The Nintendo Switch in the last year and a bit has become the home for a lot of successful ideas and concepts, and at first glance one would think Super Mario Party is the perfect fit for the hybrid console.

With its motion-sensing Joy-Con controllers and hybrid portable/fixed-console nature, Nintendo's Switch might just be the best party-gaming device ever devised. So it makes perfectly good sense that the Japanese company would bring Mario Party , its long-running party-game franchise to the Switch.

Minigames as fun as ever ; River Survival is a fun way to play; Toad’s Rec Room is brilliant; Online Mariothon;

A few boring minigames; You need two copies of the game to play Toad’s Rec Room; Mario high-fiving Bowser? It’s just wrong;

If party-gaming is what you crave, Nintendo consoles have always been the best bet. The Wii captured the public imagination thanks to its party-gaming capabilities and, if anything, the Switch (at least on paper) has even better party-gaming credentials, thanks to its added portability.

Surprisingly innovative; Board game element more fiendish than ever; Excellent mix of co-operation and competitive play; Makes good use of Switch's unique attributes

Lacks structure when viewed purely as a game; Should include more Mario Party boards; Online play requires Nintendo Online subscription; Joy Con only

"Who are you rooting for" I asked my housemate, a non-player heckler watching a full-up game of Super Mario Party . Without missing a beat, he responded gleefully: "Chaos!" Mario Party is a video board game series that's all about swing. You get a star. You move a few spaces. You lose a star.

Nintendo's virtual board game is revamped for the Switch, but are its charms just a little too simple to appeal to everyone

The back to basics approach works great and the new boards and mini-games are all cleverly designed and fun; Very little downtime, accessible controls, and plenty of extra modes

Could have done with more mini-games and boards; Reliance on luck will frustrate some players

The Switch has been home to games that have marked a return to form for their series after divisive entries.

Your boardgame evenings will never be the same again as this could possibly be the best Mario Party game ever |...

I've always measured Mario Party games by the tension it brings. The star stealing, the backstabbing, the teamwork, the fact that skill has nothing to do with whether you win or not. In Super Mario Party that returns, but it dials back the expletive-encouraging randomness considerably.

this game is good.