There’s always that one friend you invite over to play Smash who ruins everyone’s day. If we’re talking Smash, I’m, at best, fine. I do get beat more often than not, but usually, I can at least make you earn a win against me. Mario Party, though? You don’t dance with the Devil of Mario Party.
Growing up, the joke used to be that I was unlucky in virtually every other facet of my life. But when I booted up the OG Mario Party from those precious N64 days, Dwayne left. And Beelzebub replaced him. The Mini-Game Star awarded to the player with the lion’s share of wins? Me. The Coin Star from making the most money? Likely me, too. It got so bad that even when friends agreed to team up to stop me, a Chance Time would pop up near the end of the game and give me my win back.
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Outside of one or two of the handheld games, I played every single Mario Party. Up until recently, I had retired from the series. Too many victims, too much bloodshed. Hardly worth the broken friendships and hard stares. I was able to keep that Devil at bay, playing wholesome cozy games and trying to best Hollow Knight. But if there’s a new party in town? I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist.
‘mario party’ has returned to great praise
Currently, Super Mario Party Jamboree, the franchise’s newest title, has benefitted from a good critical reception! The series has a reputation for not exactly being the hottest party on the block. The only game to break past an 80% aggregate rating is Mario Party Superstars. Even then, Superstars barely made it at exactly 80% on Metacritic. You could easily argue the legitimacy of that claim if you go by its OpenCritic aggregate score, which is 79%.
Super Mario Party Jamboree has time to slide back to the series’ “norm.” But at present, it’s enjoying +80% aggregate scores with most people being happy that the game has proven to be the series’ peak. It looks like it’s time to dust off the Switch and prepare for the wonderful chaos of Mario Party once more!
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