Mario Superstar Baseball
Encyclopedia
Mario Superstar Baseball, known in Japan as is a sports game
that was developed
by Namco
and NOW Production and published
by Nintendo
for the Nintendo GameCube
in 2005. The game was created in the vein of other Mario
sports game
s such as Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
and Mario Power Tennis
. This game is now a Player's Choice
title. The game has a sequel, Mario Super Sluggers
for the Wii
.
Gameplay mainly focuses on the player assuming the role of any Mario series
character to challenge any opposing teams compatible in the Challenge Mode, the final being Bowser, having baseball
matches to see who will win the Cup of the mode. Other playable modes include Exhibition Mode, in which players choose the leader and the other rosters in the team and challenge another team to a single baseball match, and Minigames where the player must complete a certain mission. A common power-up in the game is a charged swing, a hit by a baseball bat
performed by a character that will give the ball a strong hit, causing the length of a normal hit baseball to be twice as powerful.
Overall, the game was well received by critics, gaining a 8.0 out of 10 from GameSpot
.
, Peach
, Yoshi
, Donkey Kong, Wario
and Bowser), features a secondary captain (Luigi
, Daisy, Birdo, Diddy Kong
, Waluigi and Bowser Jr.), and is filled with a mix of sub characters, some of which are duplicated within a team, but do not appear on any other team. For example, aside from the aforementioned captains and sub-captains, Mario's team consists of Monty Mole, 3 Piantas and 3 Nokis, Princess Peach's team consists of Toadette, Toadsworth, and 5 Toad
s, Wario's team consists of Boo, King Boo, Petey Piranha, and 4 Magikoopas, Yoshi's team consists of Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and 5 Shy Guys, Donkey Kong's team consists of Dixie Kong, Goomba, Paragoomba, 2 Koopa Troopas, and 2 Koopa Paratroopas and Bowser's team consists of 4 Dry Bones, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro, and Boomerang Bro (although Hammer Bro, Fire Bro and Boomerang Bro are separate characters (enemies) in the Mario series, in this game, it is actually just a color variation of the same character.).
Players challenge the other teams, beating the other four opens the path to Bowser's castle. The secondary purpose of defeating other teams is to recruit other characters to improve ones team. On opposing teams, each character has a set of scouting flags. During the game players will have mission objectives like "Strike 'em out", or "Score a run", that earn flags; if one gets all the flags of a particular character and wins the game, that character will be recruited. If the player fails to complete a mission, he/she must wait for a while to complete another mission. Flags are cumulative, so if the player doesn't get all the flags in a game, or loses the game after getting all the flags, the flags earned will remain when the team is challenged again; a team can be challenged as long as the captain of the team is not recruited. Players of a different color can't be recruited and can only be played in minigames and playing with the teams they start on.
If the team captain is recruited, his or her team will disband; any characters from that team that were not recruited will join a team led by Bowser Jr. Another way to recruit characters is by a mercy win; if either team is leading by at least 10 runs at the end of an inning, the game is called out of mercy to the losing team. If the player wins a game in this fashion, all characters on the opposing team will be so impressed that they will immediately join.
After every game or minigame, Bowser Jr. will wander around the map; if the player runs into him, they will be forced to play a game in the bottom of the 9th inning, with the player randomly chosen as visitor or home. If the player's team is the visiting team, then they will have the lead and must stop Bowser Jr. from mounting a comeback; otherwise, it is the player's job to mount a comeback. Beating Bowser Jr. earns the player 100 coins to use in the shop, while losing costs the player half of their coins. It should be noted that in the event of having an odd coin count when losing to Bowser Jr., the coins will be rounded up. Bowser Jr.'s team also has players from disbanded teams that the player can recruit; in which case the only mission objective is "Win the game.".
