One of Nintendo's strongest points is that it sometimes sneaks up on fans and gives them exactly what they want. Nowhere was that more apparent than at Nintendo's E3 2021 Direct, in which the industry leader won the show for many with a platter of dream Nintendo announcements. A new WarioWare, remakes of the first two Advance Wars games, and Metroid Dread were all present during the showing, and were also a part of the following Treehouse stream. There is one other notable series revival in that set, however, and its fans couldn't be more pleased with the pitch: Mario Party Superstars.
Mario Party Superstars is dedicated to collecting five standout boards from the three N64 Mario Party titles, and 100 of the best minigames from the N64 and GameCube eras. As foreshadowed by the sudden update to Super Mario Party, this game will also feature online, this time with a more complete set of modes and minigames. To top it all off, the whole thing has been rendered in Super's engine, and thus features gorgeous visuals and many characters who weren't in the first three games. The slam-dunk nature of this package is so great that some may be wondering about the possibility of an equivalent package for the four GameCube Mario Party games.
The GameCube Mario Party Boards
There have been many arguments over the years as to the identity of the best Mario Party. Those are unlikely to ever end, but just about every game up to 8 has a vocal fanbase. There's almost always at least one board that fans really like, and even in the somewhat controversial Mario Party 4, that persists. Conversations about a potential GameCube Mario Party Superstars are already pointing to Goomba's Greedy Gala as a standout board in the series, owing to the core mechanic of a giant, direction-determining roulette wheel that can be rigged by wealthy players. It's very thematically strong, both with the casino-themed map and in the luck-based gameplay of Mario Party itself.
A lot of other GameCube boards are equally as impressive, owing to Mario Party's strong board game design. Mario Party 5's Future Dream is a fairly straightforward board with three segments, but it offers multiple ways to warp or ride around. Castaway Bay is another simple, but very solid board in Mario Party 6. Donkey Kong and Bowser have boats in the harbor at the end of the board, and players need to try to reach them while Donkey Kong is docked. The ability to mess with the boats, combined with the day/night cycle unique to Mario Party 6 that messes with board elements, makes for a surprisingly strategic experience. Mario Party 7's Neon Heights presents a randomized treasure hunt as a side element in its city night-life theme.
Superstars Would Be A Huge Upgrade For These GameCube Titles
One of the best parts of Mario Party Superstars, and its predecessor Super Mario Party, is that clean, shiny 3D assets are finally catching up to the visual flair sported by the pre-rendered N64 boards. It comes down to player preference as to which looks better, but the couple of boards shown off for Superstars already make a case for how far the series has come. This is one of the best reasons to make a GameCube Superstars sequel: a number of GameCube boards just haven't held up. Mario Party 4 in particular was infamous when it launched, and may have the worst-looking boards of the franchise. This seems to have been the result of the development team trying to get used to new fully-3D environments, but it doesn't excuse how artificial and barren many boards look.
Also in need of an update are the games' mechanics. While the three N64 Mario Party's operate by a mostly unified set of rules, the GameCube titles do not. Mario Party 4 has the Mega/Mini Mushroom system, while the other three share Orbs as a new way to use items and interact with the map. Mario Party 6 also has an integral day/night cycle, and Mario Party 7 features minigames that make use of the microphone attachment. Unfortunately, a lot of these mechanics will need to either be properly unified or removed altogether. Keeping some variant of the Orb ruleset feels necessary, and the Mario Party 4 board(s) would need to be reworked to accommodate. Still, any boards from 6 should be allowed to have their own unique day/night cycle. That mechanic has appeared as a board gimmick in a Nintendo 64 Mario Party, so it shouldn't be problematic.
The Issue With Adapting Future Mario Party Games
One final concern going forward is side modes that all the GameCube games had. There was always more to do than just play the boards, including volleyball, custom tank duels, "old-school" Mario Party with minimized gimmicks, and even a sort of adventure mode that could unlock minigames. The tag mode in Mario Party 7 was also notable, given how it affected minigame controls. Losing all of these would be a shame, but it would also be a lot of work to bring even one over to the Super Mario Party engine. The potential for another Mario Party Superstars is high, but it ultimately falls to Nintendo to decide if it will happen, and what it would include.
One thing that has even fans asking for a second Mario Party Superstars stumped is the prospect of a third. Theoretically, that would collect boards from Mario Party 8, 9, and 10, as well as one or two popular boards that missed out on prior entries. Minigames featuring motion controls would finally start to factor in, which wouldn't be a problem given Super Mario Party's use of them. However, the core mechanics of the represented games would have to change.
While the motion-focused Mario Party 8 is fondly remembered, 9 and 10 are not, owing mostly to their use of car mechanic that has every player move as one unit through linear boards. There's no way a remake could keep that gameplay style, and the boards would need complete re-designs to match. That, plus the Bowser chases in Mario Party 10 being that game's main selling point, will make for a much harder adaptation job if a Wii and Wii U Mario Party Superstars was to happen.
Mario Party Superstars will release for Nintendo Switch on October 29, 2021.