The perfect means of showcasing the Switch’s party console abilities

By Steve Boxer

Super Mario Party

Developer: NDcube

Publisher: Nintendo

Platform: Switch

LONG-STANDING Nintendo fans are likely to be well aware of the Mario Party franchise. Since 1998, Mario Party games have been the purveyors of board game-style party fun, populated by an ever-increasing cast of Nintendo’s much-loved characters. 2007’s Mario Party 8, in particular, helped establish the Wii’s reputation as the games industry’s finest source of party-gaming.

It’s a fun, frothy franchise. But with the Switch, Nintendo knows it has built a console whose party-gaming credentials are even better than those of the Wii (after all, the Switch adds portability and more sophisticated motion-sensing). So it has given Super Mario Party a pretty major makeover, allowing it to live up to its newly acquired Super prefix.