That being said, Mario Party Superstars is a game with a lot of potential for DLC. Nintendo might have a mixed record regarding DLC, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being an example of a game that got a lot of love with extra content, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe being an example of the opposite. Mario Party Superstars should strive to be in the middle. While it is impossible for the game to excite fans beyond what they initially expected as Smash can, it would be a waste for Nintendo to leave the game alone altogether. As a game meant to pander to nostalgic Mario Party fans, Superstars could use DLC to its advantage. Indeed, it should do more than recreate old boards and minigames. It should bring back modes from older Mario Party games.
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Extra Modes in Mario Party and the Super Duel Mode
The series has to yet to make a follow-up to Super Duel Mode mode or even remake it. Superstars DLC is an opportunity to bring it back. To most people, the Mario Party games are chaotic, friendship-breaking virtual equivalents to board games, but rolling dices, playing challenging mini-games, and collecting currency are not entirely what the games are about. There are also several extra modes that provide players with more mini-games, sometimes extra playable characters, and overall, more replay value than one might expect out of a literal party game. The Super Duel Mode is one of the best representatives of this notion.
One of the unique extra modes in the series, the Super Duel Mode is not just glorified regular mini-games or a set of even more gimmicky boards. As its name implies, it focuses on one-on-one battles. Players can customize their vehicle from the body to the wheels to the weapons. While there is a consistent theme between parts, such as the existence of a Wiggler body, wheels, and weapon, players have the freedom to experiment with different combinations. There is an element of strategy found in the mode despite its relative simplicity. Different combinations of bodies, wheels, and weapons create different properties for the player’s vehicle. It is an entirely original mode that players can sink hours into, with a vehicle customization system that existed long before Mario Kart implemented it.
Super Duel Mode has three different modes within it. “Battle,” which is a straightforward game involving the two players’ vehicles, “Flag,” which pits two players against each other in a race to collect three flags as quickly as possible, and “Robo-Rabbit,” which follows the same basic gameplay as “Flag” but the eponymous Robo-Rabbits are erratic and sneaky. There is also a good selection of battle arenas with diverse settings and color schemes. For those that were unsatisfied with some character changes in the transition from Mario Party 4 to 5, the mode even offers an opportunity to play as Donkey Kong again. A new Super Duel Mode could add more Mario characters that would otherwise be unplayable.
If Superstars were to bring it back, it could obviously have a big roster, but potentially introduce new vehicle parts, modes, and arenas. Far from being a simplistic member of a broader mini-game collection, the mode is an overlooked feature with tons of potential to have as much depth as the regular Party Mode.
Mario Party Superstars focused more on the Nintendo 64 games than their GameCube successors in general. This is a shame because they are not only home to memorable boards and beloved mini-games, but as elaborated beforehand, interesting extra modes. By bringing back some extra modes from older Mario Party games, such as the Super Duel Mode in Mario Party 5, Superstars has the potential to simultaneously diversify its content and pander to fans of a vindicated era of Mario Party that was not as represented as its predecessor, potentially bringing more people into the Mario Party Superstars playerbase in the process.
Mario Party Superstars is available now for Nintendo Switch.
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