There is a shop located on the map for purchasing power-ups, each worth a certain number of coins that the player earns from the minigames or Bowser Jr. In order for a Captain to use their special abilities, they must be purchased from the shop; these power-ups are permanent, and can be carried over into other Challenge Mode games by continuing from a previously cleared game. Other power-ups offer a temporary boost to a stat for all characters on their team, but they only last for one game, win or lose. Toad runs the shop.
Another goal during Challenge Mode is the Superstar quest; each character has a set of requirement that earn stars. If a character meets all of his or her requirements, then the character upgrades to a Superstar, and gets a boost in all their abilities. Also, once a character becomes a Superstar, the Superstar version of the character can be used in other game modes. There's a simple way to figure out the number of superstar missions per player. The captain of the team has 10 missions. The 2nd captain has eight. Minor characters have six. And characters of race (excluding Monty Mole who has six) have four. Note that players like Red Koopa and Black Shy Guy can be unlocked by completing the main changing color player like Blue Pianta & Blue Noki.
The game rules that cannot be changed are as follows: Your team bats first, and the Star Skills and a mercy are turned on. There are four difficulty settings for challenge mode that are similar to those of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
- Mushroom (easy), Flower (medium), Star (hard), and Special (very hard). On Mushroom, Flower, and Star difficulty setting, four other teams are challenged for three innings. After each team has been beaten at least once, Bowser is played for five innings. On Special difficulty setting, the innings change so that each team is played with two additional innings from before. Once the player clears Special difficulty, then Bowser is selectable as a team captain. When using him as a team captain, the rules slightly change: The other teams invade Bowser's castle, and Bowser must beat them in a game of baseball to win his castle back. Bowser has to beat the initial five teams, then they come together to form a team of captains led by Mario that Bowser must defeat; Bowser can still recruit other characters, except the captains and sub-captains; and because Bowser Jr. is on his team, he does not wander the map to challenge a player, so you must play minigames to earn coins.
When the ball is put into play, the player that retrieves the ball before it runs out of momentum will bat next. If the batters strikes out, the pitcher bats next. If the batter is struck out, they must give the pitcher 30 coins. If a batter is directly caught out, they must give the catcher 50 coins. If the ball is not caught before it runs out of momentum or 4 ball results are pitched, the batter gets another turn. The player with the most coins at the end of the game is the winner. The player gets to choose how many turns the game will last.
Bob-omb Derby- Hit homers with Bob-ombs using a charged swing to gain points. Anything other than a homer is worth nothing. Get enough points to win.
Wall Ball- Pitch balls to break a set of walls. The walls with musical notes on them are worth the most points if hit last, and hitting one of the Bowser walls last causes the player to lose half of their points, the points are than evenly distributed to the other players. The player with the most points after three pitching rounds wins.
Chain Chomp Sprint- Collect as many diamonds as possible by running around the bases. If the Chain Chomp wakes up and you don't stop running, it will steal some of the diamonds from players that were moving when it awakens. The player with the most diamonds wins.
Piranha Panic- Throw the colored eggs to its correctly colored Piranha Plant. Any egg can be thrown at the giant purple Piranha plant. The fire the plants spit out should be taken into consideration when a player throws an egg at the different colored Piranha Plant and another player's Bob-ombs. The player with the most points wins.
Barrel Batter- Hit as many barrels as possible to gain points. After a certain number of barrels are blown, a special barrel appears for one pitch only. Hitting it destroys all the barrels. Get enough points to win.
Star Dash- (must be unlocked) Collect as many coins as possible as they are shot out of a Coin Generator. Mushrooms sometimes come out, too. Red ones produce a speed boost, while purple ones grant the opposite effect. Stars will also sometimes appear. Anybody who touches a star becomes temporarily invincible, and can run into other characters to knock them out and steal their coins and can knock through obstacles around the generator. The player with the most coins wins.
Grand Prix- (must be unlocked) All minigames are randomly chosen for player to place first out of four. First place is 10 points, second place is 6 points, third place is 3 points, and last place is zero points. If playing against a computer, it is automatically on special difficulty. The winner is whoever has the most points after all minigames are played.
