Mario Party Superstars

Mario Party Superstars is the twenty-fifth overall installment in the Mario Party series. Released for the Nintendo Switch on October 29, 2021, it is the second Mario Party game for the console, following Super Mario Party. It is also the twelfth installment to be released on a home console. The game follows the same gameplay style as its predecessor and earlier installments in the series. It features 100 minigames from past games in the series, many of which have been previously included in Mario Party: The Top 100, as well as five boards from the Nintendo 64 Mario Party games. All game modes are available to play online.

Mario Party Superstars is the first Super Mario game published by Nintendo on one of their consoles to be officially localized into Brazilian Portuguese.

Gameplay
Mario Party Superstars features minigames and boards from past Mario Party titles while retaining the overall game engine and several features from Super Mario Party. Players take turns hitting the Dice Block and moving around the board in order to collect coins and Stars, and once every player has rolled, a minigame is played, allowing the players to earn coins. Much like games prior to Mario Party 9, the Dice Block rolls 1 through 10 instead of only 1 through 6, and character-specific Dice Blocks from Super Mario Party do not return. Items can be obtained from Lucky Spaces, Item Spaces, or Item Shops and are generally based on the items seen in Super Mario Party. The boards generally retain their original layout, though some have been updated to include new path layouts and Item Shops, such as Peach's Birthday Cake. Some of the board events have also been adjusted. Like in Super Mario Party, when landing on a VS Space, the landing player hits a Dice Block to determine how many coins each player must put into the pot, though instead of playing a Rumble Minigame, a Free-for-all Minigame is played, similarly to Battle Spaces from older entries. Once landed on, a VS Space then turns into a Blue Space.

During the last five turns, the coins gained or lost from Blue Spaces and Red Spaces are doubled, and two players landing on the same space embark in a Duel Minigame, wagering coins like in Mario Party 2 and Mario Party 3. New to this game is the ability to add turns, in which there is an option to change the number of turns once per game in the menu at any point of the game except for during the last turn. The number of turns that can be added cannot make the whole game last more than 30 turns. Any changes during the last five turns are reverted on the next turn, so for example, two players landing on the same space won't trigger a duel.

Playable
Ten characters are playable. Though no new playable characters are introduced to the series, this is the first Mario Party game since Mario Party 9 where Birdo is playable.

Without encyclopedia entry

 * King Bob-omb
 * Gold Goombas
 * Big Piranha Plants
 * Toads
 * Woody
 * Evil Woody
 * Piranha Pods
 * Mecha Fly Guy
 * Big Cheep Cheep
 * Spinies
 * Lava Bubbles
 * Amps
 * Yoshis

Boards
The game features five boards from the three Nintendo 64 Mario Party titles. There are two boards from Mario Party and Mario Party 2, and one board from Mario Party 3.

Village Square
In Mario Party Superstars, the game's main hub is Village Square, which was formerly named Mushroom Village. In the village, the player can go through a Warp Pipe to play Mario Party. There are also several houses in the village, which serve various purposes. Toad's Shop sells music, stickers, card designs, and encyclopedia articles. The Option House allows the player to change their settings, while the Friend House allows the player to play with their friends online. The Data House allows the player to listen to music, see their achievements and records, read the encyclopedia and customize their Mario Party Card. There is also a boat in the river that takes the player to Mt. Minigames, which, as the name indicates, allows players to play minigames.

Items
{|class="wikitable"

