Mario Super Sluggers
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 GRAND SLAM!
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Mario Super Sluggers is a sports and adventure video game for the Wii developed by Namco Bandai Games and Now Production with Nintendo being the publisher. This is part of the sub-series of the Mario franchise related to sports as well as a sequel to Mario Superstar Baseball for the GameCube.
Why It's A Baseball Extravaganza
- The game has a large character roster as the team captains consist of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Bowser, and Bowser Jr.
- Other characters get to appear as non-captains consisting of a large number of characters like Toad, Toadette, Toadsworth, Pianta, Dixie Kong, King K. Rool, Funky Kong, Goomba, Magikoopa, Monty Mole, Blooper, just to name a few. In fact, some characters have alternate skins which are Yoshi, Toad, Pinata, Noki, Kritter, Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Magikoopa, the Hammer Bro family (Fire and Boomerang), Dry Bones, and Shy Guy
- Just like in Mario Superstar Baseball, some characters have good and bad relations with any other character. If your characters can make special abilities with another character, that is good chemistry. You can get items with chemistry while battling. To prove this to you, if you are the batter and the next batter shares chemistry with the player, you will get an item that can be used to mess up the outfielder's progress. Those with good chemistry can do buddy jumps and throws.
- The cutscenes are well animated. While not the best in terms of how graphics are nowadays, but still worth a shot. Due to how the cutscenes look, they can almost be compared to that of a typical 2000s animated movie like around the level of Dreamworks and Blue Sky Studios.
- The game takes place in Baseball Kingdom which is a creative setting consisting of various stadiums not to mention how the stadiums look ingenious with the likes of Mario Stadium, Luigi's Mansion, Peach Ice Garden, Daisy Cruiser, Yoshi Park, Bowser Jr. Playroom, Wario City, DK Jungle, and Bowser Castle
- Has a feature called the day/night feature where most stadiums can be chosen regardless of the time of day. Luigi's Mansion and Bowser Castle are available at night while Bowser Jr. Playroom requires a daytime setting.
- Fair amount of unlockables. Many team players need to be unlocked by going into Challenge Mode with a task that is needed to be completed. Some stadiums require tasks to be done in order for that stadium to open up.
- There are three ways to play the game. You can use either your Wii Remote vertically, a horizontal Wii Remote, or having a Wii Remote + Nunchuk controller. Whatever works for you, you can just do that and all of them have solid controls that take time to get used to. For those who like Wii Sports having baseball, upright is for you!
- Star Skill makes a return in this game. Every team captain has a unique skill with some having different skills. This time around, the skills are more unique than before with some having new ones.
- Mario has fire-based skills
- Luigi has tornado-based skills
- Peach has heart-based skills
- Daisy has flower-based skills
- Yoshi has rainbow based skills
- Birdo has suction-based skills
- Donkey Kong has barrel based skills
- Diddy Kong has banana-based skills
- Wario has phony based skills
- Waluigi has liar based skills
- Bowser has killer based skills as if he was the boss
- Bowser Jr. has graffiti based skills
- Minor characters would still use a batting Star Skill, yet the ball will fly in one of the three predictable ways depending on the batting character. The same can be said about the pitching
- Fun gameplay. It has the typical baseball gameplay as what you would expect with baseball while it does still have some charm due to uniqueness
- Items can be used during gameplay like for real. If the on-deck batter has good chemistry with the batter at the place, a randomly-selected item can be used to inhibit fielders by aiming the Wii Remote immediately after hitting the ball. These are the following items
- Green Shell
- Bob-omb
- Banana Peel
- Fire Ball
- Mini Boos
- POW-Ball
- Lightning Bolt
- Even challenge mode has items as well albeit they can be purchased at shops found within the stadium areas. They give a character a boost in stats during the game only it does wear off just for balance like Nice Bat, Power Bat, Dr. K, Lucky Glove, just to name a few.
- Challenge mode is now depicted as a story mode. This is giving out more lore to the Baseball Kingdom. You're basically just recruiting some players to go against Bowser's team and you also need to solve puzzles and/or complete certain tasks just to get the main goals done.
- During this mode, the only five characters you can take control of would-be Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Wario. Those guys have unique abilities for numerous events. For example, Mario can interact with plant life and use Warp Pipes while Wario can pick up metal things with his magnet and open treasure chests.
- There are a few badges that you can earn which are kinda like achievements.
- Some funny moments here or there like these moments for example
- IT'S HORRIBLE! HIDE THE CHILDREN! LOCK THE DOORS! BOLT THE WINDOWS - Shy Guy (They way that Shy Guy said the quote in all caps)
- Laugh already! Having no sense of humor's gonna get you punished - Boo
- What's wrong with you dodos? You WANT to get hit with my boomerang? - Boomerang Bro
- You cheated, didn't you? You're just a big Cheaty McCheaterton! - Bowser Jr.
