Two Mario Party games, one right answer for your group.
By Stephen V., Founder & Editor · Last updated August 11, 2026 · How we pick
Both Mario Party games side by side, with live Amazon prices. The full breakdown is below.
| # | Game | Best for | Crossplay | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Super Mario Party Jamboree Party board game | A group of four that wants a full board-game-plus-minigames night. | No - Switch only | Check price |
| 2 |  Mario Party Superstars Party board game | Four players who want classic N64 boards, including online. | No - Switch only | Check price |
Buy Super Mario Party Jamboree if your four are on one sofa. It is the newer and larger package - the biggest board and minigame collection in the series - and some modes stretch well beyond four players, which matters when a fifth person turns up.
Buy Mario Party Superstars if your group plays apart. Its whole pitch is remastered classic N64 boards plus a strong online implementation, which makes it the better pick for four friends in four houses who all own a Switch.
Both are Switch-only and both need four people who are prepared to commit a real chunk of an evening. If either of those is not true, read the alternatives at the bottom of this page before spending anything.
This is the thing to settle first, because it catches groups out. A full board is not a fifteen-minute activity - depending on the turn count you choose, expect somewhere between an hour and two hours for one board with four players.
That is a commitment, and it is why we put Mario Kart above Mario Party for a casual evening in Mario Kart 8 vs Mario Party Jamboree. Both Mario Party games let you shorten a board, and both are much better when everyone has agreed in advance how long they are playing for.
Jamboree brings the larger and more modern set, with a bigger minigame collection and more modes around the edges of the main board game. It is the one to buy if you want the most content in the box.
Superstars is a curated greatest-hits: remastered boards from the N64 era and a hundred minigames drawn from across the series. It is smaller and more focused, and for anyone who played Mario Party in the nineties it lands very differently.
Superstars was built with online play as a headline feature, and it remains the better experience for a group of four who are not in the same room. Jamboree has online modes too, but its strongest material is the local, everyone-round-the-television experience.
Either way, online play needs Nintendo's subscription and everyone needs their own Switch and copy - there is no crossplay and no one-copy route. If that is a barrier, our one-copy games guide covers the games that do let a group share a single purchase.
One to skip
Skip both if your group has a short attention span for board games.Mario Party's minigames are excellent and the board layer between them is slow by design - dice, turns, stars, and a lot of watching other people move. A group that wants constant action will be checking phones by the third turn. If that is your crew, buy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Overcooked instead and keep everyone playing rather than waiting.
Best for: A group of four that wants a full board-game-plus-minigames night.
1-4 local, up to 20 in some modes · Party board game
The newest Mario Party with the biggest board and minigame set yet - a full evening's entertainment for four on one Switch. Some modes stretch to twenty players. Switch-only; expect a couple hours per board.
Facts verified via Nintendo store page.
Also a top pick in Party and Large Groups.
Best for: Four players who want classic N64 boards, including online.
1-4 local + online · Party board game
The nostalgia pick - remastered classic boards and 100 minigames, and unlike some Mario Party entries it supports online play well. Great if your four are split across houses but all on Switch.
Facts verified via Nintendo store page.
Also a top pick in Mario Kart vs Mario Party.
Four people on one sofa, one Switch. Jamboree. More content, more modes, and headroom if extra people arrive.
Four friends in four houses. Superstars. The online implementation is the reason it exists.
A nostalgic group in their thirties. Superstars. The N64 boards are the entire pitch and they land.
Families with younger players.Either works - both are gentle and luck-heavy - but Jamboree's larger minigame set holds up better over repeat evenings. See games to play with family.
A group that has never played Mario Party. Jamboree, because it is the current one and the one your friends are most likely to already have.
Mario Party is deliberately unfair. Stars move, bonus stars are awarded at the end for things nobody was tracking, and a player who did badly all game can win on the final turn. Experienced players find this either the best or the worst thing about the series.
For a mixed group it is genuinely valuable: it means the person who plays a lot does not automatically win, and everybody stays in it until the end. That is the same design logic that makes Mario Kart such a reliable party game, and it is why both outperform technically better games at an actual party. If your group wants skill to decide things, look at Smash Bros. instead.
Four players means four controllers, and a Switch ships with two. Both games are playable on a single Joy-Con each, so a spare pair covers a full table - but factor that cost in, because it can approach the price of the game.
Some Mario Party modes use motion controls, which is worth knowing if anyone in the group has limited space or would rather not be waving a controller around after dinner.
Jamboree is the newer game and therefore usually the pricier of the two; Superstars is older and discounts more often. Neither has meaningful in-game purchases, and both are complete in the box. Live prices for both listings sit in the table above and refresh daily - if you are not in a hurry, waiting for a sale on either is a reasonable strategy.
If you are buying it as a present, Jamboree is the safer gift because it is the current release and less likely to already be owned. Our gift guide covers the wider question of what to buy a gamer friend.
Jamboree is the better party game and Superstars is the better long-distance game. If your four are in one room, buy Jamboree and enjoy the largest package in the series. If your four are in different houses and all own a Switch, buy Superstars for the online. And if two hours per board sounds like too much, buy neither and read the party hub for shorter alternatives.
The Switch game-night question, settled.
Grab the Joy-Cons. The best Switch group games.
A room full of people and one screen. Make it loud.
Exactly four of you? These are built for it.
Jamboree if your group plays in the same room - it is the newer, larger package with the biggest board and minigame set. Superstars if your friends play from different houses, because its online implementation is the stronger of the two.
Between roughly one and two hours with four players, depending on the turn count you set. Both games let you shorten a board, and agreeing the length in advance is the single best thing a group can do.
Yes, in both games, though Superstars was built around online play and handles it better. Everyone needs their own Switch, their own copy, and a Nintendo Switch Online membership - there is no crossplay.
Four is the standard for a board game in both. Super Mario Party Jamboree stretches to a larger number of players in some of its side modes.
Both are luck-heavy and gentle enough for mixed ages. Jamboree's larger minigame collection holds up better over repeated family evenings, so it is the better long-term buy.
Not really. The board layer is slow by design and a full game runs to an hour or two. For a short session with the same group, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Overcooked keeps everyone playing instead of waiting.