Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV

Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2

Yes, Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV really is the full, official title, simultaneously a word salad and yet entirely descriptive of what this package is. It is both a Nintendo Switch 2 edition of an existing game, plus a separate Jamboree TV – but the constituent parts are essentially detached.

The latest entry in Nintendo’s digital board game series, Mario Party Jamboree is another multiplayer-focused outing, pitting groups of up to four players against each other on colourful boards drawn from Super Mario lore. Each player takes a turn rolling dice to move around the map, racing to reach randomised spaces where they can exchange coins for stars. At the end of the game, which can take from 10 to 30 rounds, the player with the most stars wins.

While there are a few wild card effects after each player’s turn – among them, landing on a blue space awards coins, red spaces steal them, items may be awarded, and events can alter the maps layout – it’s the bevy of minigames that keep things fun. These are played at the end of each round, with a pool of over 100 thrown at you – the biggest selection in a Mario Party to date, an overwhelming majority of which are brand new for Jamboree. Outrunning giant boulders Indiana Jones style, rolling around on orbs trying to push your rivals off a platform, or running around a rotating disc dodging flames and enemies are just a few of the dozens of rapid-fire activities on offer.

If you lack friends, or just fancy diving into the minigames without the drawn-out board game experience, there’s also a single player 'Party Planner Trek' mode, which sees any of the playable characters adventuring around the various boards, helping set up the Jamboree by completing challenges and defeating the odd boss here and there. It’s a surprisingly engaging mode, and a far better way to experience the game solo than playing the core board game against three AI rivals.

All of this is essentially unchanged from the last time we saw Jamboree, though. Like many upcoming Switch 2 games, this release is an overhauled version of an original Switch game, in this case coming just ten months later_._ Although it’s been vamped up a bit for the Switch 2, visual improvements mainly seem limited to improved frame rates – on the opening menu where you choose between modes, Super Mario Party Jamboree even still has an original Switch logo, indicating it’s the original game, effectively unchanged.

It’s the Jamboree TV selection – which is clearly labelled as Switch 2 – where all the new stuff for this release is tucked away. It’s ostensibly an expansion, adding in several new minigames that take advantage of the Switch 2’s new hardware features and its upgraded Joy-Con 2 controllers. That means a handful of diverting mouse mode outings, screaming at your TV to make use of the console’s built-in mic, and being placed directly into the game via full-body tracking, if you’ve plugged a camera in.

In practice, Jamboree TV feels a little undercooked; gimmicky even.

Several of these are thrown into the new Bowser Live mode, which focuses on camera and mic-based minigames, culminating in a scream-off to heap praise on the nefarious Bowser (kids will love this, adults likely less so). Elsewhere, Carnival Coaster relies on mouse controls for a literally on-rails shooter, intercutting rollercoaster sections targeting various flying enemies with co-op minigames to earn more ride time. There’s also a modified version of the core Mario Party mode, incorporating some of the Switch 2’s new tricks.

In practice, Jamboree TV feels a little undercooked; gimmicky, even. Those voice-controlled outings never seem to work, no matter how close you are to the console and its mic, and mouse mode efforts feel like an interruption in an actual local multiplayer setting – having to sit down and find somewhere to slide a Joy-Con around really breaks the flow. There’s essentially zero single player appeal to Jamboree TV either – minigames can be tackled in Free Play for practice, but it all feels a bit hollow.

Worse, whether using those new gimmicks or not, Jamboree generally feels almost surgically designed to ruin friendships and create grudges. Sure, you can say that about practically every Mario Party entry since the series debuted back in 1998, but there are moments when this leaves a particularly bitter taste in the mouth. It tries to be inclusive and ensure no player gets left behind, that everyone has a chance of winning even if they’re trailing well behind others, but the wild cards it deploys to do so – from over-powered items that hobble opponents to straight-up bully mechanics that can steal hard-earned stars – too often leave you feeling as though skill is redundant and victory is at best random. Mario Kart’s infernal blue shells have nothing on this.

If Nintendo had held Jamboree back and launched this as a Switch 2 launch title, it might have all landed better. As it is, coming so soon after its Switch release and with hastily added extras, Jamboree TV as a whole feels less premium cable and more late-night re-run – still entertaining, but overly familiar.