N-Philes

Mario Superstar Baseball

Posted by James Ondrey.

You gleefully reach for your tall, frozen glass of ice-cold lemonade as your face rains with sweat in the scorching heat. There's just enough for one last gulp. You literally feel the cool liquid douse your flaming insides as it traverses through your esophagus. Ahhhh - so refreshing.

That's the same feeling you get when you play Mario Superstar Baseball – well, figuratively speaking of course. In an age where higher sophistication and greater realism rule the day, Mario Baseball doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is – a charming pick-up-and-play, arcade-style baseball game.

Similar to Mario sports titles from the past (Mario Tennis and Mario Golf), Superstar captures what makes the sport fun in real life and effortlessly translates it into an easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master video game. Pitching and hitting is pleasantly deep, but those playing alone will question its longevity.

Where today's baseball simulations (MVP Baseball, All-Star Baseball) look to the future for inspiration in game design, Superstar Baseball looks to the past. Superstar plays a lot like the old 8-bit gems that many still consider to be the best baseball games ever made (remember Baseball Stars, Bad News Baseball, Baseball Simulator 1.000?). But that's not to say the game doesn't offer any depth, strategy or new gameplay ideas at all.

Despite its ridiculous simplicity, Nintendo nailed the heart of all baseball games – the pitching and hitting mechanics.

Hitting is based entirely on timing and batter positioning – that's it. Pitchers have just three pitch speeds and only control the horizontal movement of the pitch – that's it. The simplicity is invigorating and especially satisfying when playing against a human opponent. Impressive dexterity skills will hardly give you an edge when hitting and pitching, unlike today's baseball sims. Instead of out-thumbing your opponent, you'll be forced into a psychological war with them.

By holding down the A button pitchers and batters receive an extra boost of power before the pitch or swing. Releasing the button at the right time maximizes the boost. Be warned though, powering up a pitch means you won't be able put any movement on it. Likewise, powered-up batters will find it more difficult to time an incoming pitch. This tiny detail adds a bunch of strategy into an otherwise straightforward pitching and batting system.

But as easy as hitting sounds, there's plenty of depth and challenge. Hitting requires precise timing and aiming, so for example, trying to pull an outside pitch will result in a slow roller to the mound. Thankfully, learning how to hit properly is a breeze. When your character connects with a pitch, a brief message will flash notifying how well you did (good hitters will often see "Perfect!"). The mechanics are so well-tuned you'll hardly ever feel snubbed of a hit and base knocks always feel satisfying. You can even take your cracks against a pitching machine in practice mode if you'd like.

Amazingly, despite its simplicity, the game is well balanced enough to give the sense of a real baseball game. Homeruns are scarce (and feel awesome when achieved) and final tallies rarely ever look like football or soccer scores.

The gameplay deepens even more as you'll have to decide when to utilize your scarce supply of "star" powers. Each team is entitled to five stars per game that can be used when hitting or pitching to boost your character's abilities for a given pitch. These character-unique powers are fun to watch and keep games from feeling predictable.

For example, when Mario pitches a star-powered fastball, he delivers a wickedly fast fireball (literally) to the plate. The star pitches are tough to hit, but batters aren't completely helpless when bombarded by one. Batters' star powers feel equally as effective. If Wario smacks a ball in the air using his star power, the ball transforms into a smoke-puffing bomb that explodes somewhere mid-flight, releasing two baseballs to the ground (only one of which is real).

Star power enthusiasts will love the fact that their supply can be replenished throughout the game by completing random tasks such as hitting a single or forcing a batter out. Don't worry baseball purists, there's an option to turn them off entirely.

Unfortunately the same coat of polish spread across Mario Baseball's hitting and pitching system wasn't slapped onto the fielding and base-running mechanics. Whereas hitting and pitching is learned with little effort, it's likely that newcomers will struggle with the loosely-controlled fielders and base runners. Tapping the B button speeds up your controlled fielder, but often times you'll be boosting him too far or in the wrong direction. Likewise, base running feels a little sluggish and the not-so-bright artificial intelligence doesn't help either. For example, smashing a fly ball to center field with one out shouldn't cause my runner on third to book for home plate. You'll have to manually return him to the base to tag-up and score. In addition, changing directions feels slow and unresponsive, even if it was designed that way.