Spaces

 * Start Space - "Your journey to become the next Super Star starts here."
 * Blue Space - "Get 3 coins." (Last 5 turns: "Get 6 coins.")
 * Red Space - "Lose 3 coins." (Last 5 turns: "Lose 6 coins.")
 * Bowser Space - "The most dangerous space. Nothing good can come of it."
 * Event Space
 * Yoshi's Tropical Island: "Cheep Chomp plays a crafty trick. Keep your eyes peeled!"
 * Space Land: "If you're facing down a speeding spaceship...run!"
 * Peach's Birthday Cake: "You can spend coins here to add a strawberry."/"[Character]'s strawberry will steal your coins here."/"[Character]'s strawberry will steal your Star here."; "Take a shortcut on this slide!"
 * Woody Woods: "Stop here, and Monty Mole will change the arrow sign."; "Stop here, and you can get some fruit."; "There's something a little sinister about this tree..."
 * Horror Land: "Stop here to change day to night or night to day."
 * VS Space - "Players bet coins before facing off in a minigame!"
 * Lucky Space - "Spin the roulette wheel for a chance at items or coins!" (Final turn: "Spin the roulette wheel for a chance at coins!")
 * Item Space - "Get an item from an Item Minigame." (Final turn: "It's the last turn, so there won't be an Item Minigame.")
 * Chance Time Space - "Hit the three rotating blocks for a chance at a comeback!"
 * Koopa Bank - "Deposit 3 coins when you pass. Try landing here too!" (Last 5 turns: "Deposit 5 coins when you pass. Try landing here too!")

Passing spaces

 * Star Exchange - "Exchange 20 coins for a Star."
 * Boo - "Steal coins for free or a Star for 50 coins."
 * Bowser - "It looks like Bowser has something for you..."
 * Koopa Troopa - "A lap around the board! You'll receive 10 coins."
 * Item Shop - "Buy items with coins." (Final turn: "Buy items with coins. Currently unavailable.")
 * Crossroads - "Choose which way to go."
 * Gate - "A closed gate. It might open with a key."
 * Thwomp - "Give the Thwomp coins, and you can pass."
 * Bowser Junction - "Counts down when you pass by. What happens at zero?"
 * Snifit Station - "Stop here to get a speed trap from the Snifit Patrol."/"Get a speed trap when the Snifit Patrol gets back."
 * Flower Lottery - "Select a seed, then follow whichever path sprouts!"
 * Signpost - "You must follow the arrows. Watch out! They change."
 * Forest Shop - "An exclusive item shop hidden deep in the forest."
 * Monty Mole Hole - "Pay Monty Mole coins here to change the arrow signs."
 * Mr. I's Stone - "Mr. I will warp you across the board."
 * Whomp Blocker - "This Whomp is blocking the way. Pay it coins to pass."
 * Party Place - "Stop by at night if you want to join the party."
 * Mystery Mansion - "Something magical might happen here during the day."
 * King Boo's Stone - "At night, pay 150 coins to steal a Star from everyone."

Minigames
The game has 100 minigames from previous Mario Party titles, much like Mario Party: The Top 100. There are also five item minigames that do not count towards the total in the game, bringing the number up to 105.

Boards

 * Approximately a quarter of Blue Spaces on boards are now Lucky Spaces.
 * Toadette now gives the star on the boards in place of Toad and the Millennium Star.
 * Characters that were not present in the original games now appear on some of the boards, including Huckit Crabs and Urchins in Yoshi's Tropical Island, Peepas in Horror Land, and Galoombas in Woody Woods.
 * Several board events have their own music.
 * In the original Mario Party boards, Bowser charges 11-20 coins for his dud items. He may instead sell a Cursed Dice Block for the same prices, or give 5 coins if the player is in last place.
 * There are now item shops in the original Mario Party boards and more than one item shop in Horror Land.
 * A Cheep Chomp replaces the giant Cheep Cheep in Yoshi's Tropical Island.
 * The layout of Peach's Birthday Cake has been altered, such as moving the Flower Lottery to after the star and making the Bowser route a risky shortcut that loops back towards the star.
 * The available seeds in the Flower Lottery now reset once the Bowser seed is selected, instead of after all seeds have been selected. The seeds also now differ by shape rather than color.
 * Lakitu now plants the Piranha Plants in Peach's Birthday Cake instead of Goomba. The Piranha Plants can now disappear once their corresponding Event Space has been landed on, and every pair of Event Spaces now corresponds to the same Piranha Plant instead of each Event Space having its own Piranha Plant. Additionally, players now have the option to plant a coin- or star-stealing Piranha Plant instead of being limited to a star-stealing one. Also, when landing on their own Piranha Plant, the player earns a few coins as well and be given the option to upgrade their coin-stealing Piranha Plant to a star-stealing one, provided the player has enough coins.
 * Players now give 3 coins when passing a Koopa Bank or 5 coins during the last five turns, instead of always giving a flat 5 coins.
 * Koopa Kid no longer appears in the Mario Party 2 boards.
 * Traditional Snifits run the Snifit Police stations in Space Land instead of Super Mario 64 Snifits.
 * King Boo replaces the Big Boo in Horror Land.
 * The Koopa Bank on the left of the board in Woody Woods has been moved to the top, and another Koopa Bank has been added, totalling three Koopa Banks on the board.
 * The gates in Woody Woods function more like the gates in Space Land and Horror Land; specifically, they are located directly on their corresponding junctions, and as such, their directions can only be taken if the player has a Skeleton Key.
 * Wigglers and the multiple MIPS are absent from Woody Woods, the former being replaced by Galoombas and the latter having been replaced by small rabbits.
 * The Monty Mole huts in Woody Woods that allow players to switch the signposts are now Monty Mole burrows from which Monty Moles emerge to talk directly to the player. Additionally, the bottom-left hut has been replaced by a unique Item Shop known as the Forest Shop.
 * The last place misfortunes also happen outside of the original Mario Party boards in this game, appearing in the board-end picture.
 * Game Guy Spaces are completely removed from Woody Woods.

