I’ve played over 120 hours of Super Mario Party Jamboree since I reviewed it on Nintendo Switch last October. I loved it from the jump – giving it a 9 in my original review – and it’s continued to be a top choice on game nights with family and friends. So I was thrilled when Nintendo revealed that this would be one of the first Switch 1 games to get a Switch 2 expansion, thinking an upgraded version with great mouse control minigames and interesting new ways to party would be a total slam dunk. Unfortunately, Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV is just as sloppy as its overly wordy title, with a handful of problems stemming from the frustrating decision to completely separate its new and old content. The fantastic base game is still hidden underneath a pile of annoying choices, but it’s tough to recommend the Switch 2 Edition as the clear, definitive version of the best Mario Party there’s ever been.
Before I get into the major differences between Jamboree on Switch 1 and Switch 2, I highly recommend you check out my original review from last year if you’re looking for in-depth thoughts on the base game, because it all holds true. Super Mario Party Jamboree itself is still an amazing time, with fantastic boards and items that emphasize strategy more than ever before, a great selection of minigames that features returning classics and new favorites, and a gorgeous presentation and attention to detail that elevate the whole package. I’ve been playing Mario Party pretty much my entire life, and now that I’ve had it for almost a year, I can definitively say that Jamboree is my favorite entry in the series. If you don’t own it at all, I can’t recommend the Switch 1 version enough.
However, with that all said, that doesn’t mean the Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV is worth the upgrade. This new version is essentially an entirely unaltered port of the Switch 1 release with the Jamboree TV expansion glued on. When you first boot it up, the menu will look familiar to anyone who’s played Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury: You select between Super Mario Party Jamboree (complete with a Switch 1 icon in the top left, indicating this is just the old game and nothing more, not even a resolution bump) and Jamboree TV, which displays a Switch 2 icon and actually makes use of the new tech. The difference between this and 3D World’s expanded version, however, is that 3D World and Bowser’s Fury are wholly unique games that make sense to separate, while these two share a majority of their content but differ in strange, limiting ways.
Mouse, Camera, Action!
Jamboree TV is where all of the new minigames and modes that take advantage of the Switch 2’s hardware live. The clear highlight is the set of 14 new minigames that use the Joy-Con 2’s mouse controls. Switch 2’s mouse controls may not be comfortable for extended periods of time, but they work super well in the context of a 45-second Mario Party minigame, and I was surprised by how much I loved the entire lineup. Highlights include Stuffie Stacker, where you work with a partner to build the tallest tower possible out of blocks and Yoshi plushies, and the chaotic Goomba Scoopas, where you drive a snow plow to frantically shove piles of Goombas into your team’s gate. Playing with mouse controls means everyone has to use a single Switch 2 Joy-Con instead of a pair or a Pro Controller, but with the improved, larger design over the original Joy-Con, it feels like less of a concession and more of a legitimate option this time. Every mouse minigame is 2v2, which adds a ton of variety to the lineup of team games that appear in Mario Party mode.
Speaking of which, Jamboree TV adds two great rulesets to try out alongside the original that put fun spins on the classic dice-rolling action. The first is Tag-Team Rules, which pits two teams of two against each other. Every player still takes their own turn, but each pair shares the same pool of stars, coins, and items, so you need to work together on every decision to come out on top. It’s a fun way to shake up the traditional format and it builds even further upon the strategic foundation of the base game.
I also love the new Frenzy Rules as a fast-paced way to fit a whole game of Mario Party in without it taking upwards of 90 minutes. Frenzy games only last five turns – or roughly 30 minutes – and each player starts out with 50 coins, a Double Dice, and even a star. Every roll and minigame feels crucial when you only have five turns to set yourself apart from the pack, and this is an exciting mode I never knew I wanted.
Unfortunately, it’s a shame Jamboree TV doesn’t add any new boards to the mix, instead focusing on side modes that are pretty forgettable. Carnival Coaster is a cooperative mode where you use mouse controls in an on-rails shooter, completing team minigames as you go to add more time to the clock. I play Mario Party to compete, not cooperate, and it starts to feel repetitive after just a couple of runs.
