If you ever have one Mario partyyou already understand most of the gameplay. You choose a game board for you and up to three friends to play on, taking turns rolling the dice as you race for the stars and then playing mini-games every now and then. There’s a little more to the game than I’ll get into in a moment, but if that doesn’t sound like a good time then this game isn’t for you. Now let’s get more into the weeds.
If you look at the core aspect of Mario party gameplay (also called the board game part), then Jamboree features seven different boards and more than 110 mini-games. The mini-games come in different variants, free for all, 2v2 and 1v3, and most of them were fun to play. Each board also has a difficulty level which I assume is more of a complexity scale.
The 1 star board is fairly simple with about 2-3 loops you can participate in, but higher ratings offer many more ways to traverse the board and hopefully beat your enemies to the stars. What’s strange to me is that you start the game with three or four boards unlocked, but the difficulty scores are spread out.
You have the 1 star, but you have to level up to unlock the 2 star. I just assumed you would have started with the 1 star, 2 star and 3 star boards, with higher levels unlocked later. This is not a problem, but something that seemed strange to me.
One thing I’m not a fan of, however, is that the game wants to place the first star of a level very far out. If you’re playing a 10-round game (the shortest possible), I found that the first time someone would normally get the first star was on the fifth or sixth turn, due to the size of the boards.
Combine that with the fact that coins are meaningless once someone has a star and the scoring system in the game really annoys me. I just wish the boards were smaller in shorter games, or the stars moved a little closer to the players to generate more competition.
Another frustration related to this is the new Jamboree Buddies. This is a character you can take with you and they provide a special bonus or ability for a few turns. Overall, I like Jamboree Buddies. However, due to the size of the boards, there have been several games where no one could get a Jamboree Buddy due to where they came from. It just feels self-defeating.
Of course, classic gameplay isn’t everything Jamboree has to offer. There are seven other game modes to play. Some of these are fun and some were just plain boring for me, but I’m sure some people still enjoy them. My least favorite game mode is Paratroopa Flight School.
Basically, you hold the Joy-Con in your hands and flap your arms to fly around for three possible mini-games. It was boring and my arms were really worn out. Toad’s Item Factory is a little better. Each player (maximum 4) has a Joy-Con and moves it up and down to get marbles to the end of the track.
Most of the songs are simple, but there are some times when you really want to take advantage of the physics engine. Next up is Rhythm Kitchen, where you use Joy-Con to complete rhythm-based mini-games. This one is quite fun, but may be more difficult for younger children who don’t yet have a sense of rhythm.
Of course there is Minigame Bay, perfect if you just want to play the minigames. You can choose from over 110 options and skip the board game portion of Mario Party.
That brings us to the last two multiplayer game modes which are a little different. These are both modes designed to be played online with only one player per system. The first is Koopathlon, where you compete against up to 19 other gamers in various mini-games and score points based on how far you get. You first try to complete a predetermined number of laps around the track.
I really enjoyed Koopathlon and think it was one of the highlights of Jamboree. The other mode is Bowser Kaboom Squad. You team up with up to seven other players to take down Imposter Bowser by finding bombs and firing them at the imposter from a cannon. Every now and then the team completes mini-games for a chance to win items that can help you take down the big guy. It’s nice, but not my favorite.
However, if you’re looking for single-player goodness, Jamboree does have the Party-Planner Trek. You have to cross five special game boards to help various NPCs and collect ministers. As you do, you’ll unlock decorations for Party Plaza, play mini-games and more.
As crazy as it sounds, I enjoyed my time in this game mode. I’m not someone who really plays Mario party for single player experiences, but this wasn’t bad and I could see myself coming back if I had fifteen minutes here and there. It should be noted that progress is tracked per character.
The funny thing about it Jamboree is that it finally introduces a feature to the Nintendo Switch that I’ve been clamoring for since launch. Jamboree allows other accounts on the same console to log in and track rewards. This is the first game I know of to do that on Switch and it’s a big win!
I could play Jamboree on my profile and then my wife and child could join and link their profiles to their checkpoints to track progress. The next day they were able to start playing on their profile and all the things they unlocked while playing with me were still available to them! Why did it take so long for Nintendo to sort this out?
One feature of Jamboree that I actually quite enjoy is the reactions. These are simple emotes that are clearly designed more for online play and interacting with other players, but some are just plain fun to bring out even in local games. Additionally, you can purchase additional reactions while playing. This is a little tidbit that isn’t a selling point, but some of them are just inexplicably funny and almost all of them are cute.
Ultimately, your mileage will vary Jamboree. If you and your friends are looking for fun Mario party game, Jamboree is a good one. My biggest issues with the game are really just core aspects, like the score. If I’m honest, I would have preferred more energy to adapt that than the Paratroopa Flight School.
Jamboree However, it has some fun other game modes to help you find different ways to have fun. As long as you realize that this game is really meant to be played with friends with the best single-player content (Koopathlon) that requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, then this is a great purchase.
It does remind me why I don’t need more than one Mario party per generation. While it’s probably a 7 for me personally, overall I’d say it gets a higher score for fans of the genre.