Super Mario Party from 2018 became an unexpected hit with my niece and nephew, and, if I came around with it not loaded on my Nintendo Switch, there were a pair of sad faces looking back at me.

This makes Mario Party Superstars a bit of an odd duck as it’s billed as the return of many classic boards and minigames from past Mario Party titles. While that’s great for people my age who were alive when those games came out, it means very little for the younger kids who just want to play a digital boardgame.

So what did this new generation think of Mario Party Superstars? Well they liked it and after spending many hours across several full games competing over stars, a fun time was had by all, but it still hasn’t dethroned the game from 2018.

Let’s start with what they liked. Everyone using the same dice is the first aspect they picked up on. Back in the 2018 game each character had a different kind of dice block that could drastically change how that character played.

There are many tier lists and strategy guides about which die, and thus which character, is better, but metagaming Mario Party is something that just feels wrong.

It’s like playing as the bank in Monopoly and stealing when no one is looking. Sure you’ll probably win, but congratulations, you ruined family game night and you have nothing to show for it.

All characters starting on equal footing means two good things: the kids can choose their character based on their favourite, and games can start faster without agonising over dice.

The minigames were a bit divisive this time around. The kids reported that they enjoyed that these games seemed to be on the simpler side, usually requiring mostly the analogue stick to play.

From an older perspective, backed up by other older players I had also test the game with me, these felt less engaging than those from the 2018 game.

But because we’re focusing on younger players here, I also heard complaints from the kids that some games were needlessly complex and long. I’ve never heard these two complain more than when the minigame Dungeon Dash came up for the second time.

Another win here is the sticker system. While not in minigames players can activate stickers on the screen that are comprised of a small character illustration, a text message, and an associated sound effect.

We quickly gravitated the to “Miss!” sticker featuring Bowser you can see in the header image above. Whenever someone was taking their turn the other players would absolutely spam this sticker to try and throw that player off their game.

Is it BM? Absolutely. Is it childish and something I encouraged and participated in with my niece and nephew? Of course. Did some players actually make a mistake because of the distraction caused by the stickers? Yes and it was hilarious.

Aside from telling a player to Miss! something important, the Bowser grunt that accompanies this sticker is funny in its own right.

Outside of mind games the stickers also give players something to do when it isn’t their turn, so it’s a nice inclusion.

So with all of this in mind why did the kids end up preferring the older game? When asked I got the classic kid response of a roll of the shoulders and “I don’t know”.

I tried to press for details, but they simply said to me that the 2018 version was “more fun”.

Some combination of the boards and minigames seems to resonate with the kids when looking at the other title. Does this mean that Mario Party Superstars is a dud for a family game and younger audiences? Absolutely not. Anyone getting this game for the holiday season will have a blast, especially if (pandemic willing) family are over to play it.

Super Mario Party simply edges it out by a slim margin and this result simply means that there are two very fun Mario party games available for the Nintendo Switch right now.