What’s better than a normal party? A Mario Party! The hit franchise created in 1998 is back in full force with a new iteration called, Super Mario Party.

Does it hold up to the achievements of its predecessors, or does it fall flat? Super Mario Party was released on the Nintendo Switch on October 5 and was branded as a soft reboot of the series. Being the eleventh game in the franchise, “Super Mario Party” had high expectations as it went back to the traditional board game format rather than the party together format of Mario Party 9 and 10. With the game going back to its roots, it is time to see how it holds up.

As stated above, Super Mario Party returns to the traditional board game style unlike the tenth and ninth iterations of the series, which forced the players to team up against a common foe instead of each other; this was well received by fans. With the addition of over ten new usable items and unique dice to every character, it shows that strategy is still a big part of Super Mario Party. Another interesting addition is the ally system, in which players can land in a space or use an item to call upon a random character who will lend the player their personal dice block and randomly add a number one through to the player’s roll. Super Mario Party also introduces eighty new and interesting mini games that take full advantage of the Nintendo Switch motion controls. Not only is the traditional mode available, but so is multiple other bonus modes.

“It’s good that they go back to the old format instead of the one in 9 and 10, and the partner party mode is incredible,” said sophomore Luke Waechter.

No game is perfect, however, not even Super Mario Party. If there are any complaints about the game it would be that there are only four total boards to play on throughout the entire game, but even the ones given are extremely short. Additionally, even though there are plenty of new items, there are not many of them in total. On top of that, there is no online multiplayer for the traditional Mario party mode.

“It’s a good game. I like the tabletop style of it. Overall, I would say nine out of ten,” said junior Storm Travis.

When looking at the game itself, and comparing it to past titles, Super Mario Party is an absolute blast to play with friends and family.