Sports game
A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...
that was developed
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
and NOW Production and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
in 2005. The game was created in the vein of other Mario
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
sports game
Sports game
A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...
s such as Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
Toadstool Tour received a positive reaction from critics, although it was criticised for being too similar to its predecessor. Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell commented that "Mario Golf hasn't really grown much since its time on the N64", despite enjoying the game's course design and "sense of fun"...
and Mario Power Tennis
Mario Power Tennis
Mario Power Tennis, known in Japan as , is a sports game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube in 2004. The game is the sequel to the Nintendo 64 title Mario Tennis, and is the third game in the Mario Tennis series...
. This game is now a Player's Choice
Player's Choice
Nintendo Selects is a marketing label used by Nintendo to promote video games on Nintendo game consoles which have sold well; Nintendo Selects titles are sold at a lower price point than other games...
title. The game has a sequel, Mario Super Sluggers
Mario Super Sluggers
Mario Super Sluggers, known in Japan as , is a sports video game for the Wii developed by Namco Bandai Games and NOW Production, and published by Nintendo. It was previously known by the working title Super Mario Stadium Baseball. It is part of the Mario Sports series, and the sequel to Mario...
for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
.
Gameplay mainly focuses on the player assuming the role of any Mario series
Mario (series)
The video game series, alternatively called the series or simply the series, is a series of highly popular and critically acclaimed video games by Nintendo, featuring Nintendo's mascot Mario and, in many games, his brother Luigi. Gameplay in the series often centers around jumping on and...
character to challenge any opposing teams compatible in the Challenge Mode, the final being Bowser, having baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
matches to see who will win the Cup of the mode. Other playable modes include Exhibition Mode, in which players choose the leader and the other rosters in the team and challenge another team to a single baseball match, and Minigames where the player must complete a certain mission. A common power-up in the game is a charged swing, a hit by a baseball bat
Baseball bat
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the game of baseball to hit the ball after the ball is thrown by the pitcher. It is no more than 2.75 inches in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches in length. It typically weighs no more than 33 ounces , but it...
performed by a character that will give the ball a strong hit, causing the length of a normal hit baseball to be twice as powerful.
Overall, the game was well received by critics, gaining a 8.0 out of 10 from GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
.
Exhibition Game
A single game of baseball, players choose the Team Captain and a roster of players, and play one game. Players can choose which team bats first. Players can also choose how many innings the game will last, and pick their choice out of six unique stadiums. Bowser's Castle can be unlocked after beating Challenge Mode.Challenge
The heart of Mario Superstar Baseball is the Challenge Mode. It is a single-player mode where the player selects a pre-built team and must defeat all the other teams; at first Bowser's team is the last team to beat for the cup, and must be unlocked before the player can use him. There are six teams, each led by one of the Captains (MarioMario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
, Peach
Princess Peach
is a character in Nintendo's Mario series of video games. She is the Princess of the fictitious Mushroom Kingdom, and often plays the damsel in distress role within the adventure series. In 2007, Princess Peach landed on Forbes magazine's Wealthiest Fictional People list, with a fortune upwards of...
, Yoshi
Yoshi
, is a fictional dragon-like character who appears in video games published by Nintendo. His debut was in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick , and he later established his own series with several platform and puzzle games, including Super...
, Donkey Kong, Wario
Wario
is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario series. The character was designed as another antagonist to Mario , and first appeared in the 1992 Game Boy title Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as the main antagonist and final boss...
and Bowser), features a secondary captain (Luigi
Luigi
is a fictional character, featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the slightly younger fraternal twin brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, and appears in many games throughout the Mario series,...
, Daisy, Birdo, Diddy Kong
Diddy Kong
, originally known as Donkey Diddy, is a fictional character in the Donkey Kong series of video games, first appearing in the 1994 game Donkey Kong Country. He lives on Donkey Kong Island in the Kongo Jungle, and is identified by his red hat, which has a Nintendo logo on it, and shirt...
