Mario Party Superstars has recaptured the magic of classic Mario Party titles, and DLC boards would make the game even better. DLC for Mario spin-offs has become very common, with the recent Mario Sports titles serving as a good example of such. Mario Party Superstars could benefit greatly from some DLC of its own, especially with how much the series has to offer.
Mario Party Superstars is a game designed to bring many of the best parts of previous Mario Party titles together, and it has largely worked in that regard. The game features five very good boards from past games, as well as a collection of some if the best minigames the series has seen. Of course, when one sees a collection such as this, it is natural to speculate about what else deserves to be added, and murmurs that Mario Party Superstars DLC may be coming only intensifies those discussions.
While Mario Party Superstars DLC is still unconfirmed, the fact that the series has so many excellent boards means that the developers are spoiled for choice. Almost any combination of boards added to the game would be cause to celebrate among fans. However, there are a few in particular that stand out either for their uniqueness or sheer quality. These are the board that should be the first picks for potential Superstars DLC.
Mario Party 6’s Snowflake Lake Is A Unique Star-Stealing Experience
The format of Mario Party has remained unchanged for almost the series’ entire run. Players traverse a board in an attempt to track down Star Spaces and collect more stars than their opponents. However, one board in Mario Party 6 shook up this formula and used it to create a fun experience that could let players level up fast in Mario Party Superstars while employing an entirely new kind of strategy.
In Mario Party 6‘s Snowflake Lake, every player starts with 5 stars, and there are no Star Spaces on the board. Instead, players have to pay to ride Chain Chomps around the board, and use them to steal stars from opponents that they pass along the way. This drastic difference from normal gameplay requires players to balance offense and defense. The inner paths of the board are safe from Chain Chomps, but they also don’t have any chomps for the player to ride. Meanwhile, the board’s outer ring gives players the chance to ride chomps and potentially steal stars, but they have to open themselves up to attack in order to take this chance in the first place.
Snowflake Lake operates like no other Mario Party board before or since. Similar to Big Boo’s overpowered Mario Party star steal, the Chain Chomps can change the game in an instant. Snowflake Lake deserves a revival not only for its novelty, but because it can produce some of the wildest games of Mario Party possible.
Mario Party 3’s Waluigi’s Island Is A Board Full Of Chaos
Mario Party 3 is memorable for many reasons, one of which is being the first Mario Party to feature Daisy and Waluigi. Om particular, Waluigi is not only the main opponent of the final board in Story Mode, but he is the only character in MP3 to have a board named after him. As Mario Party 3‘s only unlockable board, Waluigi’s Island is worth the effort to discover. It may not feature the same kind of danger as Mario Party‘s Tug O’ War, but players will have plenty of hazards to deal with regardless.
There are several gimmicks on the board, many of which can drastically shift the balance of the game. There is a small circular island covered in dynamite that every player must visit after leaving the start space. Every Happening Space on that island lowers the countdown by one, and when it hits zero, every player in that circle loses all of their coins. Another notable twist is an island in the corner that changes all of its spaces to the same type aside from the Bank Space. This could be as innocuous as a circle of Blue or Red spaces, or as absurd as a long string of Bowser or Chance Spaces. If a player wants to go to the bank, they will have to contend with this gauntlet of randomness. Some Mario Party dice rolls may not matter, but every turn on Waluigi’s Island could be decisive.
Waluigi’s Island has other tricks as well, such as a potentially trapped path to Boo that can send players back to the start, and a roulette at the center of the board. It is one of the most chaotic boards in the series, and players will be on their toes whenever they play it. Waluigi’s Island would give Superstars a dramatic new option.
Mario Party 2’s Bowser Land Changes Typical Game Mechanics
In Mario Party 2, Bowser Land is unavailable at the start of the game. Once the player has played every other board at least once, they would be required to play Bowser Land the next time they played Party Mode, unlocking it for normal play afterwards. Bowser Land turns what players came to expect from the game on its head, and can make earning coins in Mario Party Superstars an adventure in its own right.
Normally, bank spaces in Mario Party take 5 coins from players who pass by, while paying all of those collected coins to a player who lands on the space. Bowser Land’s Bank works the opposite way, loaning 5 coins to players who pass by and forcing a player who lands on it to pay all of those coins back. The unfortunate player can even lose a star if they have no coins. Bowser Land’s item shops work differently as well, giving players a random item while taking more coins that it would normally be worth with the player having no choice in the matter. The most potentially devastating board even, however, is the Bowser Parade. Every five turns, every player in the parade’s path is sent back to start and loses 2 coins for every space they cross while doing so.
Mario Party Superstars‘ lack of unlockables is disappointing, but Bowser Land is the standard for what an unlockable board should be. The twists that it makes in the mechanics as well as the lethal Bowser Parade make it a worthy final challenge for players. If Mario Party Superstars is intended to be a collection of the best the series has to offer, then Bowser Land needs to be a part of it.
Arguments could probably be made for almost any board to join Mario Party Superstars. However, the boards listed here all have something special about them that more players should be able to experience, be it unique mechanics or frenetic gameplay. If Mario Party Superstars does use DLC to expand its selection of boards, these are the best options on offer.
