The continuation of the series has been officially revealed with Mario Party Superstars. This next title in the Mario Party series aims to be a marriage between the new and the old of the series, with graphics and systems drawn from the newer titles, but maps and mini-games drawn from players’ favorite titles in the series.
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Mario Party Superstars has a series of remastered maps, rather than new originals. All five of these maps are drawn from the Nintendo 64 era. Some of the highlights include Peach’s Cake and Space Land, one of the most popular maps for streamers. In addition, the minigames are all fan favorites from across the series. As of this article, it is not known whether there are original mini games mixed in with the older ones or not. Whatever the case, there are a total of 100 mini games total, plenty to keep players coming back. When the developer of Mario Party advertised a position for a new game, few players could have predicted that it would be for a love letter to the entire series.
One new feature is the ability to put up stickers on the screen during the turn. These can be used to express anything the player wants, so long as it’s among the available stickers. They can be spammed, but always appear outside the play area so as not to obscure gameplay. Mushrooms return as power ups to increase dice rolls, although an item to roll two dice is now a separate thing. Another feature that seems to have vanished is calling in allies to gain additional dice blocks. In fact, individual dice blocks themselves seem to be gone as well. Whether this will prove a Mario Party update for better or worse remains to be seen.
The game really is a throwback to older Nintendo 64 titles, including changing some mechanics back to the way they used to be before Super Mario Party. Hidden blocks, for example, are no longer a timing game; they once more contain coins or a star at complete random. Recreating all of these features may be among the reasons Super Mario Party never got DLC.
Mario Party Superstars comes to the Switch in October for players to try out and see if their old favorites measure up today. Only time will tell whether or not Superstars turns out to be one of the best or worst Mario Party titles.
Mario Party Superstars launches October 29 for the Switch.
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