Minigames

 * Characters vocalize more frequently in minigames.
 * Certain minigames now result in multiple victories instead of a draw if multiple characters survive.
 * As with Mario Party: The Top 100, minigames from Mario Party 3 no longer have flat aesthetics.
 * Many of the changes to returning minigames from The Top 100 remain.
 * Both the Mario Party 6 minigame What Goes Up... and the Mario Party 10 minigame Rapid River Race now have a record system, both of which were absent in their respective games.
 * Just like Hexagon Heat in The Top 100, the mushrooms in Mushroom Mix-Up have different patterns, possibly to help people with color blindness. The same was done to the blocks in both Mario's Puzzle Party and Block Star and the marbles in Stick and Spin.
 * In Cast Aways, the reeling time when the player does not catch anything is significantly faster.
 * Despite Crazy Cutters being based on its appearance in Mario Party, both Chain Chomp and Blooper appear as possible characters, both of which appear in the Mario Party 2 version. Additionally, it uses its name from Mario Party 2 rather than being named Crazy Cutter as in Mario Party.
 * The Chain Chomp fossil is no longer a straight circle.
 * Players who fall off the tower in Hammer Drop now lose all the coins they collected during the minigame.
 * The pictures that can be revealed in Tipsy Tourney are now of a Mushroom, Fire Flower, or Star, rather than just a coin.
 * Unlike previous versions of Piranha's Pursuit, as well as Parasol Plummet, the cloud the players stand on (Fwoosh in the latter) has no face.
 * As with The Final Battle! in The Top 100, any appearances of Koopa Kid in minigames from Mario Party 2 and 3 are replaced with Bowser Jr.
 * Unlike in Mario Party 2 or 3, it is not possible to play the item minigames in Free Play mode in Mt. Minigames, the game's minigame mode, and they do not have a dedicated rules/practice screen before starting the minigame. In addition, none of the item minigames' names are used in this game.
 * Unlike previous versions of Dizzy Dancing, the record spins clockwise instead of counterclockwise.
 * In the ice version of Bumper Balls, the frozen Fly Guy has been removed.
 * Hot Rope Jump can now end if two or more players reach 99 jumps. The endless version for both end after 9999 jumps, and has a record system that is initially set at 5 jumps.
 * In the Toad version of Roll Call, as well as Messy Memory, the Toads' vests are colored red instead of blue.
 * In Archer-ival, if the three player team wins, surviving players rise from behind the brick wall holding their respective panels to celebrate.
 * Also in Archer-ival, the solo player no longer receives extra coins from hitting the Goomba (which replaces Toad), Boo, or Bowser Jr. panels.
 * The players in Look Away now have their own portraits showing the top half of their bodies rather than being disembodied heads.
 * In Quicksand Cache, the three players now share the coins they collect, rather than each player keeping the coins they collect individually. This was changed to be consistent to later coin-collecting 1-vs-3 minigames in the series after Mario Party 2.
 * In Speed Hockey and Shell Soccer, a green shell is used instead of a red one.
 * In Balloon Burst, the time it takes to fully pump a single gust of air into the Bowser balloon is longer.
 * The pirate theming in Roll Out the Barrels and the space theming in Hammer Slammer are absent.
 * Players are stunned for a shorter time when hitting the mines in Cheep Cheep Chase.
 * The cylindrical path in Motor Rooter is now colored metallic grey instead of green.
 * The Piranha Plants in Winner's Wheel have been removed.
 * Bobbing Bow-loons is now played from the opposite side, with the player on the left side and the balloons on the right side.
 * In Swinging with Sharks, Bowser Jr. stands on a barrel instead of riding on a Sushi like Koopa Kid does.
 * The team tubes in Tube It or Lose It are all colored black, rather than being colored based on character in Mario Party 5 or player placement in Mario Party: The Top 100.
 * The minigames from Mario Party 9 and 10 use the same arrangement for their win theme, unlike The Top 100, which gave them separate arrangements.
 * Like in Mario Party: The Top 100, several minigame themes from Mario Party 3 now use their names from the unofficial translation used for the Mario Party 3 Original Soundtrack instead of their actual names from the game's North American and European localizations.
 * The song "Going for the Coins" from Mario Party 2 is referred to as "Take the Coin", and the song "Know What I Mean?" does not have the question mark in its name, both oddities that were also present in Mario Party: The Top 100.

