I unfortunately can’t really say since I’ve only played an hour with a friend who is really into it, and I never grew up playing any of the Mario party games. But I know a few people who really like it so it can’t be that bad I guess haha. I also can’t speak to joycons because we use Xbox controllers, I think there are some mini games that rely on Xbox layout / colors so that might be rough

Yeah those spell mishaps really add a lot of fun! I remember we were always accidentally blowing ourselves up with the wrong combinations or doing electrical spells when wet. Then there’s the exit to desktop spell that exits the game lmao.

I used to collect tons of local multiplayer couch co-op games back in college when I had 3 other gamer housemates. Lots of junk but some gems. My favorite has to be gang beasts and Blur (you’ll have to pirate that one these days - think Mario kart if it was made in the style of need for speed). Also golf with your friends has good local multiplayer support as well as olliolli2 if you’re into side scrolling skateboarding. Then there’s chaotic cooperative games like overcooked, moving out, and out of space, as well as Magicka 2. For a Mario party type game there’s pummel party, and a good twin stick shooter is assault android cactus.