Mario Superstar Baseball

Mario Superstar Baseball (known in Japan as Super Mario Stadium Miracle Baseball) is one of the many Mario series' spinoff installments featuring Mario and his friends playing sports. This game is the first installment for the baseball category of sports games featuring Mario characters.

Chemistry
Chemistry is a unique feature to Mario Superstar Baseball. Player chemistry emphasizes the relationships between characters. When forming a team, the relationship status between the captain and his/her teammates affects the number of power stars the team starts with. Additionally, in the game, good chemistry occurs with two friends. When a player throws a ball to his/her "buddy", the ball travels faster than a normal throw would. Additionally, a player hits better when one of his/her friends are on base. Examples are Mario and Luigi, Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong. Good chemistry is symbolized by a musical note.

Bad chemistry occurs conversely. When a character throws a ball to a character he or she dislikes, the ball travels more slowly and is sometimes out of line. Bad chemistry is symbolized when a small zigzag line appears next to the players. Examples of bad chemistry include Mario and Bowser, Luigi and King Boo.

Exhibition Mode
Exhibition mode is a standard one or two player game of baseball. Players fill out a roster and play a game. There are six different, unique stadiums in which players can choose to play in.

Note: the player must complete challenge mode once to unlock Bowser Castle.

Stadiums

 * Mario Stadium
 * Peach Garden
 * Wario Palace
 * Yoshi Park
 * Donkey Kong Jungle
 * Bowser Castle
 * Toy Field (mini-game)

Challenge Mode
Challenge Mode (the main game mode of Mario Superstar Baseball) is a game mode where one player selects one of five Team Captains (Mario, Peach, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Yoshi) and plays with a pre-made team. The player wanders a map of the Mushroom Kingdom and can play mini games to earn coins and spend at a Shop, where power-ups can be bought. The player's objective is to beat the other four captains in a game of baseball, on their own course. Players from other teams can be recruited after clearing certain missions. When the player recruits the captain they are not able to recruit other characters on his/her team unless the player faces Bowser Jr. After beating all four opponents, the path to Bowser's Castle opens, where the player is able to challenge Bowser's team. Once Bowser's team is defeated, Challenge Mode is cleared. Additionally, Bowser Jr. wanders the map. Coming in contact with him starts a short, one inning game where the player is put in various situations. If the player has had a captain join his/her team, he or she can unlock characters on their team from Bowser Jr. Sometimes, they are ahead by a point and must defend their position. Other times, they are behind and must make a comeback. Challenge mode is the only way to unlock characters.

Another (optional) quest in Challenge mode is the Superstar Challenge. Each character has certain goals that they must clear. Clearing the goals earns the character stars. Earning every star makes that character a Superstar and boosts all of their abilities.

There are four difficulties to Challenge mode: Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special. Once Special mode is cleared, Bowser becomes a playable captain. In Bowser mode, Bowser must beat the other five captains, and then play a team of 9 of the 10 captains and sub-captains (the excluded character is random). Bowser can recruit other characters, excluding the captains and sub-captains, and in Bowser mode, Bowser Jr. does not wander the map.

Mini Games
Each minigame represents one of the six courses.
 * Bob-omb Derby: Similar to the home run derby. The player hits Bob-ombs instead of baseballs, and earns points for hitting home-runs.  Non-home runs yield no points.
 * Wall Ball: Players pitch the baseball and try to break through walls.
 * Chain Chomp Sprint: Players run around bases, trying to collect diamonds. Running while the Chain Chomp is awake eliminates the player from the game for a bit.


 * Piranha Panic: Players throw colored eggs at the appropriately colored Piranha Plants. Players can also throw Bob-ombs at opponents to slow them down, and the Piranha Plants sometimes spit fire.
 * Barrel Batter: Players try to whack baseballs into barrels. Once enough barrels are destroyed, a special barrel will appear.  The player gets one chance to hit it; doing so destroys all other barrels, as well.
 * Star Dash (unlockable): A giant pot spits out coins and stars. Players run, trying to collect them.  The player with the most points at the end wins.

Practice
This mode allows players to master and practice the basics of Mario Superstar Baseball, including batting, pitching, fielding, and base running.

Items
These items can only be bought at the shop in Challenge Mode.

One-Game Items
The following items last for one game of baseball.
 * Nice Bat - Lets the player's character get hits more easily.
 * Power Bat - Increases the power of the character's swings.
 * Super Ball - Increases the speed of the character's pitches.
 * Lucky Glove - Increases the Fielding ability of the characters.
 * Dash Spikes - Makes the characters move faster.
 * Buddy Emblem - Increases friendship between the team. Normally incompatible characters will become more friendly to their rivals.
 * Superstar - Increases all stats and boosts friendship. Not available until every other item has been purchased at least once over the course of multiple Challenge Mode playthroughs.

Permanent Items
Once these items are purchased, they never need to be bought again. All of them cost 200 coins and they all do the same thing: give a character the ability to use their special hits and pitches. The difference is that each one powers up just one captain. They become active when the compatible character is on the team. One permanent item that does not give a character Special Moves is the Secret Map, which allows access to the Toy Field from Challenge Mode's overworld, therefore letting coins earned in Toy Field carry over to Challenge Mode. The Secret Map only appears if the player has beaten every mini-game on the Challenge Mode overworld.
 * Red Fireball – Mario
 * Green Fireball – Luigi
 * Lovely Heart – Princess Peach
 * Pretty Flowers – Princess Daisy
 * Gnarly Garlic – Wario
 * Whiskered Eggplant – Waluigi
 * Egg – Yoshi
 * Pink Egg – Birdo
 * King Banana – Donkey Kong
 * Chimp Banana – Diddy Kong
 * Bullet Bill – Bowser
 * Jr. Mask – Bowser Jr.