It is 2026, and the Nintendo Switch library is basically a mountain of software at this point. You’ve got Mario Party Superstars and the newer Super Mario Party Jamboree taking up a lot of the oxygen in the room. But honestly? We need to talk about the original Super Mario Party for Switch from 2018. It is a weird, experimental, and deeply polarizing game that still manages to be the centerpiece of my Friday nights, even if it makes me want to throw my Joy-Con across the room.
People love to hate on this one. They say the boards are too small. They complain about the slow movement. They’re right, mostly. But there is a specific magic in the Joy-Con motion controls here that the newer sequels just haven't captured.
The Joy-Con Gamble: Why This Version is Different
Most Mario Party games are built to be played with a standard controller. You sit on the couch, mash the A button, and hope for the best. Super Mario Party for Switch went a different direction. It forced you to use a single Joy-Con. No Pro Controllers. No handheld mode. It felt like a limitation at first.
Actually, it was a stroke of genius for a very specific type of player.
Because the game was designed around the internal tech of the Joy-Con, the minigames are incredibly tactile. Take "Sizzling Stakes," for instance. You aren't just pressing a button to flip a steak; you are physically mimicking the wrist motion of flipping a pan. The HD Rumble lets you feel the "weight" of the meat hitting the surface. It’s silly. It’s immersive. It’s something that Superstars—which focused on classic button-only games—completely lacks.
The game features 80 brand-new minigames. Some are duds, sure. But the ones that work? They’re brilliant. You’re tilting the controller to guide marbles, vibrating it to find hidden rumbling objects, or physically "pumping" it like a bike pump. It feels like a tech demo for the Switch hardware that accidentally became a full game.
👉 See also: Dandys World Ship Chart: What Most People Get Wrong
The Character Dice Mechanic
One thing most people overlook is the character-specific dice. In every other Mario Party, everyone rolls a standard 1-6 block. In Super Mario Party for Switch, every character has a unique die.
- Bowser has a die with two -3 coin faces, but also a 10. It’s high risk, high reward.
- Daisy has a very consistent die that basically guarantees a 3 or 4.
- Wario has a die that is mostly 6s and 0s.
This adds a layer of strategy that wasn't there before. You aren't just picking a character because you like their hat; you're picking them because you have a specific movement strategy for the board. If you’re playing on Whomp’s Domino Ruins, maybe you want Bowser’s 10 to clear the map quickly. If you're playing a tighter map like Kamek’s Tantalizing Tower, maybe you want the precision of a Shy Guy.
Let’s Be Real: The Board Problem
I’m not going to sit here and tell you the boards are perfect. They aren't. They’re tiny. Compared to the sprawling maps of the GameCube era or even the N64 maps found in Superstars, the four maps in this game feel cramped.
Nintendo tried to fix the "getting stuck" problem by making stars only cost 10 coins. This was a massive shift. In older games, 20 coins was the standard. Dropping it to 10 makes the economy feel inflated. You’re tripping over stars. You’re buying them every three turns. It changes the vibe from a "long-distance marathon" to a "chaotic sprint."
Is it worse? Kinda. It’s definitely faster. If you have kids or friends with short attention spans, this is actually a benefit. You can finish a 10-turn game in about 45 minutes, which is the sweet spot for a casual hang.
✨ Don't miss: Amy Rose Sex Doll: What Most People Get Wrong
Partner Party: The Hidden Gem
If you own Super Mario Party for Switch and you haven't played Partner Party, you are missing out on the best way to play the game. Honestly.
Partner Party turns the board into a grid. You and a teammate share a roll and move freely across the tiles in any direction. It turns the game into a tactical strategy experience. You have to coordinate who is going to land on the shop and who is going to head toward the star. It removes the linear "loop" of the traditional board and replaces it with a 2v2 skirmish. This mode alone justifies keeping the cartridge in your collection.
The Online Update That Came Three Years Late
For the longest time, the online play in this game was a joke. You could only play a handful of minigames. Then, out of nowhere in 2021, Nintendo dropped a massive update that allowed full board play online.
It works surprisingly well. If you’re playing with friends in different time zones, the netcode is stable enough to handle the turn-based movement. Minigames can get a little laggy if someone has a potato for a router, but for the most part, it salvaged the game’s longevity. It was a weird move for Nintendo—they usually move on to the next project—but it showed that they knew people were still playing this title years later.
Does the Ally System Break the Game?
Let's talk about Allies. If you land on an Ally Space, a random Mario character joins your team. They add a 1 or 2 to every roll you make for the rest of the game.
🔗 Read more: A Little to the Left Calendar: Why the Daily Tidy is Actually Genius
If you get three allies, you are effectively moving 10+ spaces every single turn while your opponents are stuck rolling a 4. It is wildly unbalanced. It’s unfair. It’s totally Mario Party. If you’re looking for a competitive, balanced eSport, you’re in the wrong place. But if you want to see your friend's face turn red because you recruited Donkey Kong and now you're lapping them on the board, this is the peak of the franchise.
Buying Guide: Should You Get This or the Others?
With three Mario Party games on the Switch now, the choice is actually kind of tough.
If you want the "Greatest Hits" feel with no motion controls, you get Mario Party Superstars. If you want the biggest, newest experience with the most content, you get Jamboree.
But you buy Super Mario Party for Switch if:
- You actually like using the Joy-Cons for what they were made for.
- You have a younger audience who finds the grid-based movement of Partner Party easier to understand.
- You want the specific character dice mechanic, which is arguably the best "innovation" the series has had in a decade.
The price rarely drops below $40, even used. Nintendo games are like gold that way. But even in 2026, the player base is active, and the local multiplayer value is basically infinite.
How to get the most out of your next session:
- Calibrate your Joy-Cons before starting. Since this game relies heavily on the gyro sensors, drifting or poorly calibrated controllers will ruin the rhythm-based minigames.
- Focus on the Allies. In the standard board mode, the Ally Space is the most powerful tile on the map. Forget the coins; get the friends.
- Play Sound Stage. If you’re tired of the boards, the Sound Stage mode is a rhythm-only gauntlet that is perfect for a quick 10-minute blast. It’s basically WarioWare lite.
- Unlock the hidden characters. Remember that Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Pom Pom, and Dry Bones aren't available at the start. You have to play through the different modes (River Survival and Challenge Tower) to get them.
Grab three friends, find four working Joy-Cons, and prepare to lose those friends by the time someone steals a star with a Lakitu. That is the true Mario Party experience.