Differences from other, previous games

 * Rolling two 7's no longer yields a larger coin bonus than rolling two of any other number.
 * After the star moves to a new location, the camera zooms out to show the full board.
 * If a board's background music is set to "Modern", a rearranged version of that board's music track plays during the last five turns.
 * During board events, players have the option to fast-forward the event's animations.
 * The coins earned from the minigame played on every 5th turn (except the last turn) are doubled.
 * Unlike Mario Party: The Top 100, minigames now retain their original intros and endings and music tracks (in the case of minigames that appeared in both the original Mario Party and Mario Party 2, the track of whichever version is used). Some minigames, however, have altered endings, most notably minigames from Mario Party 9 and 10, which now have traditional endings in the style of earlier games.
 * If the player chooses to skip the intro to certain minigames, the music starts at a different point in the song rather than from the beginning.
 * Like in Super Mario Party, practicing a minigame takes place on the instruction screen instead of players pressing a button to practice. Beginning a minigame requires each player to press the plus or minus button to confirm they are ready; as a result, players cannot exit out of the rules screen of a minigame without starting it and quitting.
 * In Minigame mode, the COM difficulty can be chosen at the instructions screen, or when viewing a summary of the minigame in Free Play, instead of having to return to the character selection screen to change COM difficulty levels. In exchange, players cannot set different levels for each COM player.

Awards and acknowledgements
Mario Party Superstars was nominated for Best Family game at The Game Awards 2021, though it lost to .

Sales
By December 31, 2022, the game had sold 9.38 million copies, making it the second best-selling Mario Party game (only exceeded by Super Mario Party).

Promotion
To promote the game, Nintendo collaborated with the  and produced two promotional commercials that featured them playing Mario Party Superstars. The Japanese Mario Party Superstars website also featured promotional images of the idol group playing the game.

Staff
The game's staff credits are displayed underneath a scrapbook that flips through pages depicting artwork and screenshot photos from the previous Mario Party games, with which the player can interact via a cursor. Interacting with the Boo in the Mario Party 5 section and Donkey Kong in the Mario Party 10 section makes their respective noises.

