With its motion-sensing Joy-Con controllers and hybrid portable/fixed-console nature, Nintendo's Switch might just be the best party-gaming device ever devised. So it makes perfectly good sense that the Japanese company would bring Mario Party , its long-running party-game franchise to the Switch.

delivers the couch multiplayer experience the series is famous for with an awesome new layer of strategy, 80 mostly-great minigames, and the quirky tech of the Switch controllers to keep things feeling fresh.

is synonymous with strange burns in the centre of our palms and broken three-pronged controllers. Many hours were spent on the original N64 for versions of these games, often with friends or siblings.

Super Mario Party was an inevitable title for the Nintendo Switch. Since its inception on the Nintendo 64, the Mario Party series has been on every single Nintendo console and handheld ever since. It has even made appearances in Japanese arcades thanks to Capcom.

Wayne's World

Gloriously colourful; Plenty for all to do; Frantic friendly fun

Open boards feel unfair; Some duff minigames

Mario Party has never felt so at home on the Nintendo Switch

I'm currently unbeaten at Super Mario Party's titular mode. That isn't to say I'm particularly good at the Mario Party mode, which is ostensibly the title's main attraction. Mario Party sees you and three friends (or a combination of friends and AI players) stomping around a game board with the aim...

Shy Guy is great; Genuinely quite funny; Tons of content

It's a collection of minigames, so if you hate minigames.., Like, it's just minigames; That's it

Nintendo has done an impressive job with Super Mario Party[...] it is truly a fantastic multiplayer game. Super Mario Party , as Birdo will tell you, is the 11th instalment of partying plumbers.

Wide variety of modes; Fantastic multiplayer experience; Toad's Rec Room is a great technological showcase

Lack of boards; Repetitive cut scenes

When he's not trying to save the Mushroom Kingdom or taking part in any number of sports, Mario is either found smashing or partying. In 2018 he's partying first, smashing later, but can Super Mario Party be the fresh start that the series has needed for far too long

Returns to classic style Mario Party boards; Character dice add strategy and risk; Experimental Toad's Rec Room minigames; Magical HD Rumble tune

Only four main boards; Not enough minigames for some modes; No handheld solo play; Only minigames when online

Super Mario Party is what you'd expect from the series - short bursts of fun that everyone can enjoy