Mario Super Sluggers

- Reviewed on Wii -

Mario Super Sluggers released on June 19th, 2008. 

With many Mario and Sports crossover games, you tend to get some flops here and there, but you also tend to get some outstanding hits every now and then.

This can be because of either the particular sport in question, the amount of content in it, the roster, or simply the gameplay.

Mario Super Sluggers for the Wii console was upon my personal, outstanding hits, growing up, and it is no surprise to me that this game from way back in 2008 (as of writing this blog post) received nominations and eventually ended up on the Nintendo Selects list. 

With a huge roster of players and a healthy number of stadiums, items, powers, and side content, Mario Super Sluggers offers a fun and long-lasting baseball experience that will keep you wanting to come back and play one more game!

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

Mario Super Sluggers starts with an impressive intro scene with major characters of the Mario franchise, like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, etc., all on a boat, roaring towards a vast island named Baseball Island. 

The cutscene includes a synopsis of sorts, of the gameplay (that being normal baseball), items being used, Star Powers being thrown, and the extremely enjoyable stadiums that you can play on / unlock!

Upon booting up the game and watching the fun intro, there are three profiles you can select to save progress, and after playing a little bit of the campaign, you'll eventually be able to decorate your profile banner image!

This feature is introduced in the campaign in a small way, but the unlockable stamps and good color selection, allows you to decorate your banner anyway you desire.

Speaking of the campaign, this is where your gameplay begins within Mario Super Sluggers (at least it should be, logically).

Officially named Challenge Mode, the campaign in Mario Super Sluggers revolves around Bowser Jr. wanting to take over the plethora of baseball stadiums on the island. 

You play as Mario and must go around, ballpark to ballpark, and recruit the enormous roster of players to then team up and take on Bowser Jr. multiple times. 

I sadly hated the way the gameplay was in the story mode, with pointing the Wii remote at all times and not being able to use the d-pad instead to move around. I had to point and constantly hold A to move Mario and the other captains around.  

The captains in Mario Super Sluggers are like the team leaders of sort. 

Each captain has their team's name and within the challenge / story mode, a few of these captains are playable in order to unlock the roster and solve the puzzles.

Challenge mode aside, the entire number of captains, and their team's name, in Mario Super Sluggers are...

    - Mario / Team Name: Mario Fireballs
    - Luigi / Team Name: Luigi Knights
    - Peach / Team Name: Peach Monarchs
    - Daisy / Team Name: Daisy Flowers
    - Yoshi / Team Name: Yoshi Eggs
    - Birdo / Team Name: Birdo Bows
    - Wario / Team Name: Wario Muscles
    - Waluigi / Team Name: Waluigi Spitballs
    - Donkey Kong / Team Name: DK Wilds
    - Diddy Kong / Team Name: Diddy Monkeys
    - Bowser / Team Name: Bowser Monsters
    - Bowser Jr. / Team Name: Bowser Jr. Rookies

These are just the captains you can choose from, but the entire roster of playable characters for your team, exceeds 70 characters! 

Examples of these characters include Goombas, Boos, Koopas, Piantas, Toads (multiple colors), Kritters (multiple colors), Dry Bones, Shy Guys (multiple colors), etc.

You'll have to play the story mode first and complete all these extra team members' scouting missions in order to unlock them for free play though. 

These scouting missions are essentially mini tutorials, but, built as challenges. 

I respect the developers for making these scouting missions in order to help with the gameplay, and get us, as the players, better at it, before the actual big games. 

However, these scouting missions just grew to become exhausting, boring, extremely easy, and just an overall hassle after a while. 

Combine that with the loading times, and I was starting to regret going for all the characters.

As I mentioned earlier though, there are an abondance of puzzles and exploration to be had in challenge mode using specific captains.

You have to unlock Wario, Yoshi, DK, and Peach in order to solve all the puzzles and gather everyone else up for baseball fun! 

When searching around and / or playing minigames (more on that later), you will collect coins in which to buy various items in challenge mode. 

The funny thing is, with items in shops being optional, I competed the entire game (and collected all characters on the roster) without spending a single coin on items! 

This feature does have benefits to some, but if you are just good at the game in certain areas, you can finish the game entirely item free!

You "finish" Mario Super Sluggers by beating Bowser Jr. at his stadium, then Bowser appears, turning the time to night, and now you have to beat Bowser at his stadium! 

The entire list of stadiums are...

    - Bowser Castle
    - Bowser Jr. Playroom
    - Daisy Cruiser
    - DK Jungle
    - Luigi's Mansion
    - Mario Stadium
    - Peach Ice Garden
    - Toy Field
    - Wario City
    - Yoshi Park

Each stadium can also be played at various daytimes, with Luigi's Mansion and Bowser Castle only playable at night and Bowser Jr. Playroom only during the day. 

There are also stadium gimmicks to impact your baseball games such as Daisy's Cruiser shifting side to side, impacting the baseball, or Peach's Ice Garden being slippery 24/7, or Yoshi's Park offering out field pipes to quickly move around! 

Challenge mode is where most of the content is unlocked from and where most of your time (alongside Exhibition mode) will be spent, but there are also other game modes too. 

There are six total game modes in Mario Super Sluggers when starting. These include...

    - Exhibition
    - Challenge Mode (Campaign)
    - Minigames
    - Toy Field
    - Practice
    - Records

In Exhibition, you can choose your captains, teammates, stadiums (day or night), and game stipulations such as items, innings, Star powers, mercy, etc. 

Minigames is just that, with the ability to revisit challenge mode minigames that were unlocked, in order to get a better score!

Finally, Records is where you can view past MVPs, minigame scores, Star Players (those on your team who helped beat Bowser), and much more!

I had a phenomenal revisit to Mario Super Sluggers and it's not just recency bias either, since I loved this from years ago too. 

You don't have to be a fan of baseball or even know anything about it to enjoy this. 

Mario Super Sluggers is honestly, one of the best sports games for the Wii and offers so much content to make you want to come back again and again!

Pros: 

    - Endless Longevity
    - Plethora of Stadiums and Characters
    - Minigames
    - Great Sound Design
    - Game Runs Smoothly 24/7
    - Fun Music and Story
    - Multiplayer

Cons:

    - Repetitive Scouting Missions (Gets Boring After a While) 
    - Glitch when Using Pow Item with Allies on Field
    - Annoying Point to Move Controls during Story (Challenge) Mode

My Rating for Mario Super Sluggers (on Wii):

5 / 5


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Disclaimer

All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.



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