Super Mario Party Jamboreehas had a pretty incredible start, garnering a very warm reception from fans and critics alike and being hailed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest,Mario Partygames ever made. It’s so packed with content - from boards to modes - that fans find it offers a far greater amount of replayability than previous entries. It seems hard then to fault it, especially considering just how popular it has proven to be, despite launching at the tail end of the Nintendo Switch’s life.
Of course,Super Mario Party Jamboree’sreviewsaren’t all sunshine and daisies, and there have been a handful of issues pointed out. Largely, these are inconsequential or too personal to be considered a wider criticism of the game. However, there is one issue withJamboreethat has been plaguing theMario Partyseries for quite some time, and that is its 3v1 minigames. Unfortunately, despite having years to learn from the previous games' mistakes,Super Mario Party Jamboreestill can’t get 3v1 minigames right.
Why 3v1 Minigames Are So Broken
They’re Always Unfairly Balanced
TheMario Partygames have historically had an issue with unbalanced 3v1 minigames, with it being prevalent not just in thebest Nintendo SwitchMario Partygames, but as far back as the early titles. The biggest issue is that one side always has an unfair advantage, whether it’s the three players unfairly outnumbering the solo player, or the solo player being given too easy of a job to complete.Mario Party Superstars, which remade a number of maps and minigames from the earlyMario Partyseries, is the best evidence of how deeply rooted this issue has become.
Take, for example, “Piranha’s Pursuit”, a minigame so confoundingly bad and unbalanced that the majority of players want to skip it. When compared toMario PartyJamboree’sbest minigames, “Piranha’s Pursuit” feels like a mistake, as it is almost impossible for the solo player to lose. The three players can only ground pound the cloud they’re riding, which seems to have no effect on the speed of the Piranha Plant, meaning it’s entirely down to whether the solo player trips up. Of course, they never do, as it’s far too easy to avoid the obstacles.
There are many more examples like this, from “Dart Gallery”, which gives the solo player too little space to maneuver in, “Block and Load”, which makes the solo player’s canon too powerful, “Tackle Takedown”, which only gives the solo player one attempt, and “Scewer Scurry”, which gives the team of three too much time to avoid the spikes. To make matters more confusing,Mario Party3v1 minigames aren’t exclusively unbalanced in one particular team’s favor. There are just as many 3v1 minigames that are unfair toward the solo player as there are toward the team of three, making it inconsistent.
Jamboree Gets A Lot Right - But Not This
It’s 3v1 Minigames Can Ruin The Fun
Unfortunately,this problem persists inSuper Mario Party Jamboree, with many of the 3v1 minigames suffering from being unfairly balanced. “Sunset Standoff” makes it far too easy for the team of three to dodge the solo player, “On-Again Off-Again” gives the solo player too many Grrrols to drop on the team of three, and “Blame it On the Crane” is too easy for the solo player as it’s merely a matter of easy timing. Of course, just like with previousMario Partygames, there are plenty of balanced 3v1 minigames, but too many are unfairly weighted in one side’s favor.
In many ways,Jamboreeis better thanSuperstars, and this is absolutely the case when it comes to the 3v1 minigames. Of course, it’s skewed more inJamboree’sfavor, considering it has less, and they’re not remakes of older minigames. However, even despite this,Jamboree’s3v1 minigames are often far too unfair towards one side, an issue exacerbated when playing against or with the AI.
Super Mario Party Jamboree’sAI is generally better on the whole compared toSuperstars, with it being more capable during the board game portion of a game and more efficiently using items. However, during minigames, it still feels as useless asSuperstar’swhen on Hard or lower, but impossible to beat when on Master.
Mario Party’sAI has never been particularly good, butJamboreedoesn’t really seem to improve upon it too much. For example, the team of three in “Cookie Cutters” will take forever cutting out their shape, meaning the solo player (if played by a human) can easily cut twice as many cookies in the same amount of time. Similarly, 3v1 minigames like “Arch Rivals” or “Lost and Pound” become much harder when playing with the AI, or, much easier when playing against them.
The Next Mario Party Can Do Better
It Needs To Put More Effort Into Balancing The 3v1 Minigames
The nextMario Partygame has a tall order when it comes to fixing the 3v1 minigames, but there are a handful of routes it can take. Firstly, there are lots of ideasJamboreeneeds to borrow from otherMariogames, but this is especially true when it comes to the AI.Improving the AI to make it so they’re not either unbeatably good or ridiculously easy to beat is important, and it’ll make the 3v1 minigames a little fairer. Additionally, greater consideration needs to be put into the balance between the solo player and the team of three.
This could be solved by simply having the team of three and the solo player achieving the same goal, rather than needing to perform different roles. The solo player could be given an advantage of some kind, such as a headstart or an extra life, for example. This type of minigame already exists inSuper Mario Party Jamboreeto an extent in the form of the Showdown minigames, which sees the player who found the Jamboree Buddy first given an advantage.
There’s One Major Reason To Not Skip The New Mario Party Game
Super Mario Party Jamboree has introduced a key feature that not only fixes the series’ biggest issue, but makes it worth playing all on its own.
Of course, minigames in which the team of three has one objective and the solo player has another are still fun and worth keeping around, but Nintendo needs to put more effort into ensuring they’re better balanced. This could be done by making both teams' tasks more skill-based, but simply making the solo player’s task a little easier to complete. This can already be seen in minigames such as “GOOOOOOOOOAL!” and “Squared Away”. Hopefully, the nextMario Party gamewill learn fromSuper Mario Party Jamboree’scontinued mistake, and finally give players consistently enjoyable 3v1 minigames.