- Hold it! Don't you dare touch this here lever! - Magikoopa
- No way, lard lump! We're gonna settle this like men!...With baseball! - Waluigi
- What took you so long, losers?! I'm so hungry, I could eat five of you - Wario
- Minigames are present there. You get to play minigames like Bob-omb Derby, Wall Ball, Piranha Panic, Gem Catch, you name it!. They are pretty fun to play.
- Every stadium is unique from one another. Here are a few examples.
- Mario Stadium does not have any distractions so it's more of a real world-like field
- Peach Ice Garden has Freezies who can become stage hazards with nighttime having a star-shaped snowflake that can turn the game pitch black if the ball touches it.
- Yoshi Park is based on Yoshi's Story and it's infested with giant Piranha Plants that can eat baseballs and spit them somewhere else. The plants can also hurt foes and the plants only appear at night. In daytime, Warp Pipes.
- DK Jungle has barrels rolling through the outfield and giant flowers to put people into a deep sleep.
- Unlike the previous game, a roulette will start in order to show which team will be batting first instead of choosing.
- The creative team names like Diddy Monkeys, DK Wilds, Waluigi Spitballs, Wario Muscles, Luigi Knights, etc.
- Some characters don't use bats and instead use other things like Petey Piranha using his leaf, King K. Rool using a scepter, Pianta using a palm tree, Dry Bones using a bone, Hammer Bro using a hammer, Boomerang Bro using a boomerang, Donkey Kong using a boxing glove, Funky Kong using a surfboard, etc. Yep, the very creative choice for some characters!
- A soundtrack that is upbeat as well as fitting for a Mario game. It sure does feel like a Mario Baseball game does it?
- Toy Field returns in this game. You have one batter and three outfielders with a cannon that pitches the ball to the batter. There is a roulette wheel with three different slots that affect the turn.
- You get to use your Mii to play baseball.
- It's a lot more fun when you play the game in multiplayer mode.
- In the intro, DK accidentally tackles Luigi, causing him to crash into the wall, everyone was concerned for him, until we see that Luigi ended up catching the ball right when he got shoved.
- In the ending scene, Bowser saves Mario and DK from a bullet bill Wario and Waluigi had launched at them.
Bad Qualities
- While the graphics are not bad, they resulted in mixed reactions. Sure it's colorful yet it's also kinda too similar to that of a GameCube. However, it's still not bad otherwise.
- For some reason, Tiny Kong uses her weird redesign that was first used in Diddy Kong Racing DS which can throw people who are used to her design from Donkey Kong 64 off guard.
- In one of the cutscenes, there are some errors here and there.
- The second cutscene has Shy Guy, Boo, and Dry Bones join Bowser Jr. yet Shy Guy is with Yoshi while Boo is with Wario.
- The third cutscene has Birdos of several colors being present joining the celebration of the victory against Bowser despite only the pink Birdo being playable
- Waluigi's Γ is mirrored in a scene where Wario and Waluigi were falling after being taken by the Bullet Bill to the sky.
- Lack of online play especially since during the time it was released, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was still around during the DS and Wii days.
- While it's still fun, the gameplay is less challenging and complex.
- They are some glitches like Mario and Luigi's white pupils in their eyes being misplaced when they use their Star Swings, the Yoshi Train making the ball disappear with the home run message showing up, the mouth glitch (only applies to Donkey, Funky, and Kritter), and wrong voice clips
- There are also some similarities with Mario Superstar Baseball
- The loading screen can be a bit too long.
- Not really much content aside from baseball and whatnot.
- The AI can be pathetic at times which means that it can be easy to win sometimes.
Reception
Mario Super Sluggers have mixed to positive reviews. Metacritic gives it a 69/100 while GameRankings gives the game a 69.72%. Nintendo Power gave the game a 7.5/10.
Trivia
- The only Mario game to never be released in Europe and/or Australia in physical form.
- As part of the North American marketing launch, Nintendo created a series of collectible online cards along with a website that served as a virtual collector's album. The site promises that the series will include a card for each of the 41 characters featured in Mario Super Sluggers. They appear on banner ads on popular children's websites yet have since begun to appear as embedded hyperlinks to other less obvious locations. The cards have been found on other sites like YouTube.
- When the Seattle Mariners played the New York Yankees on September 5, 2008, the game was promoted there at Safeco Field. The first 20,000 fans received special Mario Super Sluggers foam mitts. There were also two booths with the game demo and Mario Super Sluggers Cards were also passed out there. Every inning, someone was randomly chosen to win a Wii system along with the game. Whenever a home run or a good play happened, the Safeco Field video screen showed a gameplay clip with Mario, Luigi, or Bowser. A Mario mascot also appeared before the game with the Mariners' mascot, the Moose, but left after the first inning. Nintendo of America's offices are based in the Seattle area and was the majority owner of the Mariners at the time of the game's release (hence the promotion).
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