Topic: Super Mario Party (Switch)

@Grumblevolcano
Um...
Is that true Super Mario Party really have Freeze & Crash Issues ?
I want to buy that game but that issues i heard last time made me worried....

I haven't encountered any problems while playing.

Just got done playing a round of Mario Party with a friend who decided to stop by after getting off work (he works nights). And I got to say, it was absolutely hilarious. I can see how the series could have ruined friendships since we were constantly messing with each other (and the two npc players). But then again me and my friend regularly play Munchkin, so a little backstabbing in a game isn't going to matter much. Especially if it's so amusing.

Is it just me, or do matches always end up so close that you can't really tell who's going to win until it's anounced? I do like that you don't know what the bonus stars will be awarded for in a given match, but that does also make who wins feel a bit random. Sometimes you get a bonus star for moving the most spaces, others for moving the least spaces, or having the most allies, or fewest allies, or a specific ally... And with all the back stabbing that goes on (especially late game) it's almost always going to be close at the end of the final turn. Even trying to build up a 2 or 3 star lead doesn't help much since it's easily possible for others to steal your stars or for you to land on a Bad Luck space and be forced to give one away.

Don't get me wrong. I do like that you don't know what the bonus stars will be awarded for until the end of the match. With my friend, I dominated the mini-games and kept rolling high on my Bowser character die. So I thought I had at least one bonus star in the bag. The bonus stars got awarded for traveling the least number of spaces, having the most allies, and for triggering the most Event spaces. All three of which went to my friend. Which let him not only catch up to me and Boo's star totals, but pull ahead.

Heh, he triggered a Whomp Movement event five times on the same space due to rolling +2 coins four times in a row. Plus he landed on every single one of the trap event spaces during the course of the match.

If the bonus stars were always for the exact same thing every match, that I'd think would get a little boring. I'd much rather have the uncertainty of the matches being so close nobody can really tell who's going to win in advance.

I feel like the bonus stars should be a catch-up mechanism, but with how they are awarded they seem to do the opposite a lot of the time.

Most allies, for example, should really be for least allies. Allies are already an advantage, so giving the bonus to the player(s) that already had the advantage seems off.

Thanks, didn't know that.

@FaeKnight it would be good if you'd be able to tweak a bit more to the rules, especially with regard to bonus stars. I know I'd be really annoyed if I've ruled the game and played good tactics, only to be beaten by random stars. It would help if you'd be able to turn certain/all bonus stars off or if you'd know the stars beforehand so you could actually strategically play for them.

Is it ever too early to talk DLC? Girlfriend and I were talking about it yesterday, wanted to share some ideas:

Characters:
You want to keep the Mario/Bowser reps balanced, so same number of additions to each. I'm thinking two each
Pauline, Cappy, Cranky Kong, Toadsworth for the Mario list options
Boom Boom, Petey Piranha, Fawful, Birdo (even though shes currently the Quiz NPC), Spike for the Bowser list options

Boards:
King Boo's Haunted Mansion
An Odyssey board, themed after either New Donk City or Tostarena would be good
An 8/16 bit 2D stylized board with Wart as the character focus (like King Bob-omb)
Petey Piranha's Castle (assuming he's not a playable DLC character)
DK Jungle

Board specific character costume option (bathing suits, sundresses for the beach stage, explorer costume for the ruins, etc.)

Thoughts?

@DarkSim01 As long as it isn't locked to an amiibo, that sounds good. More boards would definitely be the biggest option variety. A lot of people say its only four, but technically that isn't true with the moving at the same time board (the game mode is actually alright, probably not everyone's cup of tea though).

Though, if I were to choose one, I would hope the DLC would be more like an expansion and not a season pass drip. That works fine for Arms and Splatoon, wouldn't work for Mario Party. Its not like I'm going to be able to play this every month. More Luigi U and less drip-feed.

100% agree. No amiibo locks. I imagine a one time DLC pack, say $15, release in February or so.

I think post-launch content will be like Mario Tennis Aces. Free updates for characters, boards, etc. up until October 2019. Paid DLC being for single player games so like with Mario + Rabbids and Xenoblade 2 paid DLC finished, announce new Odyssey kingdoms at The Game Awards for example.

I'm totally on board for free DLC updates. I dunno if they can get away with charging for any unless it's something pretty substantial that changes how the game plays, which I'd be all for as well

Watching Let's Play videos of older Mario Party games, the boards in Super Mario Party look to be about the same size as the old ones. Whomp Ruins for example looks to be about the same size as a similar map in the original Mario Party (I think).

I also don't really get the complaining about there being only 4 boards. Between the base Party mode and Partner Party mode the boards feel different enough that I'd consider it 8 distinct boards. Yeah, I've ran a few Partner Party matches. And they are fun. Not to mention require more strategizing then the basic Party mode.

Does anyone know yet how to unlock the rest of the playable characters?

Donkey Kong: beat three paths on River Survival
Diddy's Kong: beat stage 2 of challenge mode
Pom Pom: beat stage 5 of challenge mode
Dry Bones: no one really knows, he just shows up in the party plaza. I'm guessing it's either by playing for a certain number of hours or a number of minigames. He was the first I got.

To get the Gem of Passion (Gem of Challenge Road), can you skip any levels or do you have to complete every challenge?

Huh, haven't tried River Survival yet. I'm holding off since I'd rather try that with actual people. I've played all 4 boards for Party mode at least once, gave the rhythm game one a shot (lost badly), did a Partner Party match, and completely dominated the npc players in the "Othello via Mini-Games" mode. Toad's comment of Mario has most of the board, but it's still anyone's game" at the end of round 10 of 12 was hilarious. I had 14 spaces on the board, and it was impossible for anyone to capture any of my squares. I'd also won the round 10 "steal someone else's square" round.

@toiletduck : 1-2 Switch doesn't support handheld, and that was a launch title. It may be a little fish in the scheme of things, but it still qualifies as a "big" release, being Nintendo-published, and (love it or hate it) a best-seller. The Just Dance games (2017 also being a launch title) did not support handheld mode (the menus can be navigated, however, and the songs/routines can be accessed, but not played).

I expect that most of these sorts of party games will not support handheld mode due to their reliance on motion controls. The recent Japan/Asia exclusive Waku Waku Doubutsu Land (which includes a complete English version called Fun! Fun! Animal Park) which is a similar party game, also lacks handheld mode.

And games that require the use of USB input, such as Let's Sing 2018, is also unplayable in handheld mode (though it may be possible to at least listen to/watch the music videos in handheld mode, similar to the Just Dance games).

It's random (it depends on the game itself).

I have mostly had individual activities, but I have had a small number of 2 vs 2s and 1 vs 3s.

@Silly_G it seems you're a bit behind on the topic @Grumblevulcano already explained the mini game system:

All red or all blue: 4 player
2 red and 2 blue: 2 vs. 2
1 red + 3 blue or 1 blue + 3 red: 1 vs. 3
Green spaces randomly select a colour

@Silly_G
"The recent Japan/Asia exclusive Waku Waku Doubutsu Land (which includes a complete English version called Fun! Fun! Animal Park) which is a similar party game, also lacks handheld mode."

How do i get the English patch for that game ?

@Anti-Matter : It is not a patch. The game includes English by default. The demo also supports English (however, the demo only supports 2 players, from memory, while the full game includes single player activities).

I have the retail version (Japanese) so I can confirm this. There is also an Asian version, however, both retail releases should support Japanese, English, and Chinese.