Mario Hoops 3-on-3

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
For alternate box art, see the related gallery.
Developers	Square Enix Nintendo SPD Group No.4
Publisher	Nintendo
Platforms	Nintendo DS, Virtual Console (Wii U)
Release dates	Nintendo DS: July 27, 2006 July 27, 2006 September 11, 2006 October 26, 2006 February 16, 2007 Virtual Console (Wii U): May 11, 2016 May 26, 2016 May 26, 2016 November 3, 2016
Languages	English Japanese French (Europe) German Italian Spanish (Europe)
Genre	Sports
Ratings	ESRB: - Everyone CERO: - All ages[?] PEGI: - Three years and older[?] USK: - Six years and older[?] ACB: - Parental guidance[?]
Modes	Single player, multiplayer
Format	Wii U: Digital download Nintendo DS: Game Card
Input	Wii U: Wii U GamePad Nintendo DS: Gamepad Stylus
Serial codes	NTR-AB3J-JPN NTR-AB3E-USA NTR-AB3E-USA NTR-AB3P-EUR

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (known as Mario Slam Basketball in European regions) is a sports game developed by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS. It is a basketball game in the Super Mario franchise featuring Mario and his friends participating in basketball with two competing teams of three characters. While the game plays with the traditional basketball rules of shooting the ball into a net, various Super Mario–themed mechanics are incorporated into the game to differentiate from the real sport. For example, players can dribble the ball into ? Panels to obtain coins that better their score whenever a shot is taken, and when players are on defense, these ? Panels provide Super Mario items to use against the opposition. Players can additionally perform Special Shots to ensure that the ball makes it into the hoop. Unlike most other sports games of the Super Mario franchise, Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is controlled entirely by the touchscreen, with nearly all moves using swipe or tapping controls via the Nintendo DS stylus. The game supports local play with multiple cartridges and download play with a single cartridge, and it supports up to four players.

Developers at Square Enix chose to make a basketball game while exploring various ways to make use of the Nintendo DS's Touch Screen, and approached Nintendo to integrate characters from the Super Mario franchise. Due to Square Enix developing this game, it is the first game to feature the Super Mario and Final Fantasy characters together as playable characters, in addition to other Final Fantasy elements present in this title.

A follow-up to this game, Mario Sports Mix, also developed by Square Enix, was released for the Wii in 2010, with the basketball sport returning from this game, while also including other sports as other modes.

The game was released on the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2016, with Japan receiving it first on May 11, 2016.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Sherbet Land

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 plays with traditional basketball controls and rules, with competitions being played between two teams of three characters (hence the "3-on-3" in the game's title). The goal of the game is to amass the most points by shooting the ball into a raised net onto a particular side of the court; in the player's case, the hoop is always ahead of the player rather than behind, even while switching courts. The player's team of three is identified with red colors, while blue colors represent the opponent team's players. Most of the gameplay in this title is controlled by using the touch screen capabilities, such as dribbling the ball, performing dodging movements, and shooting the ball. The only exceptions are moving a character, which is controlled by the , and a special form of passing, which uses the button. This default control scheme assumes that all players are right-handed, and it can be switched around with the , , , and buttons controlling movement and the button for passing for left-handed players in the settings menu.

All matches start at half court, with the center of each team preparing to jump for the ball that Lakitu will release at the start. The player who successfully catches the ball while jumping obtains possession of the ball. While in possession of the ball, players have many various options. Players can move around with the ball, dribbling ? Panels for coins that help them obtain more points if they successfully score a basket or pass the ball towards another teammate. Players can evade attacking opponents by moving the ball away from them via dribbling the ball into a different area than where the opponent will attack. Players can attempt to aim for the hoop by swiping up on the touch screen, though they can increase accuracy of their aim by charging up the ball beforehand. If players run up to the basket and perform a shot, they will dunk the ball into the hoop. If the ball rebounds from the backboard, players can jump up and dunk the ball in to ensure the ball goes through the net. Some evasive maneuvers against opponents include making quick turns to avoid opponents in a pinch, and, while charging, players can move the ball around to prevent steals.

