I knew I was doomed from the second I saw Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch 2 Edition announce its new camera mode. There’s something uniquely evil about Mario Party already — now Nintendo wants to film my shame in real time.
Jamboree launches 24 July, and I already know it’s going to be a disaster in the best possible way. This is a game designed to make you gloat, scream, and meltdown while your friends cheer on your misery. But instead of hiding behind a controller, I’ll get to see my own face projected back at me while Bowser robs me blind.
The feature is called CameraPlay, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a plug-in camera beams my reactions onto the game board. There’s Bowser Live too, where I get dragged onstage for a nightmare variety show hosted by a giant lizard with a superiority complex. It sounds unhinged. I cannot wait.
Then there’s Carnival Coaster, a rail shooter that looks like it will shake my wrists to oblivion. Tag-Team mode lets me warp around the board and sabotage people more efficiently. Frenzy Rules throws any semblance of balance out the window by handing out coins and Stars like candy at a cursed carnival.
It’s peak Nintendo chaos, the kind that dares you to get way too competitive and then immediately punishes you for it. And of course, the camera is sold separately, because of course it is.
To be clear, I’m fully aware of what’s happening here. Nintendo is weaponising the same nostalgia they always do, but this time they’re leaning into spectacle. This isn’t just a party game anymore — it’s reality TV for your own living room. Honestly, I should have seen it coming. Nintendo’s been moving in this direction for a while, and it makes total sense when you look at where the gaming market is headed. Reframed nailed this in their piece on gaming market growth, where everything is about engagement, spectacle, and getting people to react.
Jamboree feels like the next logical step for a company that has always balanced genius with nonsense. Maybe it’ll be a mess. Maybe I’ll hate it. But I already know I’m buying it. I mean, I don’t play Mario Party to relax. I play it to win — or more realistically, to watch my friends lose spectacularly while I laugh in their faces. Now I just have to live with seeing my own smug grin in glorious HD.