E3 demo

 * The characters' win animations were recycled from their 1st place animations from Mario Party 10 (Mario Party 9 in Birdo's case), which were also used as their win animations in Super Mario Party. In the final game, they receive new winning animations which replace the old ones, although their losing animations from 10 and Super are retained.
 * A lot of the details on Peach's Birthday Cake were not present in the demo, most notably a large portion of the arrow signs and arrow markings made of frosting on the ground.
 * When the camera zooms out to show the whole board when the star changed location, a star icon is shown where Toadette is. In the demo, the icon was teal-colored, while in the final game, it is black.
 * Stickers, when selected in-game, were much larger than in the final game.
 * Toad's name was not present on his textbox while he talks to the players in the E3 demo.
 * When certain characters talked, a small icon with their face is seen next to their textbox in the demo, which is absent from the final game.
 * On the Lucky Space's roulette wheel, the names of items were not colored yellow.
 * The banner that says, "You Got a Star!" when the player obtains a star has a different coloration in the demo than the final game.
 * On the map, the icons for NPC characters had a white background rather than a black background.
 * On Space Land, the Snifit's dialogue and dialogue options when the player passes it are different.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: The tiled floor in the minigame Squared Away is in the shape of Mario's 8-bit sprite from this game. Also, like in the original Mario Party, the Option House's music is an arrangement of the Underground Theme from this game.
 * Mario Party: Peach's Birthday Cake and Yoshi's Tropical Island return as boards and Koopa Troopa reprises his role as a host from this game. Several of the music tracks from this game are rearranged. Mushroom Village also returns (now renamed Village Square), once again acting as the main hub area for the game. 12 minigames return from this game. The die on the boxart has a 3, a 7, and a 10, referencing this game's boxart.
 * Mario Party 2: Space Land and Horror Land return as boards. 19 minigames return from this game. The Skeleton Key returns with its design from this game.
 * Mario Party 3: Woody Woods returns as a board. 24 minigames return from this game.
 * Mario Party 4: 8 minigames return from this game.
 * Mario Party 5: 10 minigames return from this game.
 * Mario Party 6: 12 minigames return from this game. Toad's artwork is an updated version of his artwork from this game.
 * Mario Party 7: 6 minigames return from this game. Toadette's artwork is an updated version of her artwork from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros.: Goomba's artwork is an updated version of its artwork from this game.
 * Mario Party 8: 2 minigames return from this game. Peach and Boo's artwork are updated versions of their artwork from this game.
 * DK: Jungle Climber: Donkey Kong's artwork is an updated version of his artwork from this game.
 * Super Mario series: The Warp Block acts similarly to and uses the same sound effects as a Warp Box.
 * Mario Party 9: 4 minigames return from this game. Birdo's 2nd and 4th place animations are reused as her "neutral" and losing animations respectively, and her artwork is reused from this game. Bowser and the Koopa Clown Car's artwork is an updated version of their artwork from the game's boxart.
 * New Super Mario Bros. U: Piranha Pods are used to spawn the Piranha Plants on Peach's Birthday Cake.
 * Mario Party: Island Tour: Yoshi's artwork is reused from this game.
 * Mario Kart 8: Just like Super Mario Party, several voice clips have been reused from this game, including some new voice clips.
 * Mario Party 10: 3 minigames return from this game. Rosalina's artwork is reused from this game. The characters' 4th place animations are reused as their losing animations, much like Super Mario Party, while their 2nd place animations are used as their "neutral" animation.
 * Mario Party: Star Rush: Mega Monty Mole's (now being used for normal Monty Moles) and King Boo's artwork is reused from this game. The Cursed Dice Block from this game returns as an item.
 * Mario Party: The Top 100: The concept of having 100 returning minigames is reused from this game, with 52 minigames returning. Some minigames that also appeared in this game retain their redesigns. The Chomp Call retains its design from this game. Wario's artwork is reused from this game.
 * Super Mario Party: This game's engine is reused. Most characters' animations are reused from this game. Toad and Toadette reprise their roles from this game. Kamek (albeit without the bow tie), Waluigi, Whomp and Bowser Jr.'s artwork are reused from this game.
 * Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit: Thwomp's artwork is reused from this game.

Trivia

 * Mario Party 7 is the only game to not have any music tracks in Mario Party Superstars that did not appear in The Top 100.
 * Mario Party Superstars has no music tracks from Mario Party 8, 9, or 10 in common with The Top 100.