‘Super Mario Party’: How to unlock characters, new modes, boards

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Super Mario Party has made its Nintendo Switch debut, so it’s time to gather with friends and family, grab a Joy-Con, and get to the party. While there’s a decent amount of content from the jump, you can extend your stay in Party Plaza by unlocking all the hidden little gems in the game. Here’s all the information you need to unlock all the characters, the new mode called Challenge Road, and more.

Kamek’s Tantalizing Tower

The first unlockable you’ll want to tackle is the hidden board. Luckily, you can do this by just trying the three default boards: Whomp’s Domino Ruins, King Bob-omb’s Powderkeg Mine, and Megafruit Paradise. After completing a match on each of three boards, you’ll unlock Kamek’s Tantalizing Tower.

Challenge Road and other modes

You start off Super Mario Party with four game modes: Mario Party, Partner Party, Sound Stage, and River Survival. You can unlock one major new mode called Challenge Road along with several small-scale features.

How to unlock Challenge Road: Challenge Road becomes available after you unlock all 80 minigames. As you play, you’ll see question marks for minigames that haven’t been unlocked. Of course, at the end of turns, you have to rely on chance to get a game you haven’t played yet (don’t worry, it’s usually pretty good about landing on unplayed games). In order to unlock all 80, though, you have to play Mario Party, Partner Party, Sound Stage, and River Survival. We had to play each mode a few times to unlock all the games and open up Challenge Road.

Tip: You can go to the right side of the plaza to look at all of your unlocked minigames. Click on the ones with the question marks to see which mode unlocks them.

Other smaller “modes” can be unlocked, too.

In the green pipe on the right is Toad’s Rec Room. This unlocks after playing one Mario Party match. Once in the rec room, you can play several different minigames including a neat baseball one.

You can also spend Party Points on collectibles after speaking with the Toad at the center of Party Plaza. Before you can do that, you must first earn Party Points which are acquired by playing a game in any mode. After gaining the ability to spend Party Points, head left and then up to the red warp pipe. Kamek will open up the Sticker Room for you.

How to unlock characters

There are four hidden characters that aren’t playable at first: Pom Pom, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, and Dry Bones.

• Pom Pom: Shows up in the Party Plaza after completing the Salty Sea section (world 5) of Challenge Road. That said, you have to unlock all the minigames before unlocking Pom Pom.
• Diddy Kong: Similar to Pom Pom, you have to complete the Chestnut Forest section (world 2) of Challenge Road to unlock Diddy Kong.
• Donkey Kong: To unlock Donkey Kong, play River Survival three times. Make sure to take different paths each time. On the third time through, you’ll see DK in the crowd as you head into the home stretch.
• Dry Bones: Dry Bones is weird. There doesn’t appear to be a set requirement for unlocking the skeletal Koopa. Dry Bones just shows up in Party Plaza after playing for a bit. You’ll find him at the top of the plaza.

Watch the final cutscene

To “beat” Super Mario Party and view the final cutscene, you have to collect five gems, each of which requires you to master the five main game modes.

• Gem of Tenacity: Most will unlock this gem first, as its requirement is to play all four boards in standard Party mode.
• Gem of Love: Requires you to play a round on all four boards in Partner Party.
• Gem of Courage: Take every route in River Survival to show you’re courageous enough for this gem.
• Gem of Spirit: This one may sound challenging, but it will take you the least amount of time. Simply complete a round of Sound Stage on hard difficulty.
• Gem of Passion: Finish Challenge Road.

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