I don't like baseball. It's conventional nine inning structure as well as the strategically optimal way to play it being drawn out just makes it an absolute chore to watch. It's because of this though that I think it was an absolutely incredible choice for a Mario sports series adaptation and Mario Super Sluggers delivers on most fronts with that.
The area that Mario Super Sluggers really shines is its core gameplay. There are of course all the hallmarks of a Mario Sports game here with captain specific special moves and items that you can throw onto the field to halt the opponent’s progress while you score runs but I think what I appreciate more here are some of the more unique mechanics that can be used by all players. Things like the buddy jump which allows two of your fielders to boost one another up and grab a would-be home run ball or the buddy move that lets you throw a ball to base at the speed of sound to get a runner out, it’s things like these that give the game depth and make it a blast to play. The character roster in this game is expansive and each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, chemistry with other characters, and unique attributes that makes building the perfect team before starting a game feel like a game in and of itself. Perhaps the aspect of gameplay I enjoy the most though are all the unique ballparks to play in. The game has nine stadiums each with their own theme and gimmick, my favorites being Daisy’s stadium which takes place on Daisy Cruiser from Double Dash and will occasionally have a giant squid (Gooper Blooper if you wanna get technical about things) come and tip the ship sideways and Wario’s stadium set in the middle of a city and complete with bursting water grates and a giant golden idol of Wario in a fancy top hat for all to stand and admire. All these aspects add up and turns a sport I find incredibly boring into one that’s really deep and a blast.
Despite having such fun gameplay, in terms of content and unlockables the game is just fine enough. As a kid that didn’t matter, me and my brother would play this game so much to the point of making our own championship brackets in the exhibition mode where we would face off against each other using different teams and have a blast in the process. As an adult with only one functional Wii remote and a shortage of friends who are the right kind of dysfunctional enough to play a game while silly Mario baseball league with me though, there’s just not a lot for single players like me to do here. The main event here is the challenge mode, a story mode of sorts where you explore around the island the game takes place on and its many baseball parks and solve puzzles, recruit teammates, and play mini baseball challenges that test your skills on all the game's various mechanics. I have to commend the ambition here as this kind of thing hadn't been done in any of the prior Mario sports games, but in execution I find this mode kinda lacking if I'm being honest. It only took me around 2-3 hours to 100% the whole thing and no part really posed any significant challenge, least of all the severely anticlimactic final baseball match against Bowser which I won by scoring 10 runs and triggering the mercy rule within the first inning. Apart from this mode there's a handful of really hit or miss minigames and the Toy Field mode which is just not fun at all. There's a load of unlockable characters in the game and a few unlockable stadiums but you get everything naturally by playing through the aforementioned challenge mode so the unlockables here aren't really feel exciting or worth anything.
There was a time where I was absolutely enamored with this game and had it up there with Mario Strikers Charged for one of the best Mario sports games, as it stands now though it's just not that game to me anymore. Growing up means looking at things from your childhood and coming to the realization that some of them weren't good, at least not as good as you remembered and that's kind of how I felt when replaying this game. Mario Super Sluggers is still a game that I enjoy because of it's really fun core gameplay and it's a blast if you can find someone to play it with, but as it stands, I think the most fun I have had and probably will ever have with this game remains in my nostalgic memories.
The area that Mario Super Sluggers really shines is its core gameplay. There are of course all the hallmarks of a Mario Sports game here with captain specific special moves and items that you can throw onto the field to halt the opponent’s progress while you score runs but I think what I appreciate more here are some of the more unique mechanics that can be used by all players. Things like the buddy jump which allows two of your fielders to boost one another up and grab a would-be home run ball or the buddy move that lets you throw a ball to base at the speed of sound to get a runner out, it’s things like these that give the game depth and make it a blast to play. The character roster in this game is expansive and each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, chemistry with other characters, and unique attributes that makes building the perfect team before starting a game feel like a game in and of itself. Perhaps the aspect of gameplay I enjoy the most though are all the unique ballparks to play in. The game has nine stadiums each with their own theme and gimmick, my favorites being Daisy’s stadium which takes place on Daisy Cruiser from Double Dash and will occasionally have a giant squid (Gooper Blooper if you wanna get technical about things) come and tip the ship sideways and Wario’s stadium set in the middle of a city and complete with bursting water grates and a giant golden idol of Wario in a fancy top hat for all to stand and admire. All these aspects add up and turns a sport I find incredibly boring into one that’s really deep and a blast.
Despite having such fun gameplay, in terms of content and unlockables the game is just fine enough. As a kid that didn’t matter, me and my brother would play this game so much to the point of making our own championship brackets in the exhibition mode where we would face off against each other using different teams and have a blast in the process. As an adult with only one functional Wii remote and a shortage of friends who are the right kind of dysfunctional enough to play a game while silly Mario baseball league with me though, there’s just not a lot for single players like me to do here. The main event here is the challenge mode, a story mode of sorts where you explore around the island the game takes place on and its many baseball parks and solve puzzles, recruit teammates, and play mini baseball challenges that test your skills on all the game's various mechanics. I have to commend the ambition here as this kind of thing hadn't been done in any of the prior Mario sports games, but in execution I find this mode kinda lacking if I'm being honest. It only took me around 2-3 hours to 100% the whole thing and no part really posed any significant challenge, least of all the severely anticlimactic final baseball match against Bowser which I won by scoring 10 runs and triggering the mercy rule within the first inning. Apart from this mode there's a handful of really hit or miss minigames and the Toy Field mode which is just not fun at all. There's a load of unlockable characters in the game and a few unlockable stadiums but you get everything naturally by playing through the aforementioned challenge mode so the unlockables here aren't really feel exciting or worth anything.
There was a time where I was absolutely enamored with this game and had it up there with Mario Strikers Charged for one of the best Mario sports games, as it stands now though it's just not that game to me anymore. Growing up means looking at things from your childhood and coming to the realization that some of them weren't good, at least not as good as you remembered and that's kind of how I felt when replaying this game. Mario Super Sluggers is still a game that I enjoy because of it's really fun core gameplay and it's a blast if you can find someone to play it with, but as it stands, I think the most fun I have had and probably will ever have with this game remains in my nostalgic memories.
2 Comments
@MrWarm yeah it can be hard sometimes, ignorance can be bliss here though. It doesn't really affect a lot if you don't go back and critically look at them, they can be your favorites forever that way, but if you feel really compelled to the truth then maybe going back to them is one of the best things you could do.
MrWarm
1 month ago
Amen, I’ve been putting off going to back to old favorites for this very reason. I don’t know whether it’s better to preserve the memory of my childhood games being fantastic, or to go back and see how they really hold up.