These days, most video games get a regular stream of updates full of bug fixes, balance tweaks and new content. Even Nintendo has made a habit of patching all of the games it publishes. There’s just one glaring exception: Super Mario Party, which is still on version 1.0.
Few major first-party Nintendo games have felt as though they’ve needed downloadable content as badly as Super Mario Party. The game only has four boards, a weak showing even by the standards of the series. It would also benefit from new characters and mini-games, as well as some sort of additional online mode. Currently, you can only play standard matches offline.
In its recent earnings report, Nintendo announced that Super Mario Party for the Switch has sold 5.3 million copies since it was released on 5 October 2018.
That puts it at number seven on the current list of the console’s top 10 best-selling games, well ahead of 1-2-Switch (2.86 million), Mario Tennis Aces (2.53 million) and Kirby Star Allies (2.42 million).
Unlike those games, however, Super Mario Party has never received any updates and Nintendo hasn’t announced any downloadable content.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/03/nintendo-reached-a-dlc-tipping-point-this-week/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/o6p85jvdlalij0was7u3.jpg” title=”Nintendo Reached A DLC Tipping Point This Week” excerpt=”It’s been a quietly unprecedented week for Nintendo, and one that should change players’ expectations for the company’s games going forward.”]
Part of the reason this seems so strange is that Nintendo has put a much greater emphasis on the life of its games after release in the Switch era.
Nintendo added motorcycles to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and balloon races to Super Mario Odyssey.
Even Snipperclippers, one of the Switch’s smaller launch titles, received new worlds and puzzles several months after release.
Mario Tennis Aces which came out last June, has received a fair number of balance patches and new characters in the months since then, the latest of which came out today and adds Boom Boom, one of Bowser’s minions, as a playable character.
Kirby Star Allies, a somewhat mediocre game at launch, has also benefited from post-release content, including three mini-expansions throughout 2018 that added new characters and challenge levels.
So why are Kirby fans being treated like royalty while Mario Party players are being left behind?
Back when Super Mario Party launched, Kotaku reached out to Nintendo to ask about the company’s post-release plans for the game but never heard back. Nintendo did not comment again this week when asked about the matter following the release of its earnings report.
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6 responses to “Four Months After Release, Super Mario Party Has Never Gotten An Update”
The ability to use other characters, perhaps unlocked by Amiibos, seems like a logical addition; particularly as it’s an entirely aesthetic update.
I feel the same way about Splatoon. That game would be infinitely more popular if you could use classic Nintendo characters like Mario and Link; making it the Mario Kart of shooters.
…except that it’s not the ‘Mario Kart’ of anything. It’s a core game. Why not add Ridley, Ness and Wii Fit Trainer to Mario 3D Land? It could be the Mario Kart of platformers!
Nintendo’s never developed big stories, but they generally keep to what little canon they have, with the Mario Sports/Kart titles being fun, non-canon romps.
Splatoon has a world, has story, has characters. Muddying the waters by adding Mario into a game where humanity died out thousands of years ago is just freaking weird. Not to mention, how’s he turn into a squid?
They did add proper sized people in Odyssey, and Botw is all over the shop canonically. Nintendo don’t really care about the canon anymore.
Or just leave Splatoon with its own characters, not everything need Mario crammed into it.
This game desperately needs some TLC (or free DLC). Our family is already sick of it. It should have released with twice as many boards and they should be interesting to boot!
Quite disappointed.
Well for a start ClawShrimp The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild got its DLC added first as part of the Expansion Pass.
Then came the Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle Season’s Pass which included all of the weaponry for Mario and his friends and Ubisoft was even kind enough to add Donkey Kong as a new DLC character since it was revealed at the Ubisoft E3 press conference late last year.
Super Mario Odyssey has been giving us a lot of updates to include costumes for Mario and even hint art to help Super Mario Odyssey fans like me find a hidden surprise.
But as of right now there are no reports if Nintendo was going to add more DLC Kingdoms as Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa announced last year that Nintendo was going to add DLC for those previously released Nintendo Switch games including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Mario Tennis Aces Super Mario Odyssey and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
But Super Mario Party on the other hand since it was released 4 months earlier I probably think Super Mario Party won’t get any updates or DLC anytime soon but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.
Because after all this is 2019 and what we should be getting is DLC for some previously released Nintendo Switch games which I’m hoping for later this year.
i just want a patch for this to let you skip some of the cut scenes
play it a bit with friends and we always complain about the how long and tedious they are every time we play
To be fair, in his most recent major outing, he spent half the game transplanting his soul into dozens of creatures via a magic hat. Turning into a squid doesn’t seem like a stretch
Lol Nintendo switch fans and expectations for Nintendo games are hilarious.
I’m sure Nintendo will listen to your suggestions. Lol.
I avoid this game like the plague because it just takes way too long to play each round. shit that should be skippable with the push of a button.