#EGX2018 Hands-On: Super Mario Party Preview
In total I got to play five mini-games for Super Mario Party. I was teamed up with my 7 year old son and we were against two other random players that were also in line to play the game. The first of the mini-games that I played involved the four of us being in a sprint race to finish first. It was quite a simple process, with the use of the analogue stick, you start from the bottom of the screen and the first to the top wins. However, there were obstacles in the way such as long grass and puddles to slow you down, but you could counter them by running over a speed boost. At first, this mini-game looked way to simple for my liking, but as soon as the start counter reaches 0, you get an overwhelming competitive urge, especially with other humans players by your side.
The second mini-game that we played was oddly my favourite, which included frying steak cube in a frying pan. The steak cube would be dropped in the frying pan and you would use the motion controls to flip the steak to ensure that you cooked all sides of the cube. When one side was cooked, the Joy-Con would rumble, which would then require you to then flick the controller in the required direction in an attempt to land on the uncooked side. However, you had to make sure that your steak cube didn’t fall out of the frying pan while flipping, because you would have to start again. The first player to cook all sides of the cube wins.
The third mini-game that we played was the four of us competing on a track using comically undersized bicycles. While the track was short, due to the tiny peddle wheels, you would cover the distance very slowly, which only added to the humour, especially when playing as the large Bowser. You would peddle on the bike by holding the Joy-Con in a flat position and rotating each end of the controller in a circular motion. The faster you rotate the controller, the faster that your character would peddle. I struggled with this game being in a standing position on crutches, but when playing on the couch against family and friends, this should be a very fun mini-game indeed.
For our fourth mini-game, we would play another sprint race, this time it was from left to right, rather than from bottom to top like the first race. However in this race you had hazards chasing you from behind and if they caught you, your character would be eliminated. To throw another spanner into the works, the further you were in the lead, the less of the screen you would see ahead. This made it a little extra challenging as you try to manourve through its weaving, in its Chicane-like track, but it was fun.
The fifth and final mini-game involved the four of us being in a small square shaped pitch while trying to avoid on-coming Chargin’ Chucks from all angles. We all had three lives each, but if you got hit by a Chargin’ Chuck, you would lose a life and if you lose them all, you’re eliminated from the game. The longer you survived, the more Chargin’ Chucks would appear, seemingly at a greater pace with the difficulty increasing the longer you survived. Once all the mini-games were finished, your scores are totalled-up to see who finished in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place.
All in all, Super Mario Party was more fun than expected, even though I was quite uncomfortable in a standing position on crutches. So I can only assume that I’ll enjoy the game even more in the comfort of my own home playing against family and friends. In the full release, there will be a total of 80 mini-games to play, which includes for local, online and singleplayer modes.
Super Mario Party will release for Nintendo Switch on October 5th.