Super Mario Spikers

Super Mario Spikers was the name of a canceled volleyball-wrestling hybrid game that was to be developed by Next Level Games, the same studio that created Super Mario Strikers for the Nintendo GameCube and Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii.

The game was conceived after the release of Mario Strikers Charged and would have been made for the Wii. As the game initially went under the working title "Mario Volleyball," concepts for new Super Mario sports projects were being worked on by Next Level Games in 2006, while Mario Strikers Charged was still in development, and after the team decided upon this concept, development began in 2007. Super Mario Spikers initially started development as simply a volleyball-based game, but as the game was being developed, the team decided to implement mechanics based upon wrestling; Next Level Games tried to combine its knowledge from its previous Mario soccer games with its experience with wrestling gained from the canceled WWE Titans: Parts Unknown.

When Next Level Games pitched the concept to Nintendo, Nintendo rejected it due to the game's realistic wrestling moves going against the Mario franchise's standard of wholesome content. The violence was too realistic compared to that in other games featuring Mario characters in combat, such as the Super Smash Bros. crossover fighting games, and production of the game ceased in 2007. Next Level Games proceeded to develop another Nintendo game featuring semi-realistic combat-based sports, the Wii version of Punch-Out!!