 2, but they cannot attach to the newer console. Pro Controllers do not substitute for the required type. Handheld mode is unsupported, and Switch Lite needs separate Joy-Con rather than built-in controls. On Switch 2 this remains a compatible Switch game, not a separate native edition. Controller guidance

Version 1.1.0 added online Mario Party, Partner Party and Free Play with Nintendo Switch Online. Board matches use friends or passwords. Online permits at most two players per console, but not two on one console plus one each on two other consoles. Count systems as well as people before making plans. Update notes, Configuration guide

Super Mario Party fits groups that enjoy physical challenges, character dice and cooperative detours without needing a vast board catalogue. Sort the hardware, agree that luck is allowed to exist, and resist drawing sweeping conclusions about somebody's abilities because they handled an imaginary steak badly.