In the past, Mario’s forays into the sporting arena have previously been handled by Nintendo partner Camelot Software Planning, but Mario Superstar Baseball’s development duties have been handed to Namco, who’ve worked on the rather popular Family Stadium (or Famista) series in Japan for the last two decades. This may be of concern to some Mario sports fans, but after the somewhat disappointing Mario Power Tennis, it’s good to have a change of developer, especially to one who has a wealth of experience in the chosen sport.
The game is set up very much like the previous Mario sports titles, with a rather hilarious intro and a basic plot, this time involving Bowser’s desire to challenge the best in the kingdom at a baseball match. Mario Superstar Baseball has a pretty illustrious roster of characters from the Super Mario Bros. universe, with 12 team captains; Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Birdo, Bowser and Bowser Jr. and an additional 20 minor characters (featuring the likes of Baby Mario, King Boo, Magikoopa, Toadsworth, Goomba and so on). Characters usually have one of four standout abilities – Batting, Pitching, Fielding or Speed, and it is a good idea to keep in mind which ability is your team captain’s best when selecting your team.
Mario has a firm grasp on his woody
After selecting your team, the action will shift to the field. Mario Superstar Baseball assumes that players have a basic understanding of baseball (those of you who don’t should go here before playing), but obviously never gets as complex as EA and 2K’s Major League titles. The game can be broken up into three portions – batting, pitching and fielding. Batting is fairly straightforward; you can take a normal swing, make a bunt, direct your runners to steal a base, make a charge swing by holding A, or use a Star and execute your character’s special hit. The nature of batting in baseball can be a bit frustrating – constantly hitting foul balls is a little disheartening, but anyone can nail it after a couple of games.
Pitching is pretty simple in Mario Superstar Baseball – you can just press A to throw a regular pitch and use the analogue stick to curve the ball on its way through to the pitcher. Alternatively, you can hold the stick up or down while throwing to chuck a fast ball or changeup. Charging the A button and letting go at the right time will lead to a charged pitch which will be much more unpredictable for the batter. Finally, using a Star will cause your pitcher to use his/her special pitch, which varies greatly depending on the character – Mario will throw a super fastball, while King Boo will throw a rather confusing curve ball.
Mario Superstar Baseball’s fielding system is something of a nuisance. Each of the grounds has a predominantly Mario-style theme to it, which in some cases leads to a very unconventional field layout. This is most apparent in the case of Peach’s field, which is smack-bang in the middle of a hedge maze with obstacles everywhere. It doesn’t help that the fielding mechanics are sketchy at best, with somewhat major collision detection errors when picking up the ball and diving for a catch – the CPU has none of these problems when fielding, making solo experiences quite frustrating but leading to higher scores in multiplayer matches. On top of all of this, the fielding system is further marred by somewhat clunky controls, which drags the game down as a whole.
Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!
Mario Sports titles have always been ripe with play modes, and Baseball is no different. Exhibition allows up to two players to slug it out in a standard baseball game, with the ability to customise settings such as number of innings and the mercy rule (which basically ends the game if someone scores 10+ runs in an inning). Challenge mode is the rather meaty single player component where gamers must chose a team captain and wander throughout the Mushroom Kingdom recruiting players for his/her team. The recruitment process requires the player to take on one of four opposing team captains and earn a number of challenge flags by competing specific challenges that the game asks you to complete. Success in these scout missions will add a flag to the total next to each character’s portrait – get the flags and win the match, and those players will join your roster. As well as the flag challenges, there’s a number of Star Challenges for each player. Star Challenges require a player to do a specific task within the Challenge Mode, like obtaining their Star Power, hitting a homer or nailing a strikeout. Once all of a character’s Star Challenges are complete, he/she will be elevated to Superstar status, and be given a stats boost. Coins can be earned by participating in mini-games or by beating Bowser Jr. who’s roaming the countryside. These can be spent on special abilities for your players (which use the Star Points in the match). When your team is up to the task, and you’ve beaten the other team captains, you’ll be able to challenge Bowser.
Toy Field is something of a mix between baseball and Mario Party, where up to 4 players compete against each other to get the most coins. The field is laid out much like a board game, with various zones marked out for base hits and special rewards. Players take turns in batting, pitching and fielding with the player who has the most coins after the set number of rounds winning the game. It’s a little silly, but can be fun with three friends. Mini-games have been something of a Mario Sports staple, and Mario Superstar Baseball has quite a good selection. Five are available from the outside; Bob-omb Derby (a home run hitting contest), Wall Ball (break the walls with your pitches), Chain Chomp Sprint (collect gems while Chain Chomp is asleep, but stay still when he is awake), Piranha Panic (throw the coloured eggs at the matching plants) and Barrel Batter (smash the barrels – hit same coloured barrels to trigger chains). Each of the mini-games is quite fun, and as you complete the different levels of Challenge mode, you’ll unlock more, which expands Mario Superstar Baseball’s staying power.
Donkey Kong may be able to beat K. Rool, but he can't beat constipation
Presentation has always been an important part of Mario sports titles, and Baseball continues the tradition. The game opens with another well made CG intro piece, though this one is a touch more serious than the comedic efforts seen in Power Tennis and Toadstool Tour, plus the load screens feature nods to various Mario games from the past. Graphically, the game seldom strays from the status quo of the Mario universe – models are spot on, animation is quite good and the stadiums are full of life. There can be some collision issues, especially in the outfield, but these are minor. Many of the stock Mario themes have seen organ remixes for Mario Superstar Baseball in order to seamlessly integrate them into a baseball setting. Charles Martinet and the rest of the usual Mario suspects voice the characters, and once again do a decent job. Some keener players may notice some slight attitude adjustments in certain characters, specifically Donkey Kong, who seems to be a lot happier than usual (probably due to a lack of Cranky Kong).
In the end, Mario Superstar Baseball does a reasonably good job of continuing the Mario sports legacy. It’s not quite as good as Power Tennis or Toadstool Tour though – some parts of the game, specifically fielding, just aren’t as tightly tuned as Camelot’s games. In the end, if you’re a Nintendo fan or just like baseball, there’s plenty reason to pick up and play Mario Superstar Baseball, be it alone or with some friends.
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