On defense, players can attempt to steal the ball from their opponents, though players can successfully steal the ball only if they swipe directly where the ball is at. When the offensive team is passing the ball, players can intercept passes by either walking in front of their opponent or jumping to retrieve high passes. Jumping can also prevent shots at the basket from being made, and it can retrieve shots that are rebounded from the basket rim. Players can additionally block the dribbling player from going by. When this occurs, a blue force field is formed in front of that character between the dribbling and defensive player and when enough time passes, the shield turns red, meaning players can perform a more powerful steal that can knock any players down regardless of where the ball is. Another attack move is a ground pound-like move, where characters pound the ground to cause their opponent to drop the ball. Sidestepping causes players to make quick, trickier movements to disorient opponents and to help snatch the ball from them. While on defensive, players can run over the same ? Panels that give out coins on offensive to obtain a special defensive item. These items can be used to attack opponent characters, and some of these items are exclusive to some courts in the game. Players can also swap between their teammates with to get in a closer position with the ball handler.

The player already has 100 coins, making it (if the player scores) the highest possible score outside of Jr. Street, 140 pts.

One shot unique to Mario Hoops 3-on-3 are the Special Shots. These are initiated when the player controlling the ball taps the screen below in rapid succession to create a particular symbol. For example, to activate Mario's special shot, the player has to tap the dots that make up the letter "M" on the bottom screen. Each character has a set symbol for them, and they can all be shown in the game's respective practice mode demonstrating the Special Shots, where the shape is outlined. When performing the Special Move, the performing character cannot move and is thus susceptible to opponent attacks. If Special Shots are performed within the 3-point line, they cannot be stopped, though Special Shots performed outside the 3-point line require a teammate to receive the ball and thus can be stopped. If successful, Special Shots are worth more points than regular shots.

Scoring is slightly different in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 than in a real world basketball game. Each shot made is worth 20 points rather than 2 points. Shots made outside of what is normally the 3-point line are worth 30 points (therefore, the basic shot is multiplied by 10 in Mario Hoops 3-on-3). Special shots, regardless of position are worth 40 points. To compound the points, coins received from ? Panel increase the number of points players obtain whenever they score. Regular coins add 1 point each to the score, and red coins add 10 points to the score. Every time a team makes a basket, their coins are reset to zero. Getting hit, either from items or other players, results in some of the player's coins scattering on the field, which can be picked up by anyone, including the character who lost them. The limit to the number of coins one team can have is 100 (therefore the maximum normal score for one shot is 140, and for Jr. Street, the maximum score is 420), and the more coins one has, the more are lost on a hit. If there are no ? Panels, then the shot value is divided by ten, making normal shots worth two points, three-pointers worth three, and special shots worth four.

Matches are played in at least two periods lasting two and a half minutes. At the end of each period, each team's coin count is reset to 0, the teams switch baskets, and another jump-ball at half court is initiated. Whichever team has the most points overall when all periods are finished, wins the match.

Modes

The title screen with all four modes

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 has a total of four modes. In addition to these modes, settings and records can be accessed when players touch the wrench or paper sign the respective Toad is holding up.

Challenges

The Challenges mode contains both practice modes and then an extra challenge-like mode after completing the main practice mode.

Practice

Practice game skills to use during games. Choose a skill you want to practice from the menu.

As Mario, players practice basic techniques upon starting the game, then advanced techniques after winning the first tourney (Offense 2 and Defense 2). If a character is needed for practice, it is always Wario.

The following is a table of each lesson, which explains the control mechanism for each move, as well as each exercise to practice the lesson. If the requirement is just a number, the player must do the move that number of times. If it is a time limit, the player has that much time to do that objective (i.e. block a player from dunking).

