Super Mario Party Jamboree Proves Its Broken 3 v 1 Minigames Need To Disappear For The Next Game In The Series

Super Mario Party Jamboree has 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 Party games 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’s reviews aren’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 with Jamboree that has been plaguing the Mario Party series for quite some time, and that is its 3v1 minigames. Unfortunately, despite having years to learn from the previous games’ mistakes, Super Mario Party Jamboree still can’t get 3v1 minigames right.

Why 3v1 Minigames Are So Broken

They’re Always Unfairly Balanced

The Mario Party games have historically had an issue with unbalanced 3v1 minigames, with it being prevalent not just in the best Nintendo Switch Mario Party games, 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 early Mario Party series, 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 to Mario Party Jamboree’s best 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 Party 3v1 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 in Super 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 previous Mario Party games, there are plenty of balanced 3v1 minigames, but too many are unfairly weighted in one side’s favor.

In many ways, Jamboree is better than Superstars, and this is absolutely the case when it comes to the 3v1 minigames. Of course, it’s skewed more in Jamboree’s favor, considering it has less, and they’re not remakes of older minigames. However, even despite this, Jamboree’s 3v1 minigames are often far too unfair towards one side, an issue exacerbated when playing against or with the AI.

Mario Party’s AI has never been particularly good, but Jamboree doesn’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 next Mario Party game 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 ideas Jamboree needs to borrow from other Mario games, 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 in Super Mario Party Jamboree to an extent in the form of the Showdown minigames, which sees the player who found the Jamboree Buddy first given an advantage.

Related

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 next Mario Party game will learn from Super Mario Party Jamboree’s continued mistake, and finally give players consistently enjoyable 3v1 minigames.

Source: Reddit, packattack04082/YouTube, Nintendo Unity/YouTube

Platform(s)

Switch

Released

October 17, 2024

Developer(s)

Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo