Mario Party’s chaotic gameplay is key to its success. That any player can rebound with a lucky Chance Time event, or that the star leader can be dethroned by the combined efforts of their opponents, leads to hilarious reversals of fortune that have been entertaining gamers for 25 years now. Super Mario Party Jamboree is the latest installment in the series, building on this core concept with the most content yet: 112 mini-games, 7 boards, 22 characters, and even a massive 20-player game mode.
In this article, we’re looking at the live-streaming performance of this third Mario Party title on the Nintendo Switch, including Super Mario Party Jamboree’s popularity against other Super Mario spin-off titles and the demand for party games on PC.
Super Mario Party Jamboree Satiates Nintendo Fans’ Desire for New Games
The game had an outpouring of support upon release. In its first week alone, Super Mario Party Jamboree generated 5.3M hours watched with a peak viewership of 221K. This high viewership came from a relatively low airtime of 35.5K hours, suggesting that support for the game came from a few select high-profile streamers (discussed below) rather than a mass of streamers jumping on the bandwagon. This love for the title was to be expected, with a lot of hype for Super Mario Party Jamboree in summer’s Nintendo Direct presentation and the game hitting #1 on the UK retail charts upon release.
As mentioned earlier, Nintendo marketed Super Mario Party Jamboree as the biggest Mario Party title ever – but there were many other long-awaited improvements to the classic board game format that won over fans. The game introduced new types of mini-games, like boss battle mini-games and even 3-minute long Jamboree buddy games (not so “mini”!). The optional Pro Rules also allow for a more skill-based version of the Mario Party experience (for haters of Chance Time’s entertaining yet infuriating last-minute reversals). Finally, the inclusion of huge multiplayer modes like the 20-player Koopathlon mode and the 8-player co-op Bowser Kaboom Squad mode made the game more amenable to streamer collaborations – some of the highest viewership experiences on live-streaming platforms.
The top streamers for Super Mario Party Jamboree included some of the biggest names from around the globe generating massive hours watched, including Brazilian streamer alanzoka (208K), French streamer Squeezie (207.5K), and German streamer Papaplatte (157K). As usual for Nintendo games, VTubers were also important with Usada Pekora bringing in 165K hours watched. A couple of the top streamers, alanzoka and BarbarousKing, are familiar for their coverage of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – this suggests that they’re most likely consistent fans of Nintendo games. If Nintendo were looking to partner with influencers from outside of Japan to spread their global appeal, creators like these would be a good place to start.
Mario Party Shows Potential for Rivalling Mario Kart among Mario Spin-off Titles
Historically, Mario Party has always sat behind Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart as the 3rd most popular Super Mario spin-off series – despite having far more entries. But for the first time, Super Mario Party Jamboree offers the potential for Mario Party to move up. Super Mario Party Jamboree’s debut week viewership outstrips that of Mario Kart 8’s highest weekly viewership by 1M hours watched. This Mario Kart viewership comes from April of 2024, when Kuzuha and his fellow Nijisanji VTubers held a collaborative event online.
However, it’s not worth getting too excited just yet. Firstly, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s highest weekly viewership (from its debut week back in 2018) is still double that of Super Mario Party Jamboree’s debut week viewership. Secondly, the original Mario Kart 8 is 10 years old now. When the next title in the series releases, it’s sure to cause an overwhelming surge of demand on live-streaming platforms as viewers check out competitive strategies for the new title. At the moment, it looks like that will have to wait until the so-called “Switch 2” releases (expected next year).
Party Games on PC are Mario Party’s Real Competition
Back when Mario Party first debuted, players’ options for multiplayer typically came down to either couch co-op or LAN parties. Now there are thousands of options available for party games, let alone other multiplayer titles. In this era, PC party games pose the biggest threat to Mario Party’s continuing relevance. As such, it’s worth looking at the most popular party games on live streaming. For the purposes of this analysis, party games are multiplayer titles with light challenge, simple mechanics, and with an intended purpose of facilitating player-to-player interaction.
Under this definition, the most popular party game by far is Among Us with 47M hours watched over the past 12 months alone. Viewership in hours watched exponentially drops off from here, down to Fall Guys (25M), Party Animals (17M), and The Jackbox Party Pack (8M). Broadly, the two most popular types of party games are either socially focused (deception with Among Us and trivia with The Jackbox Party Pack) or physics/fighting focused (Fall Guys, Stumble Guys, and Party Animals).
Mario Party’s mini-games give the series one key advantage that may allow it to compete with other party games: Flexibility. New Mario Party titles can adapt their gameplay to emerging trends without fan backlash by experimenting with new types of mini-games and extra modes. In saying this, trying to be a jack of all trades could hurt the series when there are so many more focused games out on the market – it might behoove Nintendo to pick a single core concept per game and fully flesh it out.
Super Mario Party Jamboree is a game primed for DLC updates or an expansion pass with extra mini-games, but nothing has been announced as yet. With mounting pressure to compete with PC party games, Nintendo will have to keep innovating. Stream Hatchet will be watching to see how Super Mario Party Jamboree performs long-term with potential streamer collabs buoying viewership.
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