, Waluigi and Bowser Jr.), and is filled with a mix of sub characters, some of which are duplicated within a team, but do not appear on any other team. For example, aside from the aforementioned captains and sub-captains, Mario's team consists of Monty Mole, 3 Piantas and 3 Nokis, Princess Peach's team consists of Toadette, Toadsworth, and 5 Toad
Toad (Mario)
Toad, known in Japan as , is a fictional character belonging to an anthropomorphic mushroom-like species of the same name in the Mario series, created by Shigeru Miyamoto. A citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom, Toad is one of Princess Peach's most loyal attendants and is constantly working on her behalf...
s, Wario's team consists of Boo, King Boo, Petey Piranha, and 4 Magikoopas, Yoshi's team consists of Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and 5 Shy Guys, Donkey Kong's team consists of Dixie Kong, Goomba, Paragoomba, 2 Koopa Troopas, and 2 Koopa Paratroopas and Bowser's team consists of 4 Dry Bones, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro, and Boomerang Bro (although Hammer Bro, Fire Bro and Boomerang Bro are separate characters (enemies) in the Mario series, in this game, it is actually just a color variation of the same character.).
Players challenge the other teams, beating the other four opens the path to Bowser's castle. The secondary purpose of defeating other teams is to recruit other characters to improve ones team. On opposing teams, each character has a set of scouting flags. During the game players will have mission objectives like "Strike 'em out", or "Score a run", that earn flags; if one gets all the flags of a particular character and wins the game, that character will be recruited. If the player fails to complete a mission, he/she must wait for a while to complete another mission. Flags are cumulative, so if the player doesn't get all the flags in a game, or loses the game after getting all the flags, the flags earned will remain when the team is challenged again; a team can be challenged as long as the captain of the team is not recruited. Players of a different color can't be recruited and can only be played in minigames and playing with the teams they start on.
If the team captain is recruited, his or her team will disband; any characters from that team that were not recruited will join a team led by Bowser Jr. Another way to recruit characters is by a mercy win; if either team is leading by at least 10 runs at the end of an inning, the game is called out of mercy to the losing team. If the player wins a game in this fashion, all characters on the opposing team will be so impressed that they will immediately join.
After every game or minigame, Bowser Jr. will wander around the map; if the player runs into him, they will be forced to play a game in the bottom of the 9th inning, with the player randomly chosen as visitor or home. If the player's team is the visiting team, then they will have the lead and must stop Bowser Jr. from mounting a comeback; otherwise, it is the player's job to mount a comeback. Beating Bowser Jr. earns the player 100 coins to use in the shop, while losing costs the player half of their coins. It should be noted that in the event of having an odd coin count when losing to Bowser Jr., the coins will be rounded up. Bowser Jr.'s team also has players from disbanded teams that the player can recruit; in which case the only mission objective is "Win the game.".
There is a shop located on the map for purchasing power-ups, each worth a certain number of coins that the player earns from the minigames or Bowser Jr. In order for a Captain to use their special abilities, they must be purchased from the shop; these power-ups are permanent, and can be carried over into other Challenge Mode games by continuing from a previously cleared game. Other power-ups offer a temporary boost to a stat for all characters on their team, but they only last for one game, win or lose. Toad runs the shop.
Another goal during Challenge Mode is the Superstar quest; each character has a set of requirement that earn stars. If a character meets all of his or her requirements, then the character upgrades to a Superstar, and gets a boost in all their abilities. Also, once a character becomes a Superstar, the Superstar version of the character can be used in other game modes. There's a simple way to figure out the number of superstar missions per player. The captain of the team has 10 missions. The 2nd captain has eight. Minor characters have six. And characters of race (excluding Monty Mole who has six) have four. Note that players like Red Koopa and Black Shy Guy can be unlocked by completing the main changing color player like Blue Pianta & Blue Noki.