The fielding and base-running certainly aren't game-breaking flaws, but they're simply not as intuitive as the batting and pitching.

But Superstar's greatest shortcoming is not what Nintendo and Namco did, it's what they didn't do. Those looking to play in a 162 game season (or any season at all) will be greatly disappointed, as there is no option to do so. Instead, the developers opted for a "challenge mode" that mixes a cliché-ridden, laughable story with RPG elements, mini-games and very little baseball.

After choosing a captain for your team (Mario, Peach, Wario, Yoshi, or Donkey Kong) you're plopped onto a Mario Party-esque game board. It feels like nothing more than a glorified menu-screen.

Moving through the board, you play against just four teams (as many times as you'd like) and by performing well, your players' attributes increase. You can acquire players from opposing teams by completing game-specific missions, such as driving in a run at certain moments in a game.

The main goal is to build up a formidable team to face-off against Bowser's squad (defeating all four teams will allow you to play versus Bowser). Mind-numbing mini-games like throw-the-colored-eggs-at-Piranha-Plants and run-around-the-base-paths-in-order-to-collect-gems can be played to earn coins to purchase power-ups for your team. They can be played with friends as well, but besides Bob-Omb Derby, you won't be playing any of them for fun (at least sober).

By defeating Bowser's team you win a trophy and move onto another difficulty level. It works a lot like Mario Kart, except instead of unlocking several racetracks to use, you're forced to play in the exact same challenge mode only at a higher difficulty. You can't even carry your team over into the next level as you're forced to start from scratch... again. Yawn.

If there's any incentive to the challenge mode, it's that progressing through it will unlock a lot of goodies, such as a plethora of more Nintendo-themed characters and few stadiums for use in exhibition mode. The stadiums look fantastic, but more importantly, they expand Superstar's gameplay by adding another element of unpredictability. Stadium-specific hazards such as small tornadoes and floating blocks wreak havoc on routine fly balls, making for some preposterous hits and defensive plays – a welcomed addition, especially when playing against human opponents.

Like the stadiums, the characters look like they came straight from a cartoon. There are over 30 of them, each oozing their own personality thanks to varying skills and attributes. Baby Mario is definitely not the next Barry Bonds, but his speed in the field and on the base paths will remind you of Rickey Henderson. Waluigi isn't much of a hitter either, but players will appreciate his nasty curve ball and Ichiro-like arm from the outfield.

If the exhibitions and mini-games aren't doing it for you, the "Toy Field" mode might catch your interest. Up to four humans or computers compete on a toy field littered with rewards. Rewards yield coins – collect the most by the end of the game and you win. Smack a pitch against the wall and you'll be awarded with a slot machine prize. Fielders fight to reach the ball first to determine who bats next. Toy Field isn't a gimmick and is better than the mini-games, but it won't serve as a substitute for exhibition games.

Namco and Nintendo display the virtual world of Mario Baseball just as you might imagine it. It's easy to get lost in the wonderfully rendered Nintendo world. Right down to the remarkable computer-generated introduction (perhaps the best movie from Nintendo since Super Smash Bros. Melee opening) and nifty Super Mario Bros. loading screen, Superstar presents nothing but a well-produced, Nintendo-filled presentation all the time. You won't notice the music (that's a good thing) as it appropriately blends itself seamlessly into the background. But for the love of Miyamoto, that annoying sound before a batter steps up to the plate needs to be murdered with a fat salmon to the head.

This game gets an N-Philes score of B.

Baseball enthusiasts and casual fans will find something to love in Mario Baseball. Casual fans will adore its simplicity and fast-paced nature, whereas baseball enthusiasts will respect the depth and detail found in the hitting and pitching. Unfortunately, there's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to the play control in the field and on the base paths. But even more regrettably than that, players will wonder what could have been had Nintendo and Namco implemented a deeper single player experience. Where's the season mode? Thankfully multiplayer exhibitions greatly extend the game's life.

This is Nintendo and Namco's best collaboration work yet.

Posted in: Reviews

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