Mario Party 3 arrives on Nintendo Switch Online October 27

destructoid.com:

Thinking about renewing your Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership? It’s that time of year when many yearlong memberships lapse, so Nintendo has strategically announced that Mario Party 3 will become playable for Nintendo Switch owners around the world this week.

Mario Party 3 is the culmination of the original Mario Party trilogy on Nintendo’s 64-bit console. In many ways, it offered more of what the previous two entries did. There were more boards to play on, more minigames to ruin your thumbstick with, and more random elements to ruin your friendships. That said, I can’t lie; I really liked this one back in the day. Even today, I still hear many consider this one the best in the series.

With that in mind, I can sort of see why Nintendo might tempt Switch owners into another year of their subscription service with this announcement. I mean, I don’t know how many people actually use the online play feature of the service. But for those that do (and make it work without lag), this could make for a solid game night.

Mario Party is one of those series that, back in the day, I didn’t get for the longest time. Don’t get me wrong; I had friends, I definitely had friends, no one can say that I did not have friends. But on the rare occasions that I played Mario Party 1 or 2with friends or family members, I found myself getting bored before a single game was over. Mario Party 3 was the first entry to really grab me, and I still have my physical copy.

The Duel Mode of Mario Party 3 is what really sold me on the game. This was a 1v1 mode that had each player grinding coins, hiring classic Mario enemies as party members, and using them to fight the other player whenever you crossed paths. It wasn’t that complex, but