GameSpy Review of Mario Super Sluggers

Mario Super Sluggers takes the game of baseball and turns it on its head, with the beloved characters of the Mario universe stepping up to the plate and commandeering the pitching mound in fun-filled baseball games like you've never seen before. Much like how Mario Strikers Charged presented a comical, arcade version of the world's most popular sport, Mario Super Sluggers puts the kind of spin on America's pastime that could only come from the Mushroom Kingdom.





Typical baseball games don't include field hazards like Chain Chomps trying to take a bite out of outfielders, or those distinctive green pipes that will teleport the ball from one side of the field to the other. Mario Super Sluggers breathes new life into a spectator sport that some find, dare we say it, somewhat boring. Why can't this year's World Series be played on a field littered with rolling, monkey-smashing barrels? Why not introduce sliding blocks of ice to make snagging that pop fly a little more challenging, or toss in a few banana peels and bombs to make the shortstop really work for his money? It's this sort of thing that makes Mario Super Sluggers more interesting than the umpteenth iteration of your more traditional baseball game.










Now Batting... Donkey Kong!





It's not about balance or fairness in Mario Super Sluggers: This is a game where Luigi can swing the bat and unleash a twisting tornado, bowling over anyone who tries to make a play on the ball, and where Petey Piranha can knock one over the fences with a swing of his leafy appendages. All the big names and faces from the Mario games have unique moves they bring to the field, like Yoshi's ability to snatch balls out of the air with a flick of the tongue and Boo's ability to teleport behind the catcher when racing into the catcher during a close play at home plate.





There are unique team chemistry moves you can pull off as well, like attacking the ball to pass it to a friend, who gets a super-powered throw bonus when executed correctly, or the buddy jump, which allows you to soar high into the air to rob the opponents of a home run. If you want a simulation of real baseball, you're barking up the wrong tree here.





This colorful sports game offers a handful of unique stadiums, but far more than mere aesthetics set them apart. Mario Stadium is gimmick-free, but every other field presents a unique environment to the players. Princess Peach's Ice Garden is a slippery field, while Yoshi's Amusement Park has a choo-choo train chugging along the warning track, ready to bowl over anyone who doesn't keep an eye out for it. The Luigi's Mansion stage is an eerie delight, with ghostly glowing lines outlining the diamond.





Presenting the colorful Mario cast in attractive stadiums is only part of the challenge. The key to making a game like Mario Super Sluggers work is to capitalize on the unique opportunity to present an innovative control scheme that is only possible on the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo has a better grasp on this than anyone in the industry, though companies like EA are making inroads in this direction with their "All-Play" line of sports games. Mario Super Sluggers does a fair job here, as once again we're witness to an input method that manages to take the familiar motions of a popular sport and bring them to the living room.

















The biggest control-related issues arise from the system's imperfect recognition of your motions and button presses. Batting, for instance, relies on the Wii being able to recognize when you rear back with the Remote to charge up for a swing. Sometimes you'll try to prepare this charging motion and instead the character at bat will just take a premature swing. The same issue crops up while pitching. You'll toss one pitch, and then your Remote will be out of position to prepare for the next, so bringing it back up to the ready position will result in the start of a pitching motion.





Sometimes the game won't even recognize when you have the A and B buttons held to initiate a star-powered special move, which in pressure situations can mean the difference between a game-winning strikeout or a heartbreaking defeat. While these issues crop up with some regularity, it's not enough to detract from an experience that works fairly well overall.





Controls for Everyone





Mario Super Sluggers actually feels like two different takes on baseball in one, depending on whether or not you're playing with the Nunchuk. With the Nunchuk, you have more control over all aspects of the game, as you're able to better direct the curve of your pitch, better control the baserunners and stealing, and actively control fielders. This, by its very nature, makes the game more challenging, and more of a true baseball experience.










Unplug the Nunchuk and you play a slightly beefed-up version of Wii Sports Baseball, where all you really have to worry about are basic swinging and pitching motions, with the CPU taking over when it comes to fielding and running the base pads. This mode is a cinch to jump into, and even younger kids will be able to enjoy the game to its fullest this way after just a little practice getting the swing timing down.





Additional gameplay modes abound in Mario Super Sluggers, not the least of which is a sizable single-player story mode that focuses on Mario building a team of all-star players to take on Bowser Jr. and his mean old daddy. Almost like an adventure game of its own, this mode has you finding and controlling star characters Mario, DK, Yoshi, Wario and Peach, each with unique abilities that allow them to find and recruit other players.





This mode is where you'll unlock a wide variety of mini-games, like the Piranha Panic game where you fire off baseballs at piranha plants, or the Blooper Baserun, where you race around the diamond collecting coins and treasure, all the while avoiding the inky squid's bothersome tentacles. There are a handful of mini-games, and they can be quite fun for up to four players.





Mario Super Sluggers lacks online support, which could have made this a huge winner for fans of baseball and Mario alike. Regardless, the game is perfectly suited for party settings, especially when you get players working together on the same team, cheering each other on or working together defensively to pull off spectacular plays. With just a bit more polish and more refinement of the gesture-recognition system, this one could have been a huge hit. As it stands, Mario Super Sluggers is an enjoyable baseball game that puts the emphasis on the fun, right where it should be.

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