Meanwhile, Bowser Live uses the Switch 2’s built-in microphone and optional camera in an attempt to put you into the game. You enter Bowser’s lair and pop out of a warp pipe and – if you have a camera plugged in – see a live image of yourself. You then compete in completely controller-free minigames where you stack Goombas on your head or just literally scream into the microphone as loud as you can to score points.
We’ve known since the days of WarioWare: Snapped! that minigames control better with an actual controller than with a camera or microphone, and Bowser Live doesn’t do anything to change that truth. A microphone minigame where you clap to the beat, for example, is so much less precise than the Donkey Konga minigame where you do the same thing but with actual buttons. As a result, the appeal wears off after just a couple of minutes, and at my most cynical, it feels like a tacked-on mode designed to sell Switch 2 cameras and nothing more.
Jamboree TV in general makes use of the Switch 2’s ability to use a camera, as live feeds of you and your friends’ faces are visible throughout the party – although you don’t need a camera to access these modes and can play everything but Bowser Live without missing out on any content. I guess it’s a nice novelty and kids might like seeing themselves or their parents on the TV, but it’s not something I ever see myself using outside of testing it for this review.
A Tale of Two Parties
Even though some of the new content is worthwhile, things get really frustrating when you consider how Jamboree and Jamboree TV split up their content. As I mentioned, the Jamboree side of the fence is a straight port of the Switch 1 game, which means there’s no mouse control minigames, camera functionality, or option to do the Frenzy and Tag-Team Rules. That wouldn’t be a problem if the Jamboree TV side of things was an outright replacement and included everything Jamboree has to offer, but it’s inexplicably missing a ton of content from the Switch 1 side.
Jamboree TV completely lacks Pro Rules, which was one of Jamboree’s best additions. It reduces luck and focuses on strategy, and I praised it in my original review. Here, it’s only available on the Switch 1 side, and so are all of Jamboree’s original side modes – that’s Koopathlon, Bowser Kaboom Squad, Paratroopa Flight School, Toad’s Item Factory, Rhythm Kitchen, the single-player campaign Party Planning Trek, and every mode in Minigame Bay besides Free Play.
More importantly, Jamboree TV lacks all of Jamboree’s achievements, customization, and unlockables. In the Switch 1 version, you have to earn Party Points to buy additional stickers and finish achievements to unlock three of the boards, but Jamboree TV just gives you everything right from the start, taking away the fun sense of progression and incentive to play single-player that I really valued. It also means if you’re buying this new on Switch 2, you’ll have everything unlocked in Jamboree TV, but nothing unlocked in Jamboree, which is just odd.
What’s stranger is that these two sides don’t talk to each other whatsoever: If you’re playing Jamboree TV and do something that would normally earn you an achievement over in Jamboree, nothing happens and the Switch 1 version doesn’t recognize it at all when you return there until you do it again.
Another example is minigame records. My group and I love to chase high scores in minigames – whether in Free Play or during a Mario Party game itself – but Jamboree TV doesn’t track records at all. Did you get a new crazy high score on the button-mashing Domination? Switch 1 Jamboree will congratulate you with the iconic “New Record!” sound effect and display that score until someone else beats it, while Switch 2’s Jamboree TV won’t track it anywhere.
Even worse, the Switch 1 side didn’t receive any performance or resolution updates to take advantage of the new hardware. Jamboree TV runs in 1440p docked, but Jamboree is 1080p docked and still a noticeable 720p handheld, which was the maximum resolution of the Switch 1 screen. Nintendo is charging $80 for the Switch 2 Edition at launch, when more than half of it is quite literally an unchanged Switch 1 game. And while it’s only $20 for the upgrade if you already own it, I’m still not sure that’s worth the compromised way this expansion works.
Do you want to play Pro Rules with the enhanced resolution? It’s simply not possible. How about include the mouse control minigames while still working toward achievements? You can’t do that, either. It also takes so long to swap between the two versions that you’re better off just closing the software altogether and rebooting: the staff credits roll every time you leave TV, but at least they’re skippable. One of my favorite things about Jamboree is how many choices it gives you to make your Mario Party experience exactly what you want it to be, but Jamboree + Jamboree TV has entirely lost that graceful design just nine months later unless you only stick to the unaltered base game, which defeats the entire purpose of upgrading.
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