#	Lesson	Move	Exercise	Requirement
Mario Hoops Rules
A demo is shown of a game between Mario, Luigi and Peach vs. Wario, Waluigi and Paratroopa, showing what is possible once practice is complete.
Offense
01	Dribble!	Tapping the touch screen causes whoever has to ball to dribble in the direction the touch screen was tapped. Dribbling on ? Panels produces coins.	Collect coins quickly!	0:30
02	Guard the ball!	Dribbling away from an opponent player is important to avoid a simple steal.	Guard the ball for 20 seconds!	0:20
03	Shoot the ball!	Players stroke the stylus up to shoot the ball towards the hoop.	Aim for the basket!	3
04	Do a charge shot!	By holding the stylus down on a touch screen for a few seconds, the ball will "charge up". Upon shooting, there is greater accuracy.	Do a charge shot!	3
05	Pass!	Stroking sideways left or right passes to the teammate in that direction.	Pass the ball around!	5
06	Run and dribble!	By dribbling in the same direction as the character moves, the player will pick up speed. This is essential to grab as many coins as possible from ? Panels.	Chase the ? Panel!	1:00
07	Quick-dash!	By dribbling in one direction and then turning in the same direction, the player will make a quick turn, perhaps avoiding trouble.	Quick-dash!	8
08	Dunk the ball!	By stroking up while running near the basket, the player will dunk the ball.	Dunk 3 times!	3
Offense 2
09	Do a fake!	When charging, it is possible to move the stylus around to move the ball around. Thus, simple steals can be avoided and the ball can still be shot.	Fake, then do a charge shot!	3
10	Rebound-dunk!	If the ball doesn't quite go in from a normal shot and is bouncing on the rim, the player can approach it like a dunk to regain control and score.	Rebound-dunk!	3
11	Charge-dunk!	When dunking, the player can swipe up again, then start rubbing the screen to gain coins. Swiping down ends the dunk.	Charge-dunk!	3
12	Do a trick!	When moving, swiping down and then again left or right causes the character to quickly move sideways, possibly getting by defenders.	Use trick moves!	3
13	Direct-pass!	While holding down L and then stroking in any direction, it is possible to pass in any direction, instead of the character automatically moving to a position.	Make a direct-pass!	4
Defense
01	Steal the ball!	Stroking down causes a simple steal attempt. The steal must be placed where the ball is, not just at the opponent. The ball then comes loose, giving the opposing team a chance to get the ball.	Steal the ball!	3
02	Jump!	Stroking up means to jump on defense. It can be used to deflect and block both simple and charged shots, with good timing.	Jump and block!	3
03	Jump-steal!	Stroking up while jumping causes the player to do a steal motion in the air. Likewise, it can lodge loose a ball about to be dunked, if the timing's right.	Jump-steal to guard the hoop!	3
04	Items	When ? Panels are run over on defense, an item is produced and, in the example here, a Green Shell is thrown in the direction the stylus is stroked.	Hit Wario with a shell!	3
05	Swap characters!	Pressing L changes control to the player closest to the ball. Stroking sideways left or right while pressing L changes to that character regardless of proximity to the ball.	Switch players!	4
Defense 2
06	Block 'em!	Rubbing the stylus causes the character to create a small blue force field in front of them, and move around with it. Opponents can't get by this field.	Block Wario!	0:20
07	Charge-steal!	Eventually the force field will turn red. Stroking down then will cause a stronger steal that can knock down any player.	Charge-steal!	3
08	Drop-steal!	Jumping and then stroking down causes the character to do a ground-pound related move. The opponent can drop the ball within a wider range than a simple steal.	Make 'em drop it!	3
09	Sidestep!	Stroking left or right causes the character to quickly move sideways. They can sneak up on an opponent and catch them off-guard by doing a simple steal.	Sidestep and steal!	3
10	Rebound!	Catching the ball by jumping as the ball bounces around the opponents' rim is known as rebounding. It requires some timing to when the ball is at a low point.	Nab a rebound!	3
Free Practice
With Mario, Luigi and Peach, any move can be practiced here. To play defense, the player can pass-direct down, but there are no real opponents to practice most defensive maneuvers.

