Super Mario Party is one of our top picks for Nintendo Switch. And judging by the game’s reception — it sold over 1.5 million copies within a month of its release! — a lot of people feel the same way.
Super Mario Party is one of the system’s best-selling games, and it’s easy to see why. It combines all the awesome things that made the Mario franchise one of the most revered video game properties. The fun (and playfully mischievous) themes, the intuitive controls (some of which use the Switch’s motion sensors), and the familiar, beloved characters — they’re all here.
But the difference with Super Mario Party is that it’s a more casual-friendly game, making this ideal for game nights and parties where not everyone might be a gamer. Sure, games like the Super Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. series are all party favorites. But Super Mario Party is even easier for newbies to get into.
More Than One Game
As far as gameplay goes, Super Mario Party resides somewhere between a mobile game and a console game. This is an easy game to learn… although there is actually more than one game in Super Mario Party.
And that’s because Super Mario Party contains within it a lot of different games. You can play a variety of games, including the Trike Harder Minigame, Whomp’s Domino Ruins, Train in Pain, Smash and Crab, Sign Steal Deliver, Don’t Wake Wiggler, Fiddler on the Hoof, Can Take Pancake, Fuzzy Flight School, Rattle and Hmmm, Timing Is Money, Follow the Money, Air to a Fortune, Maths of Glory, Pie Hard, Dash and Dine, What a Racket, Isthmus Be the Way, Go with the Flow, Sort of Fun, Home on the ‘Rang, Penguin Pushers, Suit Yourselves, Rowboat Uprising, It’s the Pits, Just for Kicks, Half the Battle, Strike It Rich, Clearing the Table, Baton and On… and the list of games goes on and on.
Overall, there are dozens of minigames for multiple players. And our favorite part of this game is that the playable characters include some certified Mario all-stars. You got Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Princess Daisy, as expected. But you can also play as characters like a Hammer Brother, Shy Guy, Goomba, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser Jr., and even good old Diddy Kong. Super Mario Party is a pretty expansive game, for what it is. We love the depth that all these character options provide players, whether you’ve been a Mario fan since the very beginning, or someone just entering this awesome franchise.
How to Get Super Mario Party Gems
As cool as all those minigames are, the main objective in Super Mario Party isn’t just to earn bragging rights by beating your friends. The goal here is to collect all five gems. When you do, you will unlock a special cutscene.
Here are the five Super Mario Party Gems, and how to get them:
Gem of Courage – Pass through all the River Survival routes
Gem of Love – Finish a game on the four-game boards using Partner Party mode
Gem of Passion – Go through all Challenge Road worlds
Gem of Spirit – Finish all the difficulty settings for Sound Stage.
Gem of Tenacity – Finish a game in four-game boards
Some gems might be a bit more challenging. We particularly had trouble getting the Gems of Courage and of Passion. The former requires you to go through all River Survival routes, of which there are five — and that’s on top of going to all major areas. The latter requires you to unlock the Challenge Road first. And that’s a pretty challenging task (as the name implies). In addition to getting the Passion Gem, completing the Challenge Road also unlocks Diddy Kong and Pom Pom.
Avoid Scams!
There are a lot of scam sites out there that are trying to exploit people eager to earn Super Mario Party gems. And there are definitely a lot of people looking for those gems – Super Mario Party sold a whopping 142,000 physical copies in Japan on its first two days of release. As of this writing, Super Mario Party has sold over 5 million copies… and that number will continue to rise as more and more players discover this awesome game. One downside to this large player base is that it attracts a bunch of shady and outright scammy individuals and sites.
These sites try to exploit the demand for gems. For sure, this isn’t unique to Super Mario Party. If a game has a built-in currency and a large enough player base, you can be sure the scammers will also be there. In particular, there are lots of scammers targeting Fortnite: Battle Royale players trying to stockpile as many V-Bucks as possible. Things aren’t so bad with Super Mario Party, but the danger is still there.
One of the red flags when it comes to scam sites is that they offer gems (or coins, or points, or whatever currency a particular game uses) in exchange for your credit card or financial info. Now, for sure, this is different from providing your credit card in a legit online store. Those scam sites use game rewards as bait, and they’re trying to snag your financial info. And there isn’t even a guarantee that you’ll get your gems or coins!
Always Play It Safe
Things aren’t as bad with Super Mario Party as, say, Fortnite: Battle Royale. But the scam sites do exist. One of the warning signs that a site is a scam is that it uses words like “hack” or “generator” or “farming.” Now, there are legitimate uses for those terms, but if a site uses them in a shady manner, that’s a sign you should proceed with caution (if at all).
So it’s best to play it safe. If you’re looking to get all the Super Mario Party gems, it’s best to stick with the methods listed above. In the long run, you’ll be glad you did. Good luck!
