Mario Party Jamboree preview: Does bigger always mean better?

The Mario Party portion of the day began with a fun little PowerPoint Presentation, with the game’s enthusiastic product manager explaining that Jamboree is bigger than its predecessors in every way possible.

It has more maps, more characters, and more modes than any of the previous Mario Party games that you may have already played to death on your Switch.

But does bigger always mean better? That was the question on my mind as I sat down with some total strangers to play a few rounds of Jamboree.

Luckily for this introvert, the Mario Party formula is still so infectiously fun that I was having a good time with these other journalists within mere minutes.

The core gameplay remains exactly the same — in a giant virtual board game, you each take turns rolling the dice and progressing around the board. Along the way, you’ll encounter all sorts of challenges and opportunities to get one over on your opponents.

While this group of players began in quite a timid fashion, it wasn’t long before we were stealing stars from each other, bickering over minigames and laughing as everything went wrong. We also had fun using the reactionary emojis to try and wind each other up.

It was, put simply, your typical Mario Party experience. If you like this sort of game, and you feel like you need some new boards and new characters to spice things up on your next game night, this will do the job nicely.

But what about that 'bigger and better' question?

Eventually, the Nintendo staff pulled us away from the traditional Mario Party experience and encouraged us to try out the new modes on offer.

One of these, Koopathon, seems to be slightly inspired by Fall Guys.

Koopathon is a 20-player online multiplayer mode, where all your characters line up on a track. It is, essentially, a race.

However, in true Mario Party fashion, the only way you can move along the track and try to win the race is by competing in minigames.

These fast and furious minigames are largely solo tasks. For example, at one point, I had to manage a virtual bakery, trying to find the perfect timing to pull buns, croissants and bread rolls out of the oven.

The better you do in the minigame, the further your character will move on the map.

This was a fun mode, and it’s easy to imagine it finding a decent-sized audience when the game launches.

It’s chaotic, silly, competitive, and it allows you to keep the Mario Party fun alive when you’re away from your friends for a while.

In another new mode, Bowser’s Kaboom Squad, you actually work with the other players for a change.

Bowser’s Kaboom Squad is an eight-player online co-op experience. In it, all the players can freely run around a map. A large Bowser is on the prowl, and it’s your job to collect bombs and try to defeat him.

This felt very different to your usual Mario Party experience. The free movement, the collaboration, the outright attacking of your enemy… it all felt quite fresh, but the chaotic sense of multiplayer mayhem was still there.

We also saw some new short-session game modes, where you can compete against other players in a quick flurry of minigames around a theme.

For example, at one point, we tried a bunch of food-based minigames in quick succession to see who would come out on top.

In all of the modes, I wasn’t particularly skilled, but I still had a nice time. This, again, felt true to my usual experiences of Mario Party.

So, does bigger equal better in this case? I’d say yes.

This does feel like a broader, more complete game than your usual Mario Party. You could say it feels less focused as a result, but it also hasn't scrimped on the 'business as usual' stuff.

If you’ve been yearning for Mario Party to offer you something different, you’ll find that here.

But if you just want more of your usual Mario Party board game chaos, you’ll also find that in spades. It seems like the best of both worlds!

Super Mario Party Jamboree will launch on 17th October for Nintendo Switch and you can order your copy now.

Check out more of our Gaming coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.