If you could watch a timelapse of me when every new Mario Party came out, you’d think I was an absolute lunatic. The timelapse would span: overjoyed excitement at the announcement, then a doubly excited me buying the game and firing it up, then a big goofy grin spreading over my face as I explored the menus and started my first turn. Then things would take a turn: the joy fading from my face and the light escaping my eyes, then a complete breakdown, caused by losing the first round of a silly board game. Because before my great ape Donkey Kong and I take every last coin and star you have, which we will, we have to hit rock bottom.

Nintendo Mario Party Superstars

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I barreled through this cycle once again with Mario Party Superstars, out October 29. It sounded like the perfect Mario Party experience—bringing back hit minigames and some of the best boards in Party history, along with full online functionality—and for the most part it is. But it's more complicated than that. Here are 11 things I absolutely loved or hated about the new Mario Party Superstars.

Mario Party Superstars honors—and improves upon—the past.

The five classic maps are some of the best in the series, and allow for massively versatile gameplay styles. While I’d love to see some other maps and maybe minigames make an appearance in DLC like they've done with Mario Golf and Tennis, the five you have here are more than enough. Superstars also includes over 100 minigames from Mario Parties past. Beyond just board game mode, there are minigame gauntlets, a shop where you can buy in-game reactions, decorations for a player card, and even retro music to sub in for the new arrangements. Superstars truly takes everything that was so great about Mario Party and puts it in one neat celebration.

It reawakens a deep rage.

And I'm not sure I'll ever be the same. There was a reason I remembered Mario Party with the taste of bitter adrenaline: because the N64 boards and the old minigames I grew up with were horseshit. Really fun, addicting, absolutely enthralling horseshit. After the first round of Mario Party Superstars that I played with my brother, I was shocked that we didn't get a noise complaint. He stole stars from me, causing him and me to rank third and fourth, respectively, against an easy Birdo and Yoshi. It was humiliating, disgusting, and downright disrespectful, but I couldn't help but want—no, need—more to feed my bloodlust. It was the type of rage that nearly made me break a controller. I love being back in this headspace.

Glee, rage—the full spectrum of emotions.

The greatest hits minigames are absolutely the way to go.

The minigames come from all the Mario Parties prior to Super Mario Party, meaning Mario Parties 1-10 are all represented here, and they're all hits. Through my hours with the game, I found the games were both much easier to grasp than I remembered and much harder than just shaking a Joy Con. Plus, it was a blast to revisit games I had forgotten about.

Mario Party Superstars removes console gimmicks.

Switch has rumble and haptic feedback with motion controls, Wii U had dual screens, the Wii had motion controls, hell, the GameCube even had that godforsaken microphone. For a while now, Mario Party games have been closely tied to a console's gimmick, which isn't bad, but it's great to move away from that for the first time in a long time. No motion controls, no movement, just simple button mashing. Plus, this allows Superstars to actually take advantage of the Switch's handheld mode, which is a surprisingly great way to play the game.

Handheld mode is fantastic.

It just so happened I was traveling a bit during the Superstars review period, and playing in handheld mode was really fun, even if it caused physical strain on the console. Mario Party was never something I inherently thought I’d like handheld for, but with the Switch's detachable Joy Cons, it's the first game I can truly see myself wanting to play with someone on a flight or long train ride.

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The roster is good, but it could be better.

I hope Nintendo opts to give this release some free updates like it did with Mario Tennis and Golf. While the character roster checks the classic boxes, I sort of miss Goomba and Monty Mole, and for god's sake, let us play as Blooper. Chances are your go-to character is here, but I’d love some new surprises down the road.

Online is a childhood dream come true.

With Nintendo, online tends to fall a bit short. Take Super Mario Party—only earlier this year did the game get full online functionality after it was released with an odd, not very exciting minigame mode as its one online capability back in 2018. Luckily, Mario Party Superstars launches with full online capability right off the bat. Any multiplayer mode is playable online, and it's an absolute blast to be able to party with friends.

Game saves are a blessing (and a curse).

It sounds like it’d be good. If you can't finish the game now, save it and come back to it. Truthfully, it's a great feature, but like all things in Mario Party, it's only great if you're winning. Imagine saving a game where you're down four stars. Why would you ever want to return instead of just starting a new one? Mario Party favors the superstar and casts dark, dark shadows on the starless.

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I love the stickers.

The stickers are goofy—a ridiculous way to communicate online, or just block parts of the map when your couchmates are trying to plan where they're going. There are even fun stats on how many stickers each player uses by the end of the match. Good, old-fashioned fun.

Screw these dumb stickers.

It’s all fun and games until your asshole friends block the map for you, or steal your stars and spawn incessant “Congrats” stickers, or that one piece of shit who spams 2,300 stickers just to reach the new high score. I hate them. Take them out of the Nintendo game, Nintendo.

Mario Party Superstars is just a lot of fun.

You’ve probably gathered this by now, but the game is exactly what Mario Party needs to be: accessible to gamers of any skill level and fun for everyone. Few party games can compete with it. And it joins the ranks of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Smash Bros. Ultimate, solidifying the Switch as the ultimate party platform.

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