Well I’m just glad that, even though you can play as big boy Browser, they still made a fake one just so that they could bring back Bowser Spaces. ‘t’s pretty nice.
Also, I’m kinda glad that there’s no longer any advantage to playing as certain characters and getting their unique dice, makes it much more fair.
Speaking of fair, Pro Rules are a nice way to reduce RNG and maximise player input. Like, it really rewards skillful gameplay over random events, although this is not the ruleset to use if you just want to have fun - this IS the series known for destroying friendships (and the occasional palm).
The side modes are a good addition: I feel like there’s a lot more emphasis on side modes here than in other MP entries. The battle royale mode sounds cool, and it’s not really an idea that has been experimented with.
The minigames are okay: I feel it’s a bit strange how they reused old stuff (even an entire board!) for their system, while mixing it with new stuff. I feel like this is probably due to Superstars’ success: they think that the fans love old games.
The Jamboree Buddy system is pretty intricate: maybe a bit too much. I suppose that this kind of replaces the dice system from the first SMP, and fully stands in for the ally system too. Honestly, having unique minigames for EVERY possible Jamboree buddy might be a bit too much, although it was probably a necessary design choice so that the initiator of the game could get an advantage. I think it’s a little overdone, and probably the reason why games usually are set to lower turn counts: these longer games take up what could be an entire turn!
I haven’t played SMPJ for myself, but HAVE seen Skawo’s playthrough of the first two boards. And I do like the board ideas: each one has a bunch of mechanics that make it unique. The boards are SIGNIFICANTLY larger than the ones in the original (at least in modeling) and feel much better to play around in. Each one has a unique feel to it. And the shops in this game are a lot better: each one stocks 5 items instead of the 3 in the original and there’s even two types of shops!
Oh, and the final 5 turns are a lot better than normal: instead of a bunch of randomly chosen stuff, even in Party Mode, a player gets to decide the event by themselves. It ranges from something as insignificant as giving someone a single Mushroom, to outright doubling everyone’s coins, or even making Blue Spaces give 12 coins (while also making Reds take away 12)!
The whole thing is a much better pound per dollar ratio than Super, and it’s very fun-looking. Mind you, I haven’t even played this, and it looks cool. Not exactly a game worthy of ‘pick up day one’ like TOTK or anything, but I will consider getting it just to complete the Super trilogy collection.
So yeah, that’s my rundown of all the things about SMPJ, a game I haven’t even played, yet still already like. May all your bees be my wax (totally didn’t steal this quote from somebody), and see you later!
TL;DR: SMPJ is cool, it introduces a lot of new mechanics to the table, and they’re interesting at least, fun at most.
P.S. Can’t play Mario Party without playing as Mario :)
P.P.S. Can somebody do a quick word count of this? I yapped way too much about this silly party game franchise, and I’d like to know specifically how much.