Mario Superstar Baseball

File:Mario Superstar Baseball.jpg

The Mario Superstar Baseball boxart.

Mario Superstar Baseball (スーパーマリオスタジアム ミラクルベースボール, Sūpā Mario Sutajiamu Mirakuru Bēsubōru?, lit. Super Mario Stadium Miracle Baseball) is a sports game that was developed by Namco and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube in 2005. The game was created in the vein of other Mario sports games such as Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Power Tennis. This game is now a Player's Choice title. Game Modes

[edit] Exhibition Game A single game of baseball, players choose the Team Captain and a roster of players, and play one game. Players can also choose how many innings the game will last, and pick their choice out of six unique stadiums.

[edit] 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 (Mario, 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, Mario's team consists of Mario, Luigi, Monty Mole, 3 Piantas and 3 Nokis, Princess Peach's team consists of Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toadette, Toadsworth, and 5 Toads, Wario's team consists of Wario, Waluigi, Boo, King Boo, Petey Piranha, and 4 Magikoopas, Yoshi's team consists of Yoshi, Birdo, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and 5 Shy Guys, Donkey Kong's team consists of Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Goomba, Paragoomba, 2 Koopa Troopas, and 2 Koopa Paratroopas and Bowser's team consists of Bowser, Bowser Jr., 4 Dry Bones, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro, and Boomerang Bro.

Mario at bat while Bowser pitchesPlayers 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. 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 (such as Purple Toad & Yellow Magikoopa) can't be recruited and can only be played in minigames and playing with the teams they start on (ex. Green Toad with Peach).

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 their coins. It should be noted that if you have an odd coin count and you challenge Bowser Jr. and lose, your coins will be rounded up (ex: if you have 101 coins and lose, you will have 51 coins, not 50). 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.

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, you challenge four other teams that you will play three innings. After each team has been beaten at least once, you can play Bowser for five innings. On Special difficulty setting, the innings change: you challenge four other teams that you will play 5 innings, then beat Bowser's team that you will play seven innings. 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: Bowser has to beat the initial five teams, then face a team composed of Mario and eight other captains (One character is exempt at random); Bowser can still recruit other characters, except the captains and sub-captains; and Bowser Jr. does not wander the map to challenge a player.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Minigames 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. This is for 1-4 players. Note that FLUDD (Super Mario Sunshine) is pitching. When this is for 1-4 players, only one person gets 3 turns.

Wall Ball- Pitch balls to break 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 points. The player with the most points after three pitching rounds wins. This is for 1-4 players. This is for only 1 player on special difficulty.

Chain Chomp Sprint- Collect as many diamonds as you can by running around the bases. Make sure you stop moving when the Chain Chomp wakes up. If you're caught, the Chain Chomp will steal some of your diamonds. The player with the most diamonds wins. This is for 1-4 players.

Piranha Panic- Throw the colored eggs to its correctly colored Piranha Plant. Any egg can be thrown at the giant purple Piranha plant. Be careful of the fire the plants spit out when you throw an egg at the different colored Piranha Plant and other player's Bob-ombs. The player with the most points wins. This is for 1-4 players.

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. This is for 1-4 players. When this is for 1-4 players, only one person gets 3 turns.

Star Dash- (unlocked by beating challenge mode once on any level) Collect as many coins as you can as they are shot out of a Coin Generator. Mushrooms sometimes come out, too. Red ones give you a speed boost, while purple ones slow you down. 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(coin generator does not count). The player with the most coins wins. This is for 1-4 players.

Grand Prix- (unlocked by beating almost all of the minigames in single-player special mode) All minigames are randomly chosen for player to place first out of four. First place is 10 points, second place is 7 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.

[edit] Practice This is where players can practice the various controls for Mario Superstar Baseball. This includes batting, pitching, running, and fielding.

[edit] Playing as Bowser When playing as Bowser the other teams invade your castle, and you must beat them in a game of baseball to win your castle back. Bowser can win any character except Captains and Sub Captains. Because Bowser Jr. is on his team, he does not meander the board searching for a quick game.

[edit] Voice Acting Charles Martinet: Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Toadsworth Jen Taylor: Princess Peach, Toad, Toadette, Dixie Kong Scott Burns: Bowser, Pianta Dolores Rogers: Bowser Jr. Deanna Mustard: Princess Daisy Kazumi Totaka: Yoshi Isaac Marshall: Birdo Takashi Nagasako: Donkey Kong

[edit] Receptions The game has had generally positive reviews:

IGN - 7.9/10 GameSpy - 4 out of 5 GameSpot - 8/10 Electronic Gaming Monthly - 7/10 Game Informer - 7/10 Eurogamer - 6/10 GameTrailers - 8.5/10 Nintendo Power - 9/10 Game Rankings currently scores it 77% after 46 reviews.

[edit] Awards G-Phoria's Best Alternative Sports Game for 2006