Jamboree TV makes Super Mario Party Jamboree even better – providing you have the Switch 2 camera
Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV requires a lot of investment to enjoy fully, but it's a mostly great way to utilise your Nintendo Switch 2 camera.
When I reviewed the original Super Mario Party Jamboree last year I called it 'the definitive entry on Nintendo Switch ' for all the ways it effortlessly blended creative mini-games with the franchise's trademark sense of randomisation and competition. In other words, whereas the likes of Super Mario Party and Mario Party Superstars previously failed, Jamboree was pretty much perfect thanks to some great boards and its all-new Jamboree buddy system. The latter being a genuinely welcome addition to the game's typical chaotic formula as opposed to an annoying disruption.
Not content with this, however, Nintendo has sought to try and improve on such perfection with Jamboree TV – an upgrade pack exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2. The new games and modes it introduces are just as gimmicky as you'd expect for an add-on specifically designed to take advantage of the sequel console's new features like mouse controls and built-in microphone. And yet, at least for players with a Switch 2 camera wanting a fun afternoon in with friends, Jamboree TV is just about worth the upgrade.
The good news is that the same great original Jamboree game is here for Nintendo Switch 2 owners. Players willing to upgrade will find the game's previous home screen icon warped into one that suddenly reads 'Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV', which when selected offers you the choice to jump into the vanilla version of Jamboree or the shiny new Jamboree TV mode. So far, so simple. The latter's goal, in contrast to the original game, though, is to put you in the centre of the action, and for this to work fully as intended you better hope to have purchased the Nintendo Switch 2 camera accessory.
This high barrier to entry is my major problem with the overall value proposition that Jamboree TV offers. Because sure, while players who already own Super Mario Party Jamboree only need pay £16.99 / $19.99 / AU$30 for the additional modes, this doesn't take into account the price paid for the Nintendo Switch 2 camera. Do you absolutely need the camera to enjoy some of what Jamboree TV has to offer? Probably not, but you definitely will in order to enjoy it fully. That said, if you bought into the Switch 2 camera knowing it was an investment, there's some pretty great ways that investment pays off here.
One of the biggest examples is the simple fact that everyone's face can now appear in a bog-standard game of Mario Party Jamboree. Much like as was the case with its integration in Mario Kart World, the camera can capture the faces of all four players on screen at once with relative ease, appearing above your chosen player-character in key moments, such as game-winning podium screens as well as when you're performing a dice roll.
You're the star
More substantial are two new Mario Party rule sets, with Tag-Team forcing the group into two teams of two to work together, while Frenzy living up to its name by gifting all players overpowered items from the start to see how far they can get in just five turns. Both are perfectly fine ways to shake up the usual pace of a traditional Super Mario Party Jamboree game and work across all included boards, but don't seem deep enough to tempt me away a from how I enjoy playing Jamboree the conventional way. I
t's also a bummer that Tag-Team and Frenzy are both exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 instead of also being available to original Switch owners as a free or paid-for update, since neither require any of the new sequel console's exclusive features.
Luckily, Jamboree makes the most of the Nintendo Switch 2 camera, built-in mic, and Joy-Con mouse controls elsewhere in the form of Bowser Live and Carnival Coaster. These are two totally new game modes played outside of the core Super Mario Party Jamboree experience, and as such, make the most of putting you into the actual game the most. My favourite is undoubtedly Carnival Coaster, which moves the franchise's chaotic antics away from the board game style in favour of a team-based gauntlet presented in the style of a light-gun shooter.
The idea is that you and friends hop on board a rollercoaster together, using the Joy Con's mouse controls to take shots at flying enemies in order to build up extra time to reach your final destination. When riding the Haunted Coaster this means defeating ghosts, shooting bats on the Volcano Coaster, shooting Koopas on the Sky-High Coaster, and so on.
Between these bouts of riding are a handful of mini-games sprinkled in, all of which are totally new and designed to utilise the Switch 2's mouse controls – with mostly great results. From an air hockey style game where your Joy-Con is the pusher to a mail sorting game that sees you dragging letters into different folders, Carnival Coaster plays host to some of Jamboree TV's best mini-games – and there are 20 to enjoy in total.
Not quite as successful is Bowser Live, pitched alongside Carnival Coaster as an interactive versus mode (of sorts) where two teams of two compete to appease the titular Mario baddie. You do this via two ways centred around the Nintendo Switch 2 camera, movement and/or sound, with mini-games that have you making as loud a noise as possible or using your body to, say, balance a set number of Goombas on your head.
Bowser Live isn't without Nintendo's usual charm, but it all feels superfluous compared to the more refined, complete feeling ideas Carnival Coaster presents. Not helping Bowser Live more so is just how much it put me in mind of the Kinect era of Xbox One, where dancing in front of your console was demanded regularly.
Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV isn't a bad way to enhance the overall Jamboree experience, but it is an imperfect one that sadly touts quite a large barrier to entry in terms of price. There were times while playing when I wondered why both Bowser Live and Carnival Coaster were tied into the Super Mario Party brand at all, rather than treated as their own separate experiences that could be fleshed out further.
Jamboree TV feels like a halfway house between being a worthwhile add-on and missed standalone opportunity. As it stands, it's not quite either. But then, Jamboree TV ultimately only succeeds because of the more successful refined package its bolted onto, perfectly ideal for party game fans hungry for new ways to play in a group.
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