Best Mario Party Superstars Boards

Oh yes, Horror Land. The board everyone wanted. Well, not me, really. Whenever you looked at other people's predictions for what the unconfirmed boards would be in this game, at least 95% of them would include Horror Land in one way or another. Little did they know that, for once, Nintendo wasn't trying to subvert expectations, and they were right! Some other people, like me, believed in its unlikely chance because of the visual similarity to the already confirmed Woody Woods, but boy did ND Cube outdo themselves on this board!

I gotta say, Horror Land is by far the most visually stunning board in Mario Party Superstars. Instead of the somewhat spooky forest of the original, this version has a more graveyard aesthetic, which makes it greatly stand out, not just from Woody Woods, but even from the original Horror Land! Then you realize that Horror Land is one of seven Mario Party boards with its own night version. Honestly, if they only put this much effort into Space Land too, who knows how good that one could've been.

Horror Land is by far the coolest looking board in the game, and it was so close to being my favorite on the ranking! It was already a spectacular board on the N64. If anything, it's the best board from the N64 era. It was always more experimental than the others. It introduced the day/night gimmick long before 6 did, which made playthroughs on this board always more varied than any other one, and I can't say that doesn't go for the Superstars variant as well.

It's a bit smaller, sure, and there are more lucky spaces than in the original, but it's not an issue so big that it ruins the experience for me. All in all, Horror Land is easily one of the best boards.

As much as I love Horror Land, deep down, I always knew that in the end, the first spot on my ranking would be occupied by Woody Woods, the only returning board from Mario Party 3. It was always disappointing to me that 3, my favorite of the N64 games, got the short end of the stick when it came to returning boards.

Deep down, I had a feeling that would probably be the case because it was the worst selling of the N64 games, but I still wished that wouldn't be true. Either way, I'm not too riled up because in the end, they picked my favorite Mario Party 3 board. From what I understand, this board is quite divisive. Some people like me love it, while others hate it. It all boils down to the main gimmick of the board, the arrows.

Landing on a happening space alters the way you'll be heading. In that case, Woody Woods can kind of be seen as a haunted forest as well, in the way that maybe you'll never find a way out of it. Gameplay-wise, not much changed from the original, which I appreciate. The original was basically taking the concept from Luigi's Engine Room and refining it, already perfecting the gameplay.

Visually speaking, I love this. While I consider Horror Land to be the best-looking board in Mario Party Superstars, Woody Woods has the most improved visuals from its original counterpart, and since this board is from 3, that's not surprising. While 3 has great boards, it had less great visuals.

Aside from Creepy Cavern, the boards looked more like cardboard sets than actual settings, which greatly reduced the immersion factor. Woody Woods was the biggest offender of this. The white routes just didn't mesh well with the lush forest. In Superstars, it looks so much more inviting. Not to mention that the upper half is now much more obviously the domain of Wario, whereas in the original, everything looked the same.

The music has also been improved because, likewise, 3 didn't have the strongest soundtrack. It was very empty and... more

Like this board or not, you can't deny that Peach's Birthday Cake is the definition of a classic. Whether you played the original Mario Party or not, everyone has heard of this one! Even if it hadn't been confirmed for this game back in the E3 Direct, I am certain everyone would've predicted it because it's that iconic!

This board was easily one of the stronger points in the original Mario Party. It was linear and circular, but unlike Yoshi's Tropical Island, it had more tricks up its sleeve to make it stand out. The main gimmick is, of course, the sunflower seed. After you've run halfway across the cake, RNG will decide if you will be walking back to the start through this interesting route or if you'll go on to Bowser zone, which results in a theoretical infinite.

In the original board, this junction was set right before the star space, which was iconic but also very rude. In the remake, however, it's set after the star space, which, in my opinion, was a novel improvement. Sure, it was iconic how brutal it was in the original. However, in practicality, it works much better when set after because that way, you still have a chance. Overall, Peach's Birthday Cake is a good board!

Coming in at last place on this ranking is Space Land. In my opinion, this is the board I was personally the least hyped to play on in Mario Party Superstars, for a number of reasons. I was already very familiar with Mario Party 2, so it's not like I would've missed anything had it not been included. I was never the biggest fan of Space Land in the original game. Lots of people like it, but I never really appreciated the almost rectangular layout and speeders that constantly came in out of nowhere and pushed you back. All this made for a relatively boring game, and I really couldn't care less about it in Superstars either.

In some ways, it's actually worse than the original Space Land. The entire board just feels more dull. On the N64, this was really atmospheric. The music was really great and the visuals really made you feel like you were on a space station looking after bad guys. But in Superstars, the entire board just looks duller. It feels more like you're playing on an actual board, like a toy set. While it's strangely satisfying, it really takes away the atmosphere. It becomes a bit hard to take seriously.

Now I won't say I don't enjoy the board, because I do. The music is still strong, and in the end, it was a fine board in the original. Likewise in Superstars. All in all, one board had to take the lowest spot, and that happened to be Space Land.

Next up, we have Yoshi's Tropical Island. This was one of the two boards that weren't revealed in the game before the September trailer rolled in, but leaks were suggesting its appearance as early as in the E3 trailer, with the Pink Yoshi being apparent as a sticker. Overall, this board probably had one of the biggest visual renovations of all the boards. It looks splendid! I never cared for its visuals on the N64. I thought it looked kind of boring and flat for a "tropical island." Well, tropical it certainly is in Superstars!

I was a bit skeptical about putting this one above Space Land because on the N64, I can safely say that I enjoy the latter more. I always found this board to be a bit frustrating. The circular design made it relatively repetitive, and Bowser and Toad constantly switching spots got frustrating early on because you had nothing but RNG to count on. However, in Superstars, I actually quite enjoy this board! Not as much as the top three, but it's doable!

I think what makes it work so much better this time around are the items. Mario Party 1 didn't have any items, which meant there was no way to influence your roll. However, with Superstars having items, you can more easily influence whatever you roll, and as such, you can choose to not roll on as many happening spaces or roll on more. The choice is yours. Either way, this customization makes the board so much friendlier to play.

Also, I'm mentioning again, the visuals are dope on this board! It almost feels like what Megafruit Paradise in Super should've been! Overall, Yoshi's Tropical Island is an incredible improvement!