Worst Mario Party Superstars Minigames

Hey everyone, I'm darthvadern! Last week, I took a look at the minigames of Mario Party Superstars, and counted down what I believed to be the top ten best minigames from this game, which has just been around for a month now. However, there's also another side to the story, the worst minigames of this game. Mario Party Superstars is amazing, no doubt. However, nothing comes without flaws, and in fact, this game has a lot of flawed minigames. You'd think Mario Party Superstars, being remaking the best aspects of the older entries, would fix a lot of the problems in the many awful minigames it brings back, but sadly, it doesn't. It's more like they want to bring back the exact same feelings you experienced in the older days, literally. So which of these unchanged minigames led to being the worst of the bunch? That's what we'll take a look at in this list.
The Top Ten
1 Cast Aways

Cast Aways. I can't recall anyone asking for this to be remade. It was already a problem in Mario Party 1 with the joystick skin peeling, and there is just no way to even throw the hand at the lane closest to you. It just goes way further than it needs to, and I often find myself finishing with either five coins, one coin, or worse, zero coins!

It was already horrible in Mario Party 1, and Mario Party Superstars did not even fix this! Zero out of ten!

The worst minigame in all of Mario Party Superstars is none other than Cast Aways. Dear goodness, what made Nintendo and NDcube think people wanted to see this minigame return? I've always hated Cast Aways, and I still do in this game.

To start off, it's a coin minigame (no shocker) where your objective is to catch as many coins, bags, and chests as possible by throwing this hand into the sea and then reeling it in. It seems like a fine concept on paper, except aiming is literally the hardest thing ever. Unless you've practiced for five hours straight, there's no idea of knowing when to throw the line, and if you miss, you have to waste time reeling it in.

What's even more difficult, however, is aiming at which lane to throw it at. There are three lanes of items floating by, but for some reason, I can only get items at the far end of the lane, even if I just hold back the control stick slightly. The instructions only show a control stick for "adjusting distance." Maybe I'm just bad at this minigame, but if it takes me five hours to just grasp how I'm supposed to play a minigame, it's not good in my book. In fact, it's one of the worst minigames in the entire Mario Party series, let alone the worst one in Mario Party Superstars.

2 Bowser's Big Blast

This one is the number 1 worst of the worst minigames throughout every Mario Party game! It was already annoying to deal with in Mario Party 2, and somehow, the developers thought it was a good idea to bring this back in Mario Party 4 on the GameCube, which adds nothing new to the table! Then it comes into Mario Party: The Top 100, and to add insult to injury even further, it gets added to Mario Party Superstars!

Of all the minigames, Bowser's Big Blast comes off as the number 1 worst offender. It was not only frustrating and lazy to remake, but it also ends up being even worse than Vicious Vending (Mario Party 5), Cointagious (Mario Party 7), and even worse than the two worst minigames from Mario Party 8: Flip the Chimp and Rudder Madness!

This minigame, along with the skin-peeling minigames from Mario Party 1, is the definition of the worst of the worst minigames! Not to mention, it also took up a minigame slot for any better minigames from Mario Party 4, Mario Party 5, Mario Party 6, Mario Party 7, and even Mario Party 8!

We are literally lacking a variety of Mario Party 8 minigames that were actually decent (except Flip the Chimp, Rudder Madness, and Ion the Prize). Bowser's Big Blast definitely gets a zero out of ten!

3 Piranha's Pursuit

It should be noted that Mario Party 1's minigames are kind of awful. Being the first game, the developers didn't really have an idea of what worked well and what didn't. As a result, we got a lot of unbalanced 1 vs. 3 minigames, even more so than Goal and Spotlight Swim. Piranha's Pursuit is the most blatant example of how not to make these kinds of minigames.

In fact, it could have taken the first place on this list. In some instances, I would consider it the worst Mario Party minigame of all time. However, it's not the minigame I personally hate the most, so it barely missed out on the first spot.

Piranha's Pursuit is an example of a 1 vs. 3 minigame that is rigged towards the solo player, who has to escape from a Petey Piranha raised by the other three players. The issue is that even if the team works together well, they will still lose if the solo player is just mildly competent. Seriously, Petey is so slow, and the obstacles for the solo player come so early that you are well-prepared to jump. Actually, even if you miss one or two times, you will still probably win because of how slow Petey runs.

