Superstars is definitely a good step up for the series, and I think the praise for this game was warranted for that, but I still think it's a somewhat underwhelming game, especially when we haven't had a truly great Mario Party game in over ten years.
For some things I think are solid in this game, the minigames are a pretty solid collection of classics and the items that are in this game are pretty good, not the best in the series but definitely have potential for strategic plays. Mechanically this game is pretty simple but ultimately solid, which is great. Other games in the series like 1 or 4 are held back on every board due to crappy mechanics so having that alone helps Superstars out a lot, so keep that in mind no matter how much I dump on it from here on out. I also wanna give this game credit for allowing a lot of customization, like adding turns midgame or FINALLY giving you the choice to choose your bonus stars. Took them long enough, but these are great decisions. I don't think you can turn players into AI and vice versa anymore though which is weird, it's been in since Mario Party 1 and it makes playing long games way easier.
There's three main issues I have with Superstars. First, they removed Shy Guy from the playable roster. Pretty cringe. Aside from that, I mainly dislike the economy and boards. Everything in this game is super cheap. Banks take less money now, most items are really cheap, battles take less coins, and certain shops on boards allow for gold pipes to be very easily obtainable and very very affordable. The "Gold Pipe Meta" was something I absolutely hated in Super and I really do not like that it has not been addressed at all. Flutters and Magic Lamps were rare and usually given to people in third or last place, gold pipes ignore that entirely which can just make boards racing to get more of them.
Thankfully stars are back to 20 coins, but this major issue I had with Super still hasn't been resolved. It makes this game feel a little babied down since even the poorest players can afford things, and the people ahead can basically just get whatever they want without having to worry about running out of money.
Next up is the boards, which is easily my biggest issue with Superstars. Making this game remixed old content was already an idea I'm not a fan of, I feel like they only did it because they didn't have the confidence to make a good Mario Party game from the ground up, but the boards they choose were frankly just not the best they could have. It only being N64 boards is a problem already to me since I think most people that aren't old agree that board design got a lot better in the Gamecube games, but I assume they wanted to do N64 boards since they didn't have the orb system. There's also only 5, which is a below average amount for the series. I feel like more is always better when there's almost always 1 or 2 I don't like in a game, which is once again true in this one so that's a problem.
I think Yoshi's Tropical Island and Horror Land were good choices. They're some of the better boards from their respective games, with funny but not entirely intrusive gimmicks and the improved item system helps out a lot. You can reliably keep keys and other good items on you in Horror Land and now movement helps a ton with the rat race in Tropical Island.
Peach's Birthday Cake is, in my opinion, the worst board in the series. I don't know why the hell they brought it back when it definitely isn't popular but they sure did it. It is slightly improved by having items at all, but the board is still essentially a straight line where you pray people land on your traps that have a good chance of being a waste of money.
Space Land is a board that, while looking cool, is so utterly uninteresting and I just have no clue why they brought it back. Bowser's laser is a board gimmick that I find so pointless as I don't think I've ever actually seen it hit anyone, and the board is just way too big, especially with how easy it is to get stuck being forced to go back. It's not awful but it's also very uninteresting.
Woody Woods is a good board in Mario Party 3 but I think it only could have worked there. The signs switching directions would normally be annoying like it is in most boards with a similar gimmick but I think it works great in 3 due to the reverse mushroom, which allows for an easy way to get around it with an affordable and common item. Super Stars does not have that so frankly I just find the board kind of annoying.
Again, the mechanics of this game are solid enough so that helps playing on these boards a lot but I can't really say that "Mario Party is back" at the moment, especially when they're just returning to old ideas and I feel like not really fully understanding them. I don't love the N64 games outside of 3 so maybe that's why but this is just an underwhelming Mario Party for me. I was gonna give this a 7 but Idk after saying all this I'm feeling a 6, maybe I'll raise it later we'll see.
For some things I think are solid in this game, the minigames are a pretty solid collection of classics and the items that are in this game are pretty good, not the best in the series but definitely have potential for strategic plays. Mechanically this game is pretty simple but ultimately solid, which is great. Other games in the series like 1 or 4 are held back on every board due to crappy mechanics so having that alone helps Superstars out a lot, so keep that in mind no matter how much I dump on it from here on out. I also wanna give this game credit for allowing a lot of customization, like adding turns midgame or FINALLY giving you the choice to choose your bonus stars. Took them long enough, but these are great decisions. I don't think you can turn players into AI and vice versa anymore though which is weird, it's been in since Mario Party 1 and it makes playing long games way easier.
There's three main issues I have with Superstars. First, they removed Shy Guy from the playable roster. Pretty cringe. Aside from that, I mainly dislike the economy and boards. Everything in this game is super cheap. Banks take less money now, most items are really cheap, battles take less coins, and certain shops on boards allow for gold pipes to be very easily obtainable and very very affordable. The "Gold Pipe Meta" was something I absolutely hated in Super and I really do not like that it has not been addressed at all. Flutters and Magic Lamps were rare and usually given to people in third or last place, gold pipes ignore that entirely which can just make boards racing to get more of them.
Thankfully stars are back to 20 coins, but this major issue I had with Super still hasn't been resolved. It makes this game feel a little babied down since even the poorest players can afford things, and the people ahead can basically just get whatever they want without having to worry about running out of money.
Next up is the boards, which is easily my biggest issue with Superstars. Making this game remixed old content was already an idea I'm not a fan of, I feel like they only did it because they didn't have the confidence to make a good Mario Party game from the ground up, but the boards they choose were frankly just not the best they could have. It only being N64 boards is a problem already to me since I think most people that aren't old agree that board design got a lot better in the Gamecube games, but I assume they wanted to do N64 boards since they didn't have the orb system. There's also only 5, which is a below average amount for the series. I feel like more is always better when there's almost always 1 or 2 I don't like in a game, which is once again true in this one so that's a problem.
I think Yoshi's Tropical Island and Horror Land were good choices. They're some of the better boards from their respective games, with funny but not entirely intrusive gimmicks and the improved item system helps out a lot. You can reliably keep keys and other good items on you in Horror Land and now movement helps a ton with the rat race in Tropical Island.
Peach's Birthday Cake is, in my opinion, the worst board in the series. I don't know why the hell they brought it back when it definitely isn't popular but they sure did it. It is slightly improved by having items at all, but the board is still essentially a straight line where you pray people land on your traps that have a good chance of being a waste of money.
Space Land is a board that, while looking cool, is so utterly uninteresting and I just have no clue why they brought it back. Bowser's laser is a board gimmick that I find so pointless as I don't think I've ever actually seen it hit anyone, and the board is just way too big, especially with how easy it is to get stuck being forced to go back. It's not awful but it's also very uninteresting.
Woody Woods is a good board in Mario Party 3 but I think it only could have worked there. The signs switching directions would normally be annoying like it is in most boards with a similar gimmick but I think it works great in 3 due to the reverse mushroom, which allows for an easy way to get around it with an affordable and common item. Super Stars does not have that so frankly I just find the board kind of annoying.
Again, the mechanics of this game are solid enough so that helps playing on these boards a lot but I can't really say that "Mario Party is back" at the moment, especially when they're just returning to old ideas and I feel like not really fully understanding them. I don't love the N64 games outside of 3 so maybe that's why but this is just an underwhelming Mario Party for me. I was gonna give this a 7 but Idk after saying all this I'm feeling a 6, maybe I'll raise it later we'll see.