is a 2021

party video game A party video game is a genre of video game that stems from in-person party games, involving player-to-player interaction as the central gameplay element. These games are often defined by simple controls which can be easily picked up and understoo ...

developed by NDcube and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

for the

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

. It is the 12th

home console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few game ...

installment in the ''

Mario Party is a series of party video games created by Hudson Soft and owned by Nintendo. It features List of Mario franchise characters, characters from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or Artificial inte ...

'' series, and the second for the Nintendo Switch following '' Super Mario Party'' (2018). It was released on October 29, 2021. The game features five remade

game board A game board (or gameboard; sometimes, playing board or game map) is the surface on which one plays a board game. The oldest known game boards may date to Neolithic times; however, some scholars argue these may not have been game boards at all. ...

s from the original

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

trilogy and a total of 100

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...

s curated from previous entries in the series, similar to the

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

game '' Mario Party: The Top 100'' (2017). Unlike ''Super Mario Party'', ''Superstars'' can be played with button controls. Upon release, ''Mario Party Superstars'' received mostly positive reviews from critics who praised the game for its homage to the series' history with its classic minigames and boards, as well as its online functionality. A successor, ''

Super Mario Party Jamboree is a 2024 party video game developed by Nintendo Cube and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the thirteenth home console installment in the ''Mario Party'' series, and the third on the Nintendo Switch, following '' Super Mario ...

'', was released on October 17, 2024.

Gameplay

''Mario Party Superstars'' features gameplay similar to the first eight entries in the ''Mario Party'' series, without the vehicle mechanics from the previous two numbered console games. Four characters, played by either humans or

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

, traverse one of five

s, collecting coins and stars. The player with the most stars at the end of the game wins and becomes the Super Star. Stars are bought for twenty coins from

Toadette The ''Mario'' franchise is a media franchise created by Nintendo. Nintendo is usually the developer and publisher of the franchise's games, but various games are developed by third-party companies such as Intelligent Systems and Nintendo Cu ...

, though can also be obtained via other methods. During a turn, each player rolls a die, enabling them to move the result of the roll—one to ten. Additionally, items may be used to affect themselves or other players. Between every round of four players moving, a randomly selected

of 100 is played. All 100 minigames are taken from the previous entries in the series, 55 of which originate from the

trilogy. "Mt. Minigames" is another mode, which allows players to freely play minigames without boards. All

playable character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s from the first four entries return, while

Birdo Birdo, known in Japanese as is a character in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise. Her first appearance was as a boss character in ''Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic'' (1987), which was localized for English-language audiences as '' Super Mario Bros ...

and Rosalina are added.

Release

Nintendo revealed the game during the

Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentations or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began ...

E3 2021 The Electronic Entertainment Experience 2021 (E3 2021) was the 26th and final E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products. The event, organized by t ...

on June 15. The presentation revealed and featured remakes of the boards "Peach's Birthday Cake" from ''

'' and "Space Land" from ''

Mario Party 2 is a 1999 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. The second game in the ''Mario Party'' series, it was released in Japan in December 1999 and worldwide in 2000. The game received mostly positive ...

''. ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

''s Ryan Gilliam noted that the boards included events not seen in the original versions; moreover, he commented that the game borrowed assets—such as the user interface—from its predecessor '' Super Mario Party''. The presentation also confirmed that Birdo will return as a playable character for the first time since ''

Mario Party 9 is a 2012 party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The ninth main installment in the ''Mario Party ''series, it was announced at E3 2011 and released in Europe, North America, and Australia in March 2012, follow ...

'' (2012). The third game board announced was "Woody Woods" from '' Mario Party 3'', which was revealed on the game's official website. During a Nintendo Direct broadcast on September 23, the final two boards were revealed, being "Yoshi's Tropical Island" from ''Mario Party'' and "Horror Land" from ''Mario Party 2''. A few minigames from the original ''Mario Party'' which required players to rotate the analog stick as fast as they could make a return in ''Superstars''; these minigames feature a warning not to rotate the analog stick with the palm of the hand. This was due to incidents where players sustained hand injuries from using the analog stick in this way.

Reception

''Mario Party Superstars'' received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. Mitchell Saltzman of ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' gave the game a "great" rating, stating: "''Mario Party Superstars'' is an amalgamation of some of the best boards, minigames, mechanics, and quality of life improvements from the whole series, resulting in the best ''Mario Party'' has been in a very long time." It sold 163,256 physical copies within its first week of release in Japan, making it the bestselling retail game of the week in the country. , ''Mario Party Superstars'' had sold 14 million copies worldwide, making it the 18th best-selling game for the Nintendo Switch.

Awards and accolades

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Portal bar, Video games, 2020s 2021 video games Casual games Mario Party Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Cube games Nintendo Switch games Nintendo Switch-only games Party video games Video games developed in Japan