Preview: Nintendo to release 'Super Mario Party Jamboree,' 'The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom'

I’ve always been more of a “WarioWare” guy, but “Super Mario Party Jamboree” looks poised to dominate my family time.

The upcoming video game — out Oct. 17 — boasts seven boards, more than 110 minigames, nearly two dozen characters and online modes that can accommodate up to 20 players. That’s altogether more stuff than we’ve ever seen from the series, and Nintendo seems focused just as much on quality as quantity.

In the hour I had to preview the game in New York City, I cruised through one of the new boards, “Mega Wiggler’s Tree Party,” snatched a few minigame victories and just barely missed out on scoring a star. PR reps then rushed us into a “Koopathlon,” where 20 players race around a track by competing in special minigames that include Nintendo’s take on the old classic, whack-a-mole. We finished the session with the eight-player co-op “Bowser Kaboom Squad” mode. Here, we helped each other win power-ups, collect coins and fire cannons to take down an oversized “imposter Bowser.”

I can’t see myself securing enough online friends to make “Boswer Kaboom Squad” and, especially, “Koopathlon” feel worthwhile, but the game otherwise impressed me. The developers of “Jamboree” appear to have learned the right lessons from the success of 2021’s “Mario Party Superstars.” That title remade past, popular minigames and swerved away from the motion controls that could hamper 2018’s “Super Mario Party.” My little nephews insist on hours of “Mario Party” whenever I see them, and “Jamboree” is likely to become the new family favorite.

We were then steered to another room for a 90-minute session with “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom” — the first game in decades to star the titular princess. In a piece for NPR, I wrote about my experience and claimed that “Echoes of Wisdom” is “the most significant revision to its classic, top-down gameplay since 2013’s ‘A Link Between Worlds.’”

I stand by that assessment, and in the days since its publication I’ve also spoken to IGN’s Rebekah Valentine about the game’s significance:

“When I was when I was in kindergarten, watching all of the big kids play ‘The Legend of Zelda,’ there really weren't a lot of games that starred women. I grew up sort of seeing games as a boys thing. We know now in 2024 that's not remotely true. But it did take that long to finally let Zelda, one of the most known names and video games, actually get to take agency.”

Nintendo isn’t just flipping scripts by centering Zelda. “Echoes of Wisdom” also enables players to summon copies of nearly every item and enemy from the game to solve puzzles in novel, unique ways.

“People are always asking Nintendo for the same thing again,” says Valentine. “One of Nintendo's strengths is that they're constantly able to innovate and come up with these interesting, creative design ideas that no one else is doing.”

The company will soon retire the Switch, a record-breaking console that’s getting a complete overhaul next year. While it’s played it safe with a steady supply of remakes and sequels, Nintendo’s at least going out with a bang: “Super Mario Party Jamboree” is a polished synthesis of the franchise’s trademark silliness and strategy — and “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom” is at once a throwback to a simpler era and a step toward a brave new future.