Super Mario Party Just Received Its First Update In Years And It's Huge
Super Mario Party has got to be one of the strangest games on Nintendo Switch. The game originally released in 2018, and though it was a fun enough experience when played with friends, Super Mario Party felt a little underwhelming on the content front and seemed ripe to receive new content as DLC or through post-launch updates. Unfortunately, we didn't get anything in the way of post-launch content, with Nintendo launching a single, small update for Super Mario Party five months after it launched.That led some of us to assume that Super Mario Party was probably considered finished over at Nintendo HQ, dashing our hopes for any new content. For better or worse, Nintendo is a company that can be full of surprises, and today, it's proving that by shipping a new update for Super Mario Party years after the game released.
The update is pretty substantial too, as it adds online play to a variety of modes. According to Nintendo's patch notes, the version 1.1.0 update shipping out today adds online play to the standard Mario Party mode along with the Partner Party and Free Play (Minigames) modes. When I reviewed the game back in 2018, the fact that online play was so limited was definitely a negative, so it's nice to see that issue finally being rectified even if it is years after the fact.
You'll have two options for playing online – you can either join up with friends through Friends Match, or you can join Private Games that use passwords. Super Mario Party online multiplayer supports 1 or 2 players per system and lets you play all 20 characters and all maps. You'll only be able to play 70 of Super Mario Party's 80 minigames online, though, as Strike It Rich, Time to Shine, Take a Stab, All-Star Swingers, Rhythm and Bruise, Pep Rally, Wiped Out, Fiddler on the Hood, Clearing the Table, and Baton and On won't be available.
One thing to note is that play data won't be saved when you're playing over the internet, so if you're going to dive into a standard Mario Party match online, you'll want to finish it in one go. You'll also need an active subscription to Nintendo Switch Online to play online, which is little surprise. Beyond those caveats, though, this online implementation seems pretty straightforward, so give the update a download and a take it for a spin.