Super Mario Party (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.1 Update

Super Mario Party delivers a turbocharged gaming experience for friends and family, now featuring online play in the classic board game mode and a thrilling collection of 80 minigames. Race against opponents in the original four-player Mario Party board game mode to seize the most stars, and now you can enjoy it online as well. Jump into the madness with your loved ones. This is a party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The eleventh main entry in the Mario Party series, the game was described as a “complete refresh” of the franchise, bringing back and revitalizing gameplay elements from older titles while also introducing new ones to go along with them.

GAMEPLAY

Super Mario Party returns to the traditional turn-based Mario Party style of gameplay for the first time in over a decade, a format that had remained absent from home console entries ever since Mario Party 9. The game is played with one Joy-Con controller per player, with other players needing additional controllers for multiplayer. In the game’s story, Mario and their friends decide to hold a party to work out who should be the Super Star. Bowser appears, with Bowser Jr., arguing that he could also be the Super Star. Toad, Toadette, and Kamek are appointed as judges and the party begins.

The standard game mode, “Mario Party”, features up to four players taking turns independently navigating the game board. Upon the player’s turn, a dice block is rolled to determine how many spaces the player moves on the board, and items collected can be used to alter how many spaces the player can move. Each space has a unique function, such as blue and red spaces giving and taking three coins respectively, and good luck and bad luck spaces granting the player helpful or unhelpful consequences.

After each player takes their turn, everyone competes in a minigame that awards coins based on their placement. Minigames vary with rules and playstyle, such as 4-player free-for-alls, 2-on-2 or 1-on-3 matchups, or utilizing motion controls or HD Rumble. There are 80 minigames in total across all game modes where the objects are colored according to Mario Party 7’s color code, and they can all be played independently of the game board in the Free Play section.

One star is located in a random location at a time; any player who reaches it can spend ten coins to purchase it. The player who has the most stars and coins by the end of the game wins. Coins can additionally be spent on one-use items to give the player certain advantages on the board, such as adding to one’s dice roll, subtracting from another player’s dice roll, or using a golden pipe to be taken directly to the star.

One major difference compared to previous home console entries is the introduction of character-specific dice blocks: each character has a unique alternative dice block that has a different selection of numbers compared to the standard dice block, including a slightly higher chance of 3’s (Mario), rolling only even numbers (Peach), and having a decent chance for a high roll but an equally likely chance to lose coins (Bowser). Another major difference is the incorporation of the ally system from the Nintendo 3DS game Mario Party: Star Rush, wherein each player can recruit up to three allies from the roster. These allies can add additional rolls to the player’s dice block, lend the player their character-specific dice block for the duration of the game, and appear as assistance in some of the minigames.

Beyond the standard Mario Party mode, Super Mario Party features several secondary game modes for multiplayer. The second, known as “Partner Party”, has two teams of two players also searching for stars, but the players are free to move in any direction and cross their path, similar to the “Toad Scramble” mode from the aforementioned Star Rush. This mode features unique items and redesigned board layouts. In “River Survival”, four players must work together to navigate through a series of white-water rapids under a time limit. This mode features exclusive minigames that focus on cooperation and reward the team with time bonuses. In “Sound Stage”, players compete in a series of motion-controlled rhythm games in one of three difficulty settings, and the player with the highest score by the end wins.

The final multiplayer-focused game mode is “Toad’s Rec Room”, where players can take multiple Nintendo Switch consoles and arrange and synchronize them to create larger, multi-monitor environments. The minigames featured with this mode include an enhanced version of the “Shell Shocked” minigame from the Nintendo 64 entries, and a unique take on toy baseball. The last major game mode in Super Mario Party is “Challenge Road”, essentially a single-player campaign wherein the player participates in every single minigame featured in the game, including those from River Survival and Sound Stage, now with unique challenges associated with them. This mode is unlocked when all of the minigames have been played at least once in their respective modes.

Beyond local play, Super Mario Party features online multiplayer for the first time in the Mario Party series. In the game’s “Online Marathon” mode, players are only able to play a selection of ten of the game’s 80 minigames with other players online, independent of the board games. Here, players compete in five randomly selected minigames out of the aforementioned ten, aiming to get the highest combined score by the end. It also features leaderboards and a ranking system, as well as rewards that the player can receive for playing the mode.

PLAYABLE CHARACTERS

Super Mario Party features the largest roster of playable characters in the Mario Party series to date. The roster includes Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Daisy, Rosalina, Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Koopa Troopa, Hammer Bro, Dry Bones, Shy Guy, Boo, Bowser, and Bowser Jr., all of whom are returning characters, with Bowser being fully playable for the first time. New playable characters to the series include Diddy Kong, who had only previously appeared as a playable character in handheld Mario Party games; Pom Pom, Goomba, and Monty Mole, none of whom have previously been a playable character in Mario Party, although this is the former’s debut in the series, and the latter two have appeared as NPCs throughout the series.

ADVANTAGES

• Outsmart your friends and family in the race for the most stars on the board.
• Play the original four-player Mario Party series board game mode locally or online.
• Character-specific Dice Blocks with alternative numberings introduce new strategic depth.
• Dive into dozens of thrilling minigames, now featuring online play.
• Pair two Nintendo Switch systems and creatively combine both screens for interactive tabletop gaming in Toad’s Rec Room mode.