Mario Party Superstars

Mario Party Superstars is the second installment in the Mario Party series for the Nintendo Switch released on October 29, 2021, and is the twenty-fifth installment in the series overall. It is also the twelfth installment to be released on a home console. The game follows the same gameplay style as its predecessor Super Mario Party and earlier installments in the series. It features 100 minigames from past games in the series, similarly to 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 game published by Nintendo on one of their consoles to be officially localized in 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 will be 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, though character-specific Dice Blocks from Super Mario Party do not return. Items can be obtained from 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. Minigame Spaces are conceptually similar to VS Spaces from Super Mario Party, as 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. 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 will embark in a Duel Minigame, betting coins like in Mario Party 2 and Mario Party 3.

Like in Super Mario Party, practicing a minigame takes place on the instruction screen instead of players pressing a button to practice.

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
 * Warukio
 * Piranha Pods
 * Big 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.

Items

 * Mushroom - "+5 to dice roll, then move the total amount."
 * Skeleton Key - "Open a gate. Can only be used when you're next to a gate." (Shop price: 3 coins)
 * Warp Block - "Swap spaces with a random opponent." (Shop price: 7 coins)
 * Super Warp Block
 * Plunder Chest
 * Chomp Call - "Call Chain Chomps to move a Star." (Shop price: 7 coins)
 * Golden Pipe - "Warp next to a Star." (Shop price: 25 coins)
 * Custom Dice Block - "Roll whatever number you want from 1 to 10."
 * Cursed Dice Block - "Your die can roll only a number between 1 and 3."
 * Double Dice - "Roll 2 dice, then move the total amount." (Shop price: 5 coins)
 * Triple Dice - "Roll 3 dice, then move the total amount." (Shop price: 10 coins)
 * Item Bag
 * Boo Bell
 * Dueling Glove
 * Double Star Card
 * Hidden Block Card

Spaces

 * Start Space
 * Blue Space - "Get 3 coins." (Last 5 turns: "Get 6 coins.")
 * Red Space - "Lose 3 coins." (Last 5 turns: "Lose 6 coins.")
 * Bowser Space
 * Event Space - Space Land: "If you're facing down a speeding spaceship...run!"
 * Minigame Space
 * Lucky Space - "Spin the roulette wheel for a chance at items or coins!"
 * Item Space
 * Chance Time Space
 * Koopa Bank

Passing spaces

 * Gate - "A closed gate. It might open with a key."
 * Boo - "Get coins or Stars from your opponents."
 * Item Shop

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. Minigames in bold were previously featured in The Top 100. Minigames also retain their original 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), unlike in The Top 100, where several minigames featured different music tracks.

Mario Party

 * Mushroom Mix-Up
 * Cast Aways
 * Hammer Drop
 * Face Lift
 * Piranha's Pursuit
 * Bobsled Run
 * Tug o' War
 * Handcar Havoc
 * Tipsy Tourney
 * Shy Guy Says
 * Crazy Cutters
 * Bombs Away

Mario Party 2

 * Look Away
 * Quicksand Cache
 * Sneak 'n' Snore
 * Roll Call
 * Bowser's Big Blast
 * Cake Factory
 * Speed Hockey
 * Slot-Car Derby
 * Mecha Marathon
 * Balloon Burst
 * Tread Carefully (originally named "Shell Shocked")
 * Hot Rope Jump
 * Bumper Balls
 * Honeycomb Havoc
 * Bumper Balloon Cars
 * Sky Pilots
 * Dizzy Dancing
 * Archer-ival
 * Dungeon Dash

Item minigames

 * Roll Out the Barrels
 * Hammer Slammer

Mario Party 3

 * Rockin' Raceway
 * River Raiders
 * Storm Chasers
 * Puddle Paddle
 * Tidal Toss
 * Parasol Plummet
 * Etch 'n' Catch
 * Messy Memory
 * Ticktock Hop
 * Boulder Ball
 * Picking Panic
 * Vine with Me
 * Spotlight Swim
 * Ice Rink Risk
 * Hide and Sneak
 * Mario's Puzzle Party
 * Chip Shot Challenge
 * Cheep Cheep Chase
 * Coconut Conk
 * Bounce 'n' Trounce
 * Motor Rooter
 * Mush Pit
 * Eatsa Pizza
 * Snowball Summit

