Mario Superstar Baseball

 MARIO SUPERSTAR BASEBALL

Take me out for a video game! Take me out for a round! Buy me a headset and controllers. I don't care if I ever get done. For it's root-toot-toot for the development team; if they messed it up, it's a sham. For it's one-two-three lives, you're dead in this old video game!

Press start!

Ahem, sorry about that. Couldn't resist. Today, we're covering Mario Superstar Baseball, one of the Mario series' two (full) forays into the sport of baseball. For the most part, the mechanics are all there, exactly what you'd expect from a baseball game. You have batters, pitchers, catchers, outfield, and infield. If you've watched a baseball game, you get the gist. Honestly, the most depressing thing here is that out of all the sports we've covered, baseball probably has the most to offer in terms of a Smash moveset but there's no real stand-out "Mario baseball" reps: no original characters like the RPG characters from the Golf and Tennis series. (That's okay though. It's not like this is the last time we'll encounter baseball in this blog series).

Speaking of characters, we have a butt-ton here, enough to make six full teams if you wanted. There are only twelve captains, each in pairs as the heads of the respective six teams. These include Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser, and Bowser Jr. From there, the rest of the characters fill out each team, but can be mixed around any way you want them. On Mario and Luigi's team, we get three Piantas, three Nokis, and a Monty Mole. On Peach and Daisy's team, we get five Toads, Toadette, and Toadsworth. On Yoshi and Birdo's team, we have Baby Mario and Luigi, and five Shy Guys. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong's team features a Goomba, Paragoomba, two Koopas, two Paratroopas, and Dixie Kong. Wario and Waluigi's team features a Boo, King Boo, Petey Piranha, and four Magikoopas. Finally, Bowser and Bowser Jr.'s team is filled out with three Hammer Bros. and four Dry Bones.

The captains all have special moves while pitching or batting, but most are pretty standard here. Mario and Luigi use fireballs, Peach and Daisy use hearts and flowers, Yoshi and Birdo's make it bounce around all weird (like an egg), Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong use bananas to make it rebound like a boomerang, Wario and Waluigi's make the ball go a different direction than you expect, and Bowser and Bowser Jr.'s turn the ball into a Bullet Bill. A lot of what you'd expect from most of these characters.

We have a number of stages, each correlating to a respective team. First we have Mario Stadium, a standard course that takes some inspiration from Sunshine (hence his team full of Piantas and Nokis). Then we have Peach Garden, a field set in her castle's shadow, with blocks floating in the air that disrupt the ball's course. Next is Yoshi Park, based on Yoshi games, with Piranha Plants cropping up here and there. We also have Donkey Kong Jungle, a jungle course with a river flowing through it and Klaptraps crawling out sometimes. Wario's is Wario Palace, a desert level with a Chain Chomp hazard. Finally, we have Bowser Castle, full of fireballs and lava and Thwomps that crush balls and players alike. There's also the Toy Field, a special field for practicing where you can collect coins based on where the ball lands.

There are items in the game, but they're mostly special bats and gloves you can purchase with coins rather than in-game items like in Mario Kart.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Mario: fireball

Luigi: green fireball

Peach: heart ball

Daisy: flower ball

Yoshi: egg ball

Birdo: weird ball

Donkey Kong: banana ball

Diddy Kong: boomerang ball

Wario: phony ball

Waluigi: liar ball

Bowser: killer ball

Bowser Jr.: killer jr. ball

Pianta

Noki

Monty Mole

Toad

Toadette

Toadsworth

Baby Mario

Baby Luigi

Shy Guy

Dixie Kong

Goomba

Paragoomba

Koopa

Paratroopa

Boo

King Boo

Petey Piranha

Magikoopa

Hammer Bro

Dry Bones

Lakitu

Piranha Plant

Klaptrap

Chain Chomp

Thwomp

Stages:

Mario Stadium

Peach Garden

Yoshi Park

Donkey Kong Jungle

Wario Palace

Bowser Castle

Toy Field

Items:

Bat

Glove

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover the game's sequel, Super Mario Sluggers!