Mario Superstar Baseball
Released: July 21, 2005
Mario Superstar Baseball , known in Japan as Super Mario Stadium Miracle Baseball, and also known to some fans as Super Mario Baseball is a video 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.
Players are sorted into their respective Challenge Mode teams by their team name after their name in the beginning.
Captains
- Mario (Balance)
- Luigi (Balance)
- Princess Peach (Technique)
- Yoshi (Speed)
- Wario (Power)
- Donkey Kong (Power)
- Diddy Kong (Speed)
- Princess Daisy (Balance)
- Waluigi (Technique)
- Birdo (Balance)
- Bowser (Power)
- Bowser Jr. (Power)
Note: There are six power moves, two of the captains always have one, Mario & Luigi have the Fireball power move which is like a fastball, Peach & Daisy have a power move where nobody can see the ball, Yoshi & Birdo have the Egg power move where the ball moves all around, Wario & Waluigi have a power move where they can choose which way they want the ball to go, Donkey Kong & Diddy Kong have a power move which is kind of like a turnball, and Bowser & Bowser Jr. have a power move where the ball goes in a loop.
Player Chemistry
A feature unique to Mario Superstar Baseball is "player chemistry". Player chemistry puts emphasis on character relationships and compatibility while playing. There are two types of player chemistry: good and bad. Good chemistry occurs when two "buddy" players throw to each other while fielding. The ball travels faster when one character throws to a buddy, improving teamwork. On offense, a player's batting abilities increase if he/she has a buddy on base. A few examples of buddy players are Peach & Daisy, Yoshi & Baby Mario, and Wario & Waluigi. Good chemistry is symbolized by an eighth note . And is displayed to show which characters are friends. If other characters share this note when one is highlighted, they are buddies.
Conversely, bad chemistry occurs when one character throws to another character he/she dislikes. The ball travels much slower, and is wildly off-line, which may result in misplays that are usually routine (Such as throwing a runner out at first base). Examples of characters who have bad chemistry with each other are Mario & Bowser, Toad & Wario, and Luigi & Boo. Bad chemistry occurs less often than good chemistry, however.
Game Modes
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 6 unique stadiums.
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, while Donkey Kong's team consists of Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Goomba, Paragoomba, 2 Koopa Troopas, and 2 Koopa Paratroopas.
Players 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 challenges him, they will 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 coins to use in the shop, while losing costs the player coins. Bowser Jr.'s team also has players from disbanded teams that the player can recruit; in which case the only mission objective is "Beat Bowser Jr.".
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.
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 8. Minor characters have 6. And characters of race (excluding Monty Mole who has 6) have 4. 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). Once the player clears Special Cup, then Bowser is selectable as a team captain. When using him as a team captain, the rules slightly change: one has to beat the initial five teams, then face a team composed of nine of the ten main captains and sub-captains (One character is exempt at random); one can still recruit other characters, except the captains and sub-captains; and Bowser Jr. does not wander the map to challenge a player.
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 their actions. When the ball is put into play, the player that first retrieves the ball will bat next. 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.
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.
Wall Ball - Pitch balls to break walls. The walls with musical notes on them are worth the most points, and the Bowser walls cause you to lose points. The player with the most points after three pitching rounds wins. This is for 1-4 players.
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 your 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 purple plant. Be careful of the fire the plants spit out 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 player.
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 temperarily invincible, and can run into other characters to knock them out and steal their coins. The player with the most coins wins. This is for 1-4 players.
Practice
This is where players can practice the various controls for Mario Superstar Baseball . This includes batting, pitching, running, and fielding.
