Super Mario Party Jamboree is set to be not only the next-best Mario Party game, but also a bonafide Nintendo Switch classic and a good reason to pick up the console, even in its final days. This is, in large part, thanks to its wealth of content, which the previous Nintendo Switch Mario Party games have been sorely lacking. However, while Jamboree can rest on its laurels for the time being, it still has a lot of room to grow, and a few lessons it can learn along the way.

One of the best parts of Super Mario Party Jamboree is just how much there is to do, with over 100 minigames, seven different boards, and a bunch of modes to play through. However, the biggest issue with Mario Party is that, like even the best board games, it eventually grows stale. Fortunately, most board games mitigate this by releasing expansions, but Mario Party on the Nintendo Switch never has. It's a baffling move, and an issue it greatly needs to correct, especially when its cousin, Mario Kart, has proven how effective DLC can be.

Mario Kart's DLC Releases Have Been Close To Perfect

Perfectly Priced And Packaged

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe launched at the start of the Switch's lifespan, and somehow managed to be a bestseller throughout it. However, Nintendo wasn't done with simply porting the WiiU classic and calling it a day, as it announced the Booster Course DLC in 2022. This didn't just add a handful of tracks and some new characters. Instead, the DLC doubled the track list, adding a whopping 48 new tracks and eight new characters to the already stuffed game. Some of the new Mario Kart 8 Booster Course maps were remakes of old courses, and a handful were brand-new.

This is already pretty ridiculous value as it's essentially a whole other Mario Kart game but bundled in with the already existing and practically perfect entry. However, what made it even more enticing was its extremely low price point, costing only $24.99 for the entire DLC. Naturally, this was a huge success and is likely a big contributor to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continuing to sell well on the Nintendo Switch so many years later. However, what also made this package appealing was how it slowly drip-fed players new maps over the course of a year or so.

The first wave of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course DLC was released on March 18, 2022, with the final wave dropping on November 9, 2023. Each pack was released a few months apart across this entire period, for a total of six waves.

This approach meant that players not only had new Mario Kart content to look forward to but could also speculate on which new maps or characters were coming, helping to build hype. It made the DLC feel more like an event, clearly taking inspiration from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's approach to its fighter packs. So, it's baffling then that both Smash and Mario Kart have managed to pull this off incredibly successfully, yet Mario Party has failed to grasp it.

Mario Party Has A DLC Lesson To Learn

It Needs To Release More Maps Not More Games

Nintendo's current business model with all the Switch Mario Party games has been to release a base game with just a handful of maps and then completely abandon it before moving on to the next one. While the Switch has only had one Mario Kart and one Smash, it has had three different Mario Party games, all roughly offering the same experience just with different minigames and boards. What was stopping Nintendo from simply releasing these boards and minigames as DLC, like Mario Kart 8 did, especially when the foundation of Superstars was so good?

Well, the answer to that is clearly money, as selling brand-new Mario Party games at $60 a pop instead of DLC at $25 is a lot more profitable for them, despite being less consumer-friendly. Unfortunately, it's gotten away with it too, as each of the Mario Party games has clearly sold well enough for Nintendo to justify making even more. However, while it may have made them more money in the long run, the individual sales of each game will eventually trickle away as newer and better games are released.

Selling brand-new Mario Party games at $60 a pop instead of DLC at $25 is a lot more profitable for them, despite being less consumer-friendly.

There's really no reason to return to the original Super Mario Party on the Switch, or even the far superior Superstars, now that Jamboree is out. Sure, they offer different maps, modes, and minigames, but when the experience is so different - such as Super Mario Party's stars only being worth 10 coins - it can make playing them feel frustrating and odd. It also requires an upfront cost of $180 - at least at full price - to get all three, and Nintendo rarely puts its games lower than 33% off, if ever at all.

Mario Party Has A Lot Of Room To Expand

Plenty Of New & Old Ideas To Draw From

Frustratingly, there are so many ways that DLC could greatly benefit a Mario Party game, especially those on the Nintendo Switch, including the aforementioned modes, maps, and minigames. Adding more maps to a Mario Party game feels like the bare minimum, as it helps to shake things up and give players new challenges to look forward to. That's not to say that Super Mario Party Jamboree's maps aren't already amazing, but more of them spread out across a year or so would give players a reason to come back and keep investing in the game.

Of course, adding more minigames makes sense too, as even switching up the maps for a bit of flavor doesn't quite shake up the Mario Party experience when players are confronted with the same minigames on repeat. It ends up feeling like there are only ten minigames, even though each of the modern Mario Party games has shipped with around 100. Adding in a new map and around 10 or so minigames per "wave" of the DLC across a handful of waves would be a significant boost to the game's longevity, much like how it was for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Adding in a new map and around 10 or so minigames per "wave" of the DLC across a handful of waves would be a significant boost to the game's longevity.

There are plenty of amazing maps Super Mario Party Jamboree could take from too, with fans calling for all kinds of maps to be remade. Jamboree even has two map remakes in its launch-day lineup, and Superstars' entire map lineup was just remakes. It is incredibly odd that Nintendo hasn't already offered DLC that's entirely repackaging old content for a huge markup. It's Nintendo's bread and butter.

Ultimately, if Nintendo wants its Mario Party games to mean more than a handful of hours at launch and occasionally being whipped out at parties when the mood drops, it should release some DLC like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate did. Releasing new maps and minigames across a lengthy period to sustain interest just makes sense, especially for a game like Mario Party. Luckily, Super Mario Party Jamboree is a great game regardless, but DLC would easily make it the very best Mario Party game of all time.

Source: YouTube/Nintendo