Rolling big or little can make all the difference, and now there’s something (in addition to items) to help you even the odds. This makes for an extra layer of strategy I really enjoyed. You can freely switch between a regular dice block, your character’s special block, and your Allies’. Each character (including yours) has a different-numbered block: Mario’s gives you more chances at 3s (The faces read: 1 3 3 3 5 6), while Wario’s can give you a 6 two-thirds of the time - but the other third of the time you might not move at all (The faces read: -2 Coins +2 Coins 6 6 6 6). The third big advantage Allies give you is a unique dice block to roll. It’s great when you win, but nothing hurts worse than losing to your human opponent’s mindless drones. In some games they row alongside you on a boat, or linger just long enough after you get knocked out of a violent clash to clinch a victory. Yes, they get in the way with their crappy AI, but that can potentially help you overwhelm an opponent. Second, the Allies appear in some minigames, too. This has three big advantages that really change the way you play: First, for each Ally you get bonuses for your dice roll.

Because I also run the strategy guide team here at IGN, I’m going to give you a great tip: recruitable Allies are incredibly important in Super Mario Party. There are also only four to choose from, which means if you don’t like one or two (I found the unlockable board, which I won’t spoil here, to be pretty dull) Parties will get stale fast. The boards are fun, but still simpler than those of the best Mario Parties ( 5 and 6, for my money).

The boards are also less linear than before, with branching paths and an ever-changing end goal as the star space moves around. This is not how Mario Party 10 worked: It significantly limited minigames to spaces you had to land on. As you make your way towards spots to purchase stars, the currency of winners in Mario Party, you thankfully end each turn with a minigame. (There’s an option to play with computer-controlled opponents, but I don’t recommend playing by yourself.) The main Mario Party mode has one to four players rolling dice and moving around four board game-like levels with branching paths. There’s a lot of filler there, too – I would have preferred more focus on the core modes – but there’s enough here to support up to four partiers having a lot of good fun. Party ModeSuper Mario Party is a collection of hit-or-miss virtual board games, broken up by competitive minigames – a few of which are worth your time.

Mario party switch controllers