It’s time again for Mario’s annual trip to the wide world of sports, and this year the game that’s sweeping the Mushroom Kingdom is baseball. Friendly games are the norm for Mario and friends, but when Bowser drops challenges across the kingdom, the best of the best decide to organize and take on the Koopa King in Mario Superstar Baseball. Developed by Nintendo and Namco, Mario Superstar Baseball assembles the largest cast of any previous sports title featuring the Mushroom Kingdom gang and puts forth a collection of game modes all the way from traditional baseball to wild mini-games to multiplayer madness.

Features

• Mario’s first baseball title
  
• Gameplay for one to four players
  
• Play the game the traditional way or mix things up with classic Mario maneuvers
  
• Mini-games provide specific score-based challenges
  
• Baseball becomes a party in the four-player Toy Field
  
• Only for Nintendo GameCube

Let’s Play A Baseball Game
Beneath its many game modes Mario Superstar Baseball is, of course, a baseball game. Players must learn the basics of the game in the provided Practice Mode and then transfer those skills to the game’s many other modes. Referee Lakitu walks players through the motions of batting, pitching, and fielding, all of which are easy to learn but difficult to master. Unlike Mario’s past sports experiences, his career in baseball relies just as much on accurate timing and pure dumb luck as on skill and practice.

Here’s how it all works: the A button is the game’s basic action button. While batting it swings the bat and while pitching it throws the ball. Hold it down to charge up the swing or the pitch. Charged up moves tend to knock or throw the ball farther into the outfield than a standard move. Hold down the R button before pressing A to unleash a Star Move (at the cost of one Star Point), each of which varies for different characters. Mario can pitch a blazing fireball pitch, for instance, while Donkey Kong can unleash his banana ball which flies in an arc towards home plate. While running the bases the Y button advances players currently on a base to the next one, while the X button reverses that direction. Catching the ball in the outfield is done just by steering a character into the ball’s path, and once again the A button tosses it back to the infield. Use the control stick to set the path’s path before throwing. i.e. hold down on the stick to throw to home base. While there are other fancy moves and maneuvers to learn, these basic controls control nearly all of the game’s action.

A Cast Of Thousands
Of course, knowing how to throw the ball and being able to throw the ball are two entirely different things. Each character has a unique way of playing baseball and it’s important to learn what makes each one tick, as they each fall into a basic category: Balanced, Technique, Speed, and Power. Some characters and their abilities are familiar: Mario is the well-balanced player, Yoshi is the speed king, and Bowser has a powerful swing. Then there are the newcomers to the game, the characters that most players haven’t seen or thought about in a long time: the Magikoopa sorcerers, the Nokis of Isle Delfino, and all the way from Super Mario World’s Cookie Mountain, Monty Mole himself. Building a successful team of nine players and assigning them to the most appropriate positions are essential, as filling the team with only power hitters turns disastrous when the team is out in the field; Bowser can slam a mean fastball, but he’s not so fast at running to catch a fly ball.

Watching the cast of characters play ball is part of the fun. Nintendo games have evolved to such a point where longtime fans are so familiar with Mario and friends that certain behaviors are not only anticipated, they are demanded. Watch for some obvious traits, such as Wario waving his rear end around to annoy his opponents and Yoshi reaching out to catch fastballs with his long tongue. Donkey Kong skips using a baseball bat and instead socks at pitches with a boxing glove. Bowser’s custom bat is more of a spiked club than a traditional baseball bat. Then there are the not-so-obvious things to look for, such as Yoshi’s House from Super Mario World (complete with mailbox and fireplace) appearing as part of the background on Yoshi’s baseball field, Baby Mario’s single tooth becoming visible when he throws a tantrum, and the tiny crown on top of King Boo’s baseball bat. The characters continue to be chatterboxes as Charles Martinet voices his characters with the usual style, while familiar sound effects give voice to the other characters.


Speaking of baseball fields, Mario Superstar Baseball includes six different stadiums in which to play ball, each one named for a specific character. Mario’s field is a traditional baseball field. Princess Peach’s field is built near her familiar castle, and as such is full of trimmed hedges and trademark floating blocks. Characters slow down while searching the hedge for an errant ball, while those hovering blocks can deflect the ball as it zooms through the air. Some blocks even contain additional Star Points. Wario’s field is built in the desert as a monument to his own greatness; it’s packed with Chain Chomps and sand traps. Donkey Kong has loaded his field up with Kremlings that take a bite out of outfielders and a cannon that fires rolling barrels parallel to the baseline. These barrels can flatten characters and temporarily stop them from throwing the ball back to the infield. The Piranha Plants have overtaken Yoshi’s field, and they pop out of the ground to chew on any baseballs that come near them. Locked away for only power players to discover is Bowser’s stadium, a place full of lava and Thwomps.