Piranha's Pursuit is fundamentally bad. I'm surprised it isn't #1 on my list, but that's because it's occupied by an even more broken and bad minigame.

4 Sneak 'n' Snore

Well, I mean, this is a certified classic. Sneak 'n' Snore is widely regarded as one of the worst minigames ever created, so the fact that it got brought back to Mario Party Superstars boggles my mind. Take Red Light, Green Light from Squid Game, except remove the part with strategy. Sneak 'n' Snore is awful not because of the concept, but because of how broken it is.

You need to hit a button and then get out as quickly as possible. The twist is that this Chain Chomp will randomly wake up and fling away everyone who hasn't hidden in their barrel yet. It's a decent concept. The problem is that you can never hide quickly enough. The delay between when you press the hide button and when you actually hide in-game takes a full three seconds.

This was a massive problem. Apparently, you're supposed to tread slowly, but how is this not "slowly"? How am I supposed to know this is apparently fast without reading a Reddit post? Either way, even with the information, I just find myself dreading whenever I play this minigame. More often than not, it ends in a draw because it's unpredictable when the Chain Chomp wakes up, and the other times it's just a boring waiting game.

I'm sure this would've been fine if there was any way of guessing when the Chain Chomp would wake up, so you could at least kind of time your stops. If it was more like Red Light, Green Light in Squid Game, where you could guess when to stop, it would've been more fun, honestly. And also, did I mention that the CPUs are flat out running and can hide in the barrel without even braking? As it stands now, it's one of the most unfun minigames of all time.

5 Rockin' Raceway

I personally don't understand how this one works. You're supposed to mash, but if you mash too fast in a short period of time, you spin out. Personally, the timing is something that's eluded me.

6 Winner or Dinner
7 Quicksand Cache
8 Tug o' War
9 Goooooooal!!

We're now delving into the minigames that are just so unfun on a completely different level. I wouldn't have minded if they hadn't existed at all. Goal, with its seven O's and all caps letters, is much less exciting than it wants you to believe.

1 vs. 3 minigames are almost always awful. Half of them are just plain unbalanced for one team, while the other half is just basic boring stuff. Goal is one of the absolutely worst minigames of all time. The solo player has to catch incoming footballs from the three to prevent them from entering the goal. The issue is that there's no way of telling where the balls are headed. Sure, you can kind of guess by looking at the direction the players are heading, but it becomes way too hectic when you've got three people to look out for.

For the three, it's an easy win. The reason this minigame is even worse than the ones before is that at least they're not completely unfair. Sure, Sneak 'n' Snore is unplayable, but at least there's some kind of strategy, even if it's unfun. This minigame is just randomness at an extreme. And it's not even the worst minigame on this list.

10 Flash Forward

Out of all the minigames from Mario Party 10, can you believe it? They actually decided that Flash Forward would be a good returnee. Yes, out of all the underrated minigames this entry has, they went with probably the most boring minigame in existence.

The fact that it was brought back not just in The Top 100 but in this game as well is just embarrassing. The rules are simple: be at the center of the stage when the photo is snapped. The issue is that it's ten seconds long, and there's literally no reason to do anything until the last two seconds or so. It won't be snapped until the very end.

So why fight for the podium when you'll be punched out long before the camera is even close to 0? Even excluding that gameplay flaw, the minigame itself is just boring. You're just punching out everyone to get to the center for a single photo. After that, it's done. Can you imagine any more underwhelming minigame than this? I don't think so.

Slapparazzi from Super Mario Party basically took this minigame and made it what it should've been. Flash Forward is one of those minigames you don't even know exists until you play it. It's horrendously boring.

The Contenders
11 Trap Ease Artist

Trap Ease Artist is the definition of a minigame that tries to be skillful but in the end just comes out as obnoxious luck. The concept is fine, and it had potential. You have a bunch of goombas walking around on the ground, and you have to drop a cage when there are as many goombas as possible under it. Seems cool enough. You'd think you'd have to use your sharp eye to see when you should drop it.

