Mario Baseball (series)
| Mario Baseball | |
|---|---|
| |
| First installment | Mario Superstar Baseball (2005) |
| Latest installment | Mario Super Sluggers (2008) |
| Number of installments | 2 |
| Franchise | Super Mario |
- “Lets-a play ball! Woo-hoo!”
- —Mario, Mario Super Sluggers
The Mario Baseball series is a spinoff series of the Super Mario franchise that revolves around the concept of baseball. Only two games in the series have been released to date: Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers. Unlike in the previous spinoffs, the player can recruit people via completing scout missions to get enough scout flags to recruit the player on one of the four opposite teams. Another unique feature is chemistry, which affects how well the player's teammates cooperate. Even though there are only two baseball games, this series features more playable characters than other spinoff titles in the Super Mario franchise.
Installments[edit]
Direct[edit]
| Title | |
|---|---|
| Cover, original release, and system | Synopsis |
| Mario Superstar Baseball | |
  July 21, 2005 Nintendo GameCube |
Mario Superstar Baseball is the first installment in the Mario Baseball series. It features a total of 32 playable characters (not counting alternate characters), six of which can be unlocked. These characters are divided into four different groups: Balance, Technique, Speed, and Power. The game also features three characters from the Donkey Kong franchise: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Dixie Kong. The game also has a unique feature called chemistry. Chemistry is the relationship status found between the team captain and its players. The better the chemistry between the characters, the better that team will likely perform. Should a team have bad chemistry, they may perform poorly in the game. Six minigames are also featured in the game, one of which is unlockable. |
| Mario Super Sluggers | |
 June 19, 2008 Wii |
Mario Super Sluggers is the second and most recent installment to the Mario Baseball series; it was released for the Wii in 2008 in Japan, South Africa, and North America; however, it was never released for the European, Australian, and South Korean regions. The game takes place in the Baseball Kingdom. The game features a total of 41 playable characters (not counting alternate characters), nine more than the original. All of the previous game's characters are reunited in the sequel, and they are all default. The nine new ones must be unlocked. There is a total of nine stadiums to play in, four of which have to be unlocked; each stadium, unlockables included, has its own unique minigame for the player to engage in. The game also features many cutscenes, each of which tells a story to give the game a more involved aspect of gameplay. The Challenge Mode was changed from going around playing other teams to recruiting players by clearing special missions for more of a RPG feel. This game can switch between day and night. This is useful because Bowser Jr. Playroom can be played in only during the day and Luigi's Mansion and Bowser's Castle can be played in only at night. |
Indirect[edit]
| Title | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cover, original release, and system | Synopsis | |
| Mario Sports Superstars | ||
  March 10, 2017 Nintendo 3DS |
Mario Sports Superstars is a 3DS game released on March 10, 2017, in Europe. Baseball, developed by Bandai Namco Studios like the main series, is included as one of the five sports available. | |
Predecessor[edit]
| Title | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cover, original release, and system | Synopsis | |
| Baseball | ||
 April 21, 1989 Game Boy |
Baseball is a 1989 Game Boy remake of the Nintendo Entertainment System game of the same name. The Game Boy adaptation of this game introduced Mario and Luigi as playable characters. This game predates the first official Super Mario-themed baseball game by 16 years, and it was later ported to the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console. | |
Playable characters[edit]
1 - This character can be selected as a "Team Captain" in Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers.
Teams[edit]
Stadiums[edit]
Mario Superstar Baseball[edit]
- Bowser - Bowser Castle
- Donkey Kong - Donkey Kong Jungle
- Mario - Mario Stadium
- Princess Peach - Peach Garden
- Wario - Wario Palace
- Yoshi - Yoshi Park
Mario Super Sluggers[edit]
- Bowser - Bowser Castle
- Bowser Jr. - Bowser Jr. Playroom
- Princess Daisy - Daisy Cruiser
- Donkey Kong - DK Jungle
- Luigi - Luigi's Mansion
- Mario - Mario Stadium
- Princess Peach - Peach Ice Garden
- Wario - Wario City
- Yoshi - Yoshi Park
Chemistry[edit]
- Main article: Chemistry
A unique feature in the Mario Baseball series is chemistry, which decides how well the teams play. For example, Mario and Luigi have good chemistry so when they throw a ball at each other, it travels fast. An example of bad chemistry is Mario and Bowser: if they throw to one another, the ball moves slowly and off course. If two characters have no chemistry, like Mario and Diddy Kong, the ball would fly at normal speed. Chemistry also affects the number of Star Skill units; good chemistry with the captain increases the number of units while bad chemistry decreases it. The maximum number of stars is five. The quantity of the available Star Skills sometimes affects the name of the team. For example a team led by Mario with five stars would be called the Mario Fireballs.
Star Skills[edit]
- Main article: Star Skill
A new feature in these games are the ability to use a Star Skill. Star Skills can be activated either while pitching or while batting. Anyone in this game can use a Star Skill, but a team captain's Star Skill is superior to a sub-character's Star Skill. Team Captains have mostly different Star Skills, however, captains that usually pair with each other (Mario and Luigi, Peach and Daisy) have similar Star Skills. The amount of Star Skills that can be used is represented by five Team Stars in a meter. The amount of starting Team Stars depend on the sub-characters' chemistry with the team captain.
Star Skills can be replenished by hitting ball park features. They can also be replenished by striking a player out or making a batter reach a base safely when the words, "Star Chance!" appear. Team captains use up one Team Star, sub-characters use up one Team Star, and captains as members use up two Team Stars.
They return in Mario Super Sluggers, however some characters, especially the sub-captains, like Luigi, now have different star skills. The window at the bottom that shows star skills is different.
Gallery[edit]
Mario Super Sluggers logo
Peach, Mario, and Luigi
Overhead view of the Baseball Kingdom
Group Picture from Mario Superstar Baseball
Group Picture from Mario Super Sluggers
Mario
The title screen for Mario Superstar Baseball
The title screen for Mario Super Sluggers
Selecting characters in Mario Superstar Baseball
MVPs in Mario Superstar Baseball
The Captain Select screen from Mario Super Sluggers
The Team Setup screen from Mario Super Sluggers
The shop in Mario Superstar Baseball
