Mario sur un plateau de Mario Party Superstars, entouré de vignettes des plateaux du jeu

Mario Party Superstars: N64 Nostalgia on Switch

1414 words | Reading time : 7 minute(s)

GameMario PartyNintendo Switch

Five Nintendo 64 boards brought back to life — and the shared car finally left behind. Developed by NDcube and released on October 29, 2021 on Switch, Mario Party Superstars plays the nostalgia card to the hilt. This piece breaks down the five restored N64 boards, the hundred minigames drawn from across the series and the return to classic turn-by-turn play that players had been asking for.

On Nintendo France's official page, it carries exactly the same name as the original version: Mario Party Superstars. This party game lands on Nintendo Switch on October 29, 2021, developed by the studio NDcube.

Its promise comes down to a single word: nostalgia. Legendary Nintendo 64 boards, a hundred minigames pulled from the entire history of the series and a full online mode make up a package built for nights with friends, from a distance or side by side on the couch.

Contents

A Switch entry that runs on memories

Released simultaneously worldwide on October 29, 2021, Mario Party Superstars is the franchise's second outing on Nintendo Switch, after Super Mario Party in 2018. It carries on a series that began on Nintendo 64 in the late 1990s.

The studio NDcube, in charge of the license since Mario Party 9, delivers a compilation more than a reinvention here: instead of dreaming up new worlds, the game draws unashamedly on the heritage of the classic entries.

The result reads like a love letter to the Nintendo 64 era. The graphics have been brought up to date and the interface modernized, but the spirit stays firmly faithful to where the party began.

Official artwork for Mario Party Superstars, Mario tossing a giant die above a board
The official artwork sets the tone: a board, a die, and the spirit of the earliest Mario Party games.

Five Nintendo 64 boards brought back to life

The nostalgic heart of the game is its five classic boards taken from the first three Mario Party games on Nintendo 64, entirely rebuilt in high definition while keeping their original layouts.

  • The Tropical Island of Yoshi, made of two islands linked by bridges, comes from the very first Mario Party (1998).
  • Then comes Peach's Birthday Cake , also drawn from that founding first entry.
  • Then there's Space Land , which along with Horror Land comes from Mario Party 2.
  • And Woody Woods rounds out the set, straight from Mario Party 3.

Every board keeps its original events and traps, from the race for the star to the nasty tricks of chance. Veterans find their bearings straight away, while newcomers discover layouts that have become cult favorites over the generations.

The Yoshi's Tropical Island board in Mario Party Superstars, two islands linked by bridges
Yoshi's Tropical Island, from the very first Mario Party back in 1998, redrawn in high definition.

A hundred minigames, the whole series condensed

Beyond the boards, Mario Party Superstars brings together 100 minigames picked from the entire history of the series, from the Nintendo 64 entries to the most recent ones. It amounts to a genuine playable retrospective.

They are all replayable at will outside the main games, through a dedicated mode that turns the compilation into an interactive anthology rather than a simple bonus.

The lineup mixes tests of skill, reflex duels and co-op challenges, each playable alone or with others to break records and replay your favorites without limit.

This selection makes Superstars a playable best-of, perfect for rediscovering in a single game classics once scattered across consoles that have sometimes slipped into obscurity.

The Bombs Away minigame in Mario Party Superstars, characters on a boat aiming at a target
The hundred minigames are drawn from across the series and can be replayed outside of full games.

Old-school turn-by-turn play, no shared car

On the rules side, Superstars goes back to the classic turn-by-turn gameplay: each player rolls their die, moves space by space, collects coins and chases those precious stars.

Watch out for one stubborn misconception, though: the shared car, where all four players traveled together in a single vehicle, was the signature of Mario Party 9 and Mario Party 10, not of Super Mario Party.

Super Mario Party (2018) had in fact already restored individual movement. Superstars simply goes further by dropping character-specific dice as well, returning to a stripped-down, purely classic set of rules.

The
You move space by space, collect coins, then buy the star: the original loop, untouched.

Fully playable online, from start to finish

A major strength of this entry: everything can be played online, full boards as well as minigames, which was far from a given in earlier entries in the series.

Better still, the game allows you to pause and later resume a game in progress, a considerable advantage when you know a full board can take up an entire evening.

This flexibility makes Superstars an ideal companion for remote play, able to gather far-flung friends around the same virtual table without forcing them to finish everything in one sitting.

Friend lobby menu in Mario Party Superstars, online game options
The online lobby: full boards and minigames both play out remotely, pausable sessions included.

Ten stars on the starting line

On the casting side, ten playable characters are available from launch, with nothing to unlock beforehand.

You get the quartet of Mario, Luigi, Peach and Daisy, the troublemaking duo Wario and Waluigi, plus Yoshi, inseparable from the series since day one.

Rounding out the list are Rosalina , the powerhouse Donkey Kong and the surprising Birdo: a compact but varied roster that spans several generations of the Mario universe.

Character select screen in Mario Party Superstars showing the ten playable characters
All ten characters are available from launch, with nothing at all to unlock.

Mario Party Superstars at a glance

Title Mario Party Superstars
Developer NDcube
Publisher Nintendo
Worldwide release October 29, 2021
Platform Nintendo Switch
Boards 5 Nintendo 64 classics
Minigames 100 drawn from across the series
Characters 10 playable at launch

🍄 Want to keep the adventure going? Check out our Mario toys in the shop.

FAQ

  • When was Mario Party Superstars released?
    The game launched worldwide on October 29, 2021 on Nintendo Switch, the same day in Japan as in Europe.
  • How many boards and minigames does the game offer?
    It features five classic Nintendo 64 boards and a hundred minigames selected from the entire history of the series, all replayable at will.
  • Can you play it online?
    Yes, the entire game can be played online, boards as well as minigames, with the option to pause a session and pick it up later.
  • Does Mario Party Superstars use the shared car?
    No. It returns to individual turn-by-turn movement. The shared car was the hallmark of Mario Party 9 and Mario Party 10, not of this entry.
  • Which characters are playable?
    Ten characters are available from the start: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi, Rosalina, Donkey Kong and Birdo.

The whole saga

From Donkey Kong in 1981 to the Switch episodes: our guide retraces the whole Mario saga, console by console.

🎮 All the Mario video games →
↑ Back to top
Back to blog