The game rules that cannot be changed are as follows: Your team bats first, and the Star Skills and a mercy are turned on. There are four difficulty settings for challenge mode that are similar to those of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a racing game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube in 2003. The game is the fourth installment in the Mario Kart series, following Mario Kart: Super Circuit from 2001...
- Mushroom (easy), Flower (medium), Star (hard), and Special (very hard). On Mushroom, Flower, and Star difficulty setting, four other teams are challenged for three innings. After each team has been beaten at least once, Bowser is played for five innings. On Special difficulty setting, the innings change so that each team is played with two additional innings from before. Once the player clears Special difficulty, then Bowser is selectable as a team captain. When using him as a team captain, the rules slightly change: The other teams invade Bowser's castle, and Bowser must beat them in a game of baseball to win his castle back. Bowser has to beat the initial five teams, then they come together to form a team of captains led by Mario that Bowser must defeat; Bowser can still recruit other characters, except the captains and sub-captains; and because Bowser Jr. is on his team, he does not wander the map to challenge a player, so you must play minigames to earn coins.
Toy Field
Using four players and a metallic field decked with large buttons (reminiscent of the old "pitch and bat" machines), players will either gain or lose coins depending on where the ball lands. There are several types of spaces the player can land on.When the ball is put into play, the player that retrieves the ball before it runs out of momentum will bat next. If the batters strikes out, the pitcher bats next. If the batter is struck out, they must give the pitcher 30 coins. If a batter is directly caught out, they must give the catcher 50 coins. If the ball is not caught before it runs out of momentum or 4 ball results are pitched, the batter gets another turn. The player with the most coins at the end of the game is the winner. The player gets to choose how many turns the game will last.
Minigames
All games are for 1-4 players.Bob-omb Derby- Hit homers with Bob-ombs using a charged swing to gain points. Anything other than a homer is worth nothing. Get enough points to win.
Wall Ball- Pitch balls to break a set of walls. The walls with musical notes on them are worth the most points if hit last, and hitting one of the Bowser walls last causes the player to lose half of their points, the points are than evenly distributed to the other players. The player with the most points after three pitching rounds wins.
Chain Chomp Sprint- Collect as many diamonds as possible by running around the bases. If the Chain Chomp wakes up and you don't stop running, it will steal some of the diamonds from players that were moving when it awakens. The player with the most diamonds wins.
Piranha Panic- Throw the colored eggs to its correctly colored Piranha Plant. Any egg can be thrown at the giant purple Piranha plant. The fire the plants spit out should be taken into consideration when a player throws an egg at the different colored Piranha Plant and another player's Bob-ombs. The player with the most points wins.
Barrel Batter- Hit as many barrels as possible to gain points. After a certain number of barrels are blown, a special barrel appears for one pitch only. Hitting it destroys all the barrels. Get enough points to win.
Star Dash- (must be unlocked) Collect as many coins as possible as they are shot out of a Coin Generator. Mushrooms sometimes come out, too. Red ones produce a speed boost, while purple ones grant the opposite effect. Stars will also sometimes appear. Anybody who touches a star becomes temporarily invincible, and can run into other characters to knock them out and steal their coins and can knock through obstacles around the generator. The player with the most coins wins.
Grand Prix- (must be unlocked) All minigames are randomly chosen for player to place first out of four. First place is 10 points, second place is 6 points, third place is 3 points, and last place is zero points. If playing against a computer, it is automatically on special difficulty. The winner is whoever has the most points after all minigames are played.
Practice
This is where players can practice the various controls for Mario Superstar Baseball. This includes batting, pitching, baserunning, and fielding.Reception
The game has had generally positive reviews. A GameDaily reviewer praised the game, as telling that he "found it to grow on him." IGN praised the game, although also saying that "these high production values are not consistent throughout the experience."Awards
- G-Phoria's Best Alternative Sports Game for 2006