Top 10 Boards Least Likely to Return to Mario Party Superstars

Please don't kill me for this, but starting off the ranking, in last place we have Horror Land. I know people love this board. I do too, in fact it's one of my favourite Mario Party boards of all time. It did so much for just one board, most notably being the day/night cycle which would later be the staple for Mario Party 6 boards. Gameplay-wise, it's very charming and unique. However, if you ignored the gameplay of this board, and merely looked at from a distance, doesn't it look familiar? Woody Woods is already one of the confirmed boards in Mario Party Superstars, as seen on the cover art. However, when I first saw it, I was actually kind of uncertain whether or not it was Horror Land, because from a distance, it looks so similar. Both are forests with pathways all over the place. And even gameplay-wise, it has some similarities with Peach's Birthday Cake, as both are boards where stealing coins from others with Boos is very prevalent. So yeah. Horror Land doesn't really stand much of a chance in the sea of N64 Boards. Maybe in a sequel, but definitely not in Mario Party Superstars.

DK's Jungle Adventure was for many, the first Mario Party board they ever played, and it's nothing to wonder about why. It's the easiest one to play, with no major gameplay barriers to turn off newer players. And besides, it's a jungle. Who doesn't love jungle biomes? However, it's also just that which makes it unlikely to re-appear in the game, because as we've already gone over, we have a forest-themed board in the game already, Woody Woods, and it's much more interesting and unique than DK's Jungle Adventure. So sorry, but this board seems unlikely.

Deep Bloober Sea, is similarly to Yoshi's Tropical Island, very similar to Peach's Birthday Cake. But while that board's problem was that it looked aestethically similar, Deep Bloober Sea instead plays similarly, as it has the same concept of not knowing where you'll end up, and having two boards with the same gimmick in the same game just wouldn't make the roster interesting. Aestethically, it looks more like a completely normal Star hunting board set underwater, and this is what puts it below Yoshi's Tropical Island. It looks more unique and it's not as rude to new players as Yoshi's gimmick.

Next up we have Yoshi's Tropical Island. Similarly to Horror Land, this board isn't very contrasting to the boards that are currently already confirmed in the game. In this case, it's Peach's Birthday Cake. Both are simply just boards with two halves, and those halves are circles. Not only that, but both boards come from Mario Party 1 originally. Wouldn't it be foolish to have two painfully alike boards from the same game in Mario Party Superstars? Now I know gameplay-wise, it's not a full-on carbon copy, as Peach's Birthday Cake is more of a "which path will you randomly take", while Yoshi's Tropical Island switches between the spot of Toad and Bowser on the two islands respectively whenever you land on a Happening Space. But still, it's too similar. And not to mention it would be kind of unfair to new players, who have to constantly deal with landing on an event space every second turn.

Luigi's Engine Room is another board that contrasts itself too little from one of the announced Mario Party Superstars boards, mechanically. Aestethically, like Deep Bloober Sea, this board is actually very unique. It's the only board in the entire series except for E Gadd's Garage to take place in a sort of, you know, garage, as unfitting as it is for Luigi. For this reason, it's not in last place on the list, however, gameplay-wise, it's way too similar to Woody Woods, as both boards are about the pathways constantly switching into new directions. For this reason, I have an undoubtley hard time thinking we will be seeing this board.

If there's one thing that would make Mario Party Superstars look like a boring game, it might be the fact that none of the confirmed boards so far is a finale-board. All Mario Party games have a "final" board that tends to be unlockable. It's usually harder than every other board in the game, and really puts your skills to the test. These boards in the N64 games are, Bowser's Magma Mountain in 1, Bowser Land in 2, and Waluigi Island in 3. Ok technically Eternal Star is also a final board but that's..., it's a different story. We're talking the strongholds of the villain, not bonus areas. And out of these strongholds, Waluigi Island, while being the best one, doesn't stand much of a chance. For one, Nintendo seemingly hates Waluigi, and aestethically it doesn't look so much like a final board. Just a few islands here and there. And gameplay-wise, we already have something in the middle that blows up after enough people have walked past it. I would love to see this board return, but with the current circumstances, it doesn't seem very likely.

Our second Mario Party 2 board on the list, is Mystery Land. Most people hate this board and would most certainly like to not see it return. Lucky for them, it's not likely, but unlucky for me as this is actually one of my favourite boards of all time. The reason it's not likely well haven't I already gone over why? Well anyways, what puts it slightly above those boards is the gameplay. None of the announced boards is an island hopper yet, unless you count Peach's Birthday Cake but that one doesn't have enough islands. This one plays very differently as instead of letting luck determine where you'll go, there's a little more skill involved here, as there are multiple ways to hop between islands, whether it be through a skeleton key, or landing on a space. However, the forest theme kind of ruins any chance of this board returning.

Chilly Waters is the first board on the list that isn't totally unlikely on my list, but still unlikely. And I think it's easy to see why. How would you describe it? Well I'd say it has snow. What other Mario Party board has snow? There have only been two snow-themed boards in Mario Party, Chilly Waters in Mario Party 3, and Snowflake Lake in Mario Party 6, so the inclusion of this board would help it greatly stand out among the rest. It could've been even higher on the list, however, there's one thing holding this board back, which would be the ice circle in the middle. Don't get me wrong, it's a unique gimmick, however, doesn't the idea of having something game-changing in the middle already exist in a confirmed board? It's different sure, but it's still a "centric" gimmick

Eternal Star starts off the Possibly tier in my opinion, as it has factors both for why it could appear, but also for why it wouldn't appear. Gameplay-wise, it's probably one of the most unique takes on the classical star hunting gameplay. Instead of everyone going for a single star that's been randomly placed on the map, there are Koopa Kids spread out over a map, and you must get to any one of them, bet 20 coins, and whoever gets the highest dice roll wins a star from the other player. It can be a bit hard for newer players to stomach, as there lies the risk of never getting a star at all and just losing coins, but it would really stand out, mechanically. Unfortunately, there already is a space-themed board confirmed for the game. A very stereotypical space board. Even then, these are different kinds of space boards. Space Land is more space-station and Eternal Star is on a broken star. So who knows? I don't think we will see it, but there's always a possibility.

Bowser Land isn't what you'd typically expect from a Bowser board. Instead of the usual volcanic castle, Bowser Land is a derpy amusement park that is literally just a square. Doesn't that sound familiar? We already have what is basically a square as a board confirmed for Mario Party Superstars, Space Land, so largely this board is here for the same reasons Horror Land is because of Woody Woods. However it has a slightly larger chance of coming in in my opinion, as none of the announced boards in the trailer is a Bowser board, which might be needed, and also because even though it's a square, it does play a bit differently. So who knows maybe we'll see this board in Mario Party Superstars? But I doubt it.