Special Shots

Practice dribbling commands of players who've mastered their special shots!

Players can practice Special Shots with any player unlocked. It acts like a lesson, with the objective to do the special shot 3 times from anywhere on the court, with two other characters supplied for alley-hoops. In this mode, the specific shape and order needed to make the proper Special Shot with a particular character is always displayed.

Dribble Race (Time Trial)

Get 100 coins from ? panels and head for the goal! Beat the best time!

This extra mode allows the player to pick any character and try to gather 100 coins from ? Panels and cross the finish time in as little time as possible. There are three of these mini-courses, and to unlock the last one, the preset records must be beaten in the first two.

• Peach's Castle - Green Shells come out of three pipes. Each ? Panel has 10 coins. (45 sec)
• Sunshine Road - Metal flatteners line this course. Most ? Panels have 5 coins. (55 sec)
• Rainbow Road - Blue fireballs erupt out from under the course. Colorful Bombs can be found here. Most ? Panels have 5 coins. (1 min)

Tourney

Yoshi's team wins the Mushroom Tourney.

In Tourney mode, players pick a team of three characters and compete in an 8-teams bracket. If the player does not have Bowser on their team, he is guaranteed to be one of the opposing teams' captain. Each match in the tourney is played on a predetermined court and consists of two periods of 2:30 each. The bracket is based on a traditional 2D Super Mario level, with ? Blocks, Brick Blocks and Vines making up the structure. At the end of three rounds, the winner wins a trophy. If the player loses a match, they can retry as many times as necessary.

There are four tourneys in total, Mushroom Tourney, Flower Tourney, Star Tourney and Rainbow Tourney, with the first three being named similarly to Mario Kart cups. At the end of the Rainbow Tourney, Ninja, White Mage and Black Mage steal the trophy from the victor, leading to a secret fourth match to be played on the Rainbow Ship.

Once all four tourneys are won, their respective hard mode versions are unlocked. Each of the eight tourneys awards the player a bronze, silver, or gold trophy icon separate from the trophy presented upon winning. This icon represents a score on how well the player did. They are determined as follows:

• Gold - Winning all matches by having a 200 or more point advantage against all CPU teams in the tourneys
• Silver - Winning all matches by a 100 or more point advantage against all CPU teams in the tourneys
• Bronze - Winning the tournament

Upon winning the tournament, players have the option to advance to the next tourney. If players complete Rainbow Tourney, the staff credits roll.

Exhibition

In exhibition players must choose a team of three characters from a pool of available characters. Players can also choose their opponent's characters, with each spot left blank then chosen randomly. They can then play any court won in Tourney Mode. The following settings can be configured per match:

• Time per Period: 1:40, 2:00, 2:30 (default), 3:00, 3:20.
• Number of Periods: 2 (default), 4.
• ? Panels: On (default), Off. If off, shots inside the outer line are worth two points, outside of the line three, and special shots worth four.
• CPU Level: 1 (Amateur), 2 (Weak, default), 3 (Normal), 4 (Tough), 5 (Brutal), 6 (Pro).

After the match, the player can play with the same settings or quit the mode.

Matchup

This is the multiplayer mode of Mario Hoops. DS Wireless Play includes three modes, while DS Download only includes two of those three.

Exhibition

Mario Hoops Face-off! Game results will be recorded in the player ranking. Win matches to earn points and rank up!

The single mode that is limited to multi-card play, Exhibition mode has up to two players to choose their team of 3 players and face off against each other, subject to the default basketball rules and settings as normal Exhibition Mode.

Dribble Race

Dribble Race Versus Friends! Nab 100 coins from ? panels and beat everyone to the goal!