However, the execution is far more repulsive because it's just luck. Sometimes a lot of goombas decide to walk under you, sometimes they don't. You can't influence where the goombas will go, it's just RNG. RNG isn't necessarily a bad thing. I mean, some luck-based minigames are actually fine. However, Trap Ease Artist obviously doesn't want to be luck-based. It wants you to take it seriously.

Maybe if there was something to lure the goombas to your spot, it could've been better. But as it stands now, there's really nothing to do other than hope for the best. As a result, Trap Ease Artist is #8 on my list.

12 Mario's Puzzle Party

Mario's Puzzle Party isn't necessarily a minigame I hate. It has a decent enough concept, basically being Tetris but with a Mario twist. Normally, I wouldn't have included bonus minigames on a list like this. However, this one can actually be played in the normal Mario Party mode, and it sure was the wrong one to pick.

The concept of this minigame isn't bad, but it's not my kind of thing. It's just Tetris with a Mario twist, nothing unusual. However, it wouldn't have made the list if it wasn't as broken as it is. You can just spam down blocks without any second thought, and the game will just automatically play itself. Yes, it's that broken.

It was broken in Mario Party 3, it was broken in Mario Party DS, and it's equally broken in Superstars. It removes any fun this minigame might have originally had because the real way to play it isn't rewarding. You get more points if you just spam down all the blocks. When there's a way to break the entire game, it's obviously going to be put on the list.

Whenever you play it online, people just cheat their way to victory. And that's not even excluding the fact that the minigame itself is just Tetris. Why is Tetris a minigame in Mario Party? I could have ranked it higher. However, the upcoming minigames are even more ridiculous.

13 Hide and Sneak
14 Cheep Cheep Chase

Button-mashing minigames are fundamentally prone to being disastrous. These are the kinds of minigames where you need to mash one or more buttons as fast as you can, and I've never been a fan of these. You just end up being exhausted for nothing by the time you complete them, and Mario Party Superstars has two of them: Cheep Cheep Chase and Pokey Pummel.

Out of the two, I vastly prefer Pokey Pummel. While I think Cheep Cheep Chase is more aesthetically interesting, Pokey Pummel has something that minigame doesn't have: a world record you can beat. Cheep Cheep Chase is less about getting the best score and more about just trying to reach the end while ducking from spikeballs and avoiding getting eaten by this huge Cheep Cheep.

It's just button mashing and the occasional ducking, which is no fun. Some people may enjoy it, and that's fine. I just don't like having to mash a button for 30 seconds, losing my breath, while also having to dodge spikeballs with the pickiest hitboxes in all of Mario Party. In the end, Cheep Cheep Chase is just another boring button masher without any real fun.

15 Archer-ival
16 River Raiders

We'll start off this list with a coin minigame, River Raiders. The coin minigames in Mario Party are where instead of aiming for a certain objective, the aim is to get as many coins as possible. The amount you collect is the amount you win. As a result, these minigames don't really have a winner or loser (unless you get nothing), and they tend to feel rather lackluster.

Sure, it's cool to get a few extra coins, but the minigames themselves feel rather bland due to the only thing you can do is get as many coins as you can. Mario Party Superstars has a whopping ten of these, and none of them are really that good aside from two. River Raiders is one of the bad ones, and it opens up our top ten worst list.

This is a 1 vs. 3 minigame where the three are holding onto a rope latched to the solo player's boat, and you have to get, obviously, as many coins as you can. The issue with this minigame being 1 vs. 3 is the unbalanced nature. The solo player has all the advantages, being in front of the team and being able to move wherever he wants to. Sure, he moves kind of slow, but it's nothing when you compare it to the fact that the team does not have free movement over the area. The solo player can just nab whatever he feels like because he's far ahead of the team, while the team just gets whatever the solo player may have missed. It's really unbalanced.

If it was more like Money Belts, where the solo player couldn't just nab everything, it might not have been on the list, but it is because it's unbalanced.

17 Look Away
18 Mass Meteor

Is it possible to even dodge the meteors?

19 Spin Doctor
20 Balloon Burst
21 Mecha-Marathon
22 Honeycomb Havoc
23 Picking Panic
24 Coconut Conk
25 Puddle Paddle
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