Half the fun of a Mario Party announcement happens during the ensuing months of speculation and detailed breakdowns. With Super Mario Party Jamboree, that’s no different. Follow our Jamboree Deep Dive series as we analyze specific topics in way too much detail and particularity that only a Mario Party website could manage.
Don’t let the “Super” in the game’s title fool you. Super Mario Party Jamboree fully embraces the classic board gameplay that fans have loved since the original game’s release over 25 years ago. Like Superstars before it, Jamboree’s boards have everything you’d expect — varied path options, strategic opportunities for item usage, unique gimmicks, and more.
But as exciting as it is to see the beloved Mario Party formula retained, Jamboree comes with its own set of changes. Some of these updates are quite obvious, and others, well, that’s what we’re here to dive into!
Passing events are points of interest you can interact with as you run by them during your turn. The item shop is the most common one, and Jamboree is already showing changes to this Mario Party staple. Adorned with the Mushroom icon at the top of its stall, the item shop appears to have at least two variations. The purple stall sees a Kamek running the show, while a second stall, with colors varying depending on the board, is staffed by a red Koopa Troopa.
Why the difference? The simplest conclusion is that each item shop variant sells different items, similar to the Toad and Koopa Kid shops from Mario Party 3. Boards that have more than two item shops seems to include additional Koopa Troopa shops, so perhaps the shops run by Kamek feature more exclusive or higher priced items. Or perhaps Kamek sells the more offensive items while Koopa Troopa puts out a selection of items that give abilities to the buyer?
There’s also the case of the board with the single item shop. Just like the original Mario Party’s remastered boards in Superstars, Mario’s Rainbow Castle features a single item shop near the start of the board. The front side shows the standard colors we’ve come to expect with Koopa Troopa’s shop, but keen eyes will notice the backside of the shop features a purple roof. Does the item shop flip to Kamek’s side after a player passes by? It’s the revolving door of item shops.
It’s unlikely as I doubt the Koopa Troopa has the craftsmanship to swap the stall colors on a whim, but maybe every board features items shops that swap whenever a player passes through. Just an extra thought!
Another essential passing event is the coin-swiping and star-stealing Boo. Scattered about every board is some kind of sign or emblem depicting the ghost’s portrait. We assume players can summon Boo as they did in past games, but there really isn’t much to tell us otherwise. Unlike Superstars, Boo’s hiding spot looks visually different in each board. Each of these spots have some kind of hole or opening, so the opportunity to fly out of some haunted crevice is there.
And Boo is going to have the purple glow too, right? It’s what Jamboree is doing with characters like Bowser who are both playable and function as an NPC. Some Kamek magic mumbo jumbo. Curious that they didn’t give the Boo role to Peepa!
Also worth noting: no bank. Even Western Land, a board that originally featured bank spots, is debt free. Interesting considering one of the biggest criticisms of Superstars was the coin economy and the overabundance of money.
See those small blue diamonds? Those are plopped in front of passing events, many of which are still mysteries. Interestingly, the diamond in front of the star takes on a yellow color. Perhaps there are other diamond colors around? Maybe a color to signify that a passing event is not available during the current turn, like the item shop on the final turn?
Boards in Superstars often felt like they had an overload of Lucky Spaces. Those boards typically had around 10-15 of them, and counting the Lucky Spaces in Jamboree gives a similar count. An “unlucky space” has also been spotted and may help offset the coin overload. Outside a peculiar color change from blue to green for the Chance Time Space, spaces retain most of their designs from Superstars.
The appearance of the Skeleton Key on the game’s box art and the fact that only Western Land features Skeleton Key doors started a popular theory that each board features at least one exclusive item. With a mysterious conch shell also appearing on the box art, many have pointed to Goomba Lagoon as the home to this coastal item. The trap-like item spotted in the footage for Roll ’em Raceway is another indicator for an exclusive item, but there it hasn’t been ruled out that this new item can’t appear on other boards.
Lots of confusion over the new HUD layout! Character stats and other bits of overlay info live in the bottom portion of the screen but are shown in different positions depending on the footage. What gives?
Consider this: all the stats make up an ordered list that is updated every time an action is completed. Think about the start of a turn in Rainbow Galleria. What’s first? The Flash Sale is up! It’s the first thing to happen, so it’s at the start of the list all the way to the left. Once that announcement is over, the icon disappears from the list and everything moves to the left. This leaves enough room for something new to get added to the end of the list — in this case, the notification for the Homestretch part of the match.
We still have to see it in motion, but so far it looks promising. You’ll know exactly when a flash sale will begin, and there won’t any confusion about its ending time either. Seems like a great way to keep track of the tides in Goomba Lagoon or the movements of Mega Wiggler in Mega Wiggler’s Tree Party too. Maybe it’ll show us when a minigame with double the coin reward is coming, or perhaps a battle minigame?
To wrap up, there are a few more tidbits of changes worth mentioning. With Toadette playable, nobody seems to have taken her spot as the host handing out stars. Looks like the star stands alone, similar to the earlier games in the series. In places where there needs to be a character, Yellow Toad seems to have taken the role.
So far the trailer only shows a max of 10 turns. Worry not! Because the homestretch section lasts five turns, we’re inclined to think Jamboree will follow Superstars in having a max of 30 turns per game, unlike Super Mario Party where the homestretch lasted the last three turns and the max number of turns was 20.
There’s still a lot to learn about how these boards function and what changes make them different from the rest of the series. With PAX West at the end of this month, it’s likely we’ll get some more info. Let’s wait and see!