Same as Dribble Race Mode, except it is not a time trial: the first to cross the finish line with 100 coins wins. The mode is available to up to four players.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Note(s)	Ref.
Dutch	Dribble Race	-
French	Course dribble	Dribble race
German	Dribbling-Wettlauf	Dribble Race
Italian	Corsa Palleggi	Dribble Race
Spanish	Dribbling contrarreloj	Dribble time attack

Coin Hunter

Coin Hunting with Friends! Throw items and scramble for coins! Hold on to coins until the end to win!

This is a non-basketball related mode that draws heavily on Mario Kart's battle mode. Each player (up to 4) starts with 50 coins. Players then use items to reduce the other player's coins. The single player remaining with coins wins. In a three or four-player game, players eliminated early can stick around to annoy players still in the competition (similar to Mario Kart 64). There are four courses; the last two are unlockable by winning five of these battles in a row.

• Mario Classic 1-1
• Mario Classic 8-4
• Mario Classic 2-2
• Strange Forest

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Note(s)	Ref.
Dutch	Coin Hunter	-
French	Chasse aux pièces	Coin hunt
German	Münzjäger	Coin Hunter
Italian	Monetomania	Portmanteau of moneta ("coin") and cleptomania ("kleptomania")
Spanish	Cazamonedas	Coin hunters

Options and player rank

The Toads found on the main menu.

On each bottom corner of the game's main menu, a Toad can be found holding a sign. The Toad on the left holds a sign with a wrench on it. When clicked on, the players access the option menu. Here, they can view and edit their profile, which consists of their name, rank, multiplayer win rate and record icon, and ball choice. The players can choose any of the playable characters as their icon, which is displayed to their friends. The ball icon brings up a menu in which the players can choose which ball to display as well. This ball will be the one played with in the respective player's games. The other features the options menu allow is to select the player's handedness, allow the help (face) buttons to be used in play, and allow "Call-outs." If "call-outs" is turned on, the player can receive invites from challengers while they are in the middle of a game. The other Toad on the main menu brings up the player rank menu if clicked on. Here, the players can view where they rank amongst their friends. They can also view friend's profiles and sort out their friends lists using a "favorites" feature.

Controls

The overall gameplay for Mario Hoops 3-on-3 can be controlled using the Stylus or the buttons of the Nintendo DS.

Command	Buttons	Stylus
Common Controls
Move	Point the in the desired direction.	none
Jump	Press when the selected character does not have the ball.	Stroke the from the bottom of the Touch Screen up when the selected character is without the ball.
Swap Characters	Press when the selected character does not have the ball and the player will switch to the character closest to the ball handler.	Press and stroke the when without the ball and the player will be switched in the direction of the stroke.
Offensive Controls (when the player is in possession of the ball)
Shoot	Press	Stroke from the bottom of the Touch Screen to the top.
Pass left	Press	Stroke to the left.
Pass right	Press	Stroke to the right.
Dribble	Press	Tap Touch Screen with
Dunk shot	Press while moving towards the hoop.	Stroke from the bottom of the Touch Screen to the top while moving towards the hoop.
Charge-dunk	Press to begin the dunk then press and hold .	Swipe up with the to begin the dunk then rapidly rub the screen with the
Charge shot	Hold down and simultaneously.	Press and hold the on the Touch Screen.
Special shot	none	Enter the selected character's command by tapping the in the appropriate pattern.
Defensive Controls (when the player is without the ball)
Sidestep left	Press	Stroke the to the left.
Sidestep right	Press	Stroke the to the right.
Steal	Press	Stroke the from top the bottom.
Throw items	Press	Stroke the in the desired direction that the item wishes to be thrown in.
Block	Hold down	Press and hold the Touch Screen with the
Jump-steal	Double tap	Swipe up twice with the
Drop-steal	Press then	Swipe up then down with the

Special Shot Commands

See also: Special Shot (Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Mario Sports Mix)

Special Shot commands can only be executed by tapping the Touch Screen at the vertices of a certain pattern. This pattern must be created twice. The total number of taps with the on the Touch Screen to activate each shot varies depending on the required shot command type. If the Special Shot user is outside the 3-point line, they will instead shoot the ball towards a teammate, who then has to make a slam dunk. This also applies to characters whose Special Shots end in slam dunks themselves, resulting in unique animations for passing to teammates.