Item minigames

 * Bobbing Bow-loons
 * Swinging with Sharks
 * Winner's Wheel

Mario Party 4

 * Money Belts
 * Paths of Peril
 * GOOOOOOOAL!!
 * Trace Race
 * Beach Volley Folly
 * Booksquirm
 * Dungeon Duos
 * Revers-a-Bomb

Mario Party 5

 * Coney Island
 * Night Light Fright
 * Bill Blasters
 * Ice Hockey
 * Squared Away
 * Later Skater
 * Dinger Derby
 * Pushy Penguins
 * Leaf Leap
 * Tube It or Lose It

Mario Party 6

 * Burnstile
 * Rocky Road
 * Mass Meteor
 * Dark 'n Crispy
 * Trap Ease Artist
 * Cashapult
 * X-Ray Payday (originally named "Money Belt")
 * Block Star
 * Pit Boss
 * What Goes Up...
 * Catch You Letter
 * Snow Whirled

Mario Party 7

 * The Final Countdown
 * Stick and Spin
 * Spin Doctor
 * Pogo-a-Go-Go
 * Monty's Revenge
 * Pokey Pummel

Mario Party 8

 * Winner or Dinner
 * Paint Misbehavin'

Mario Party 9

 * Goomba Spotting
 * Tackle Takedown
 * Manor of Escape
 * Shell Soccer

Mario Party 10

 * Skewer Scurry
 * Flash Forward
 * Rapid River Race

Boards

 * Unlike in Mario Party 2 or 3, if a player does not have a Skeleton Key when they reach a junction with a gate, then they do not get to choose which path to take.
 * 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 weren't 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.
 * In the original Mario Party boards, Bowser can now give a Cursed Dice Block for an expensive price when players pass him instead of a dud item.
 * There are now item shops in the original Mario Party boards and more than one item shop in the Mario Party 2 boards.
 * 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.
 * 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-stealing or star-stealing Piranha Plant instead of being limited to a star-stealing one.
 * Koopa Kid no longer appears in the Mario Party 2 boards.
 * Actual Snifits run the Snifit Police stations in Space Land instead of Snufits.
 * King Boo replaces the Big Boo in Horror Land.
 * The Koopa Bank west of the board in Woody Woods has been moved to the top.
 * 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 that allowed players to switch the signposts have now been replaced with Monty Mole holes that allow players to directly talk to the Monty Mole.

Minigames

 * Characters vocalize more frequently in minigames.
 * Certain minigames now result in multiple victories instead of a draw if multiple characters survive.
 * Minigames from Mario Party 3 no longer have flat aesthetics.
 * Many of the changes to returning minigames from The Top 100 remain.
 * Just like Hexagon Heat in The Top 100, the mushrooms in Mushroom Mix-Up have different patterns, possibly to help people with color blindness.
 * As with The Final Battle! in The Top 100, the Koopa Kids in the item minigames from Mario Party 2 and 3 are replaced by Bowser Jr.
 * In Archer-ival, if the three player team wins, surviving players will pop from behind the brick wall holding their respective panels to celebrate.
 * In Balloon Burst, the time it takes to fully pump a single gust of air into the Bowser balloon is slower.
 * The pirate theming in Roll Out the Barrels and the space theming in Hammer Slammer are absent.
 * 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.

Differences from previous installments

 * Rolling multiple 7's no longer yields a larger coin bonus than rolling multiple of any other number.
 * A rearranged version of the board's music track plays during the last five turns.
 * During board events, players have the option to fast-forward the event's animations.
 * Unlike Mario Party: The Top 100, minigames now retain their original intros and endings and soundtracks. 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.

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.

References to other games

 * 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 his 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 are 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.