Super Mario Party Finally Gets New Online Play In Free Update

After nearly two and a half, Super Mario Party is getting new online play options in a free update.

When the game first launched in October 2018, it did have online—albeit in a rather limited form. With today’s update, Nintendo is beefing up Super Mario Party’s online multiplayer modes.

This is only the game’s second update, with a previous one in March covering “fixes to the data scheduled for an upcoming release.”

Below are the latest update’s patch notes:

Ver. 1.1.0 (Released April 27, 2021)

Feature Added

You can now play the following modes over the internet:

・Mario Party

・Partner Party

・Free Play (Minigames)

Important: To play over the internet, a subscription to the paid Nintendo Switch Online service is required.

Playing over the internet

To play over the internet, select either Mario Party, Partner Party, or Minigames, then select Online Play.

There are two ways to play over the internet: Friend Match, where you can play with Friends, and Private Game, where you can play with anyone using passwords.

The combinations through which you can play over the internet are as follows:

・Up to 1 player per system (you can play with between 2 and 4 players)

・Up to 2 players per system (you can play with between 3 and 4 players)

If two players are each playing on their own systems, they cannot play with two players using a third system.

Playing over the internet supports the Invite Friend feature. If you select Invite Friend on the screen at which you’re waiting for rivals, your selected Friends can join from the Online Play Invites on their user-page icon in the top left of the HOME Menu.

・Online Mariothon does not support the Invite Friend feature.

When playing over the internet, all 20 characters and all maps are available, regardless of your current in-game progress.

When playing over the internet, 70 of the total 80 minigames are available to play.

The following 10 minigames are not available when playing over the internet.

・Strike It Rich

・Time to Shine

・Take a Stab

・All-Star Swingers

・Rhythm and Bruise

・Pep Rally

・Wiped Out

・Fiddler on the Hoof

・Clearing the Table

・Baton and On

Play data won’t be saved when playing over the internet.

Better than never, I guess!