Command Type	Total Number of Taps	Special Shot	Character	Description
	10	Fire Shot	Mario	Mario dribbles the ball in an "M" shape, engulfing it in flames and tossing it into the hoop.
		Flutter Dunk	Yoshi	Yoshi grabs the ball and flutter kicks upward to make a slam dunk.
		Jet Shot	Diddy Kong	Diddy uses his Barrel Jet to soar up high and toss the ball down into the hoop.
		Konga Dunk	Donkey Kong	Donkey Kong slams the ground repeatedly, then jumps to make a slam dunk.
		Moogle Dance	Moogle	Moogle bounces with the ball and rolls it around before tossing it into the hoop.
	6	Green Fire Shot	Luigi	Luigi hurls a smoking green basketball into the hoop.
	7*	Cannon Shot	Dixie Kong	Dixie summons a cannon and loads the ball into it before blasting it into the hoop.
		Egg Shot	Birdo	Birdo throws and catches the ball with her snout, then fires it into the hoop.
		Flower Shot	Daisy	Daisy surrounds herself with flowers, orbiting the ball around her before tossing it into the hoop.
		Heart Shot	Peach	Peach creates hearts around herself, jumps upward and propels the ball into the hoop.
	10	Move-It Dunk	Wario	Wario creates a "W" around him before charging forward and dunking the ball.
		Twist Dunk	Waluigi	Waluigi creates whirlwinds around the ball and tosses it up, "swimming" upward in the air to dunk it.
	10	Bomber Dunk	Bowser	Bowser stomps repeatedly and sets the ball ablaze, then jumps up high to make a slam dunk.
		Graffiti Shot	Bowser Jr.	Bowser Jr. swipes at the ball with his magic brush, then strikes it into the hoop.
		Thriller Dunk	Boo	Boo unleashes several copies of itself to enshroud the ball before spiking it into the hoop.
	8	Leaf Veil	Ninja	Ninja elevates the ball upwards and vanishes in smoke, reappearing higher to make a slam dunk.
		Wing Shot	Paratroopa	Paratroopa grabs the ball and soars towards the hoop for a slam dunk.
	11*	Holy Shot	White Mage	White Mage summons magic blue symbols, turning the ball into a comet which flies down into the hoop.
		Meteor Shot	Black Mage	Black Mage summons magic purple symbols, summoning a meteor shower which carries the ball down into the hoop.
	8	1000 Needles	Cactuar	Cactuar tosses the ball up and corkscrew jumps high up to headbutt it, falling through the hoop with the ball.
		Thunder Shot	Fly Guy	Fly Guy wields a spear enveloped in lightning and skewers the ball, sending it high up to dive down into the hoop.

* - Even though the command type "▽" has three points and the command type "☆" has five points, the first set of taps for each symbol is not complete until the player hits the first point again. This makes the first set of commands a total of four taps for the triangle, and six taps for the star. Thus, after the fourth or sixth tap, the player must tap again three or five more times to create another triangle or star respectively.

Characters

Playable characters

The game's starting characters in the Select Characters screen.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 has twenty-one playable characters, five of them being from Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise. Ten characters are playable from the start, with the other eleven being unlockable (See the Unlockables section for the methods of unlocking each character). There are five different character types, listed at the side, each character type having its own pros and cons. Additionally, all twenty-one characters have a special move called a Special Shot, with each character having their own unique Special Shot. Each of the character's "Baller Names" originate from the game's official website.

Character types

• All-Around characters are balanced, with no high stats or low stats.
• Technical characters have good aim, though they can be slow and weak.
• Speedy characters are very weak; however, they are quick to go around.
• Powerful characters are very slow, but are good at stealing and have a far shot.
• Tricky characters have one large stat; the rest are rather low, although they have t