Mario Sports Superstars

Mario Sports Superstars is an upcoming Mario sports title for the Nintendo 3DS. It features a variety of sports in which Mario and many other characters from the Mario universe can compete, including soccer, baseball, tennis, and golf, and a new sport, horse racing. Up to six players can participate in this game. The game will be compatible with amiibo, and a new Mario Sports Superstars line of amiibo cards are confirmed to be released for the game. First time purchasers of Mario Sports Superstars will receive a free amiibo card from the said line of amiibo cards. It is set for release in Europe on March 10, 2017, Australia on March 11, 2017, North America on March 24, 2017, and Japan on March 30, 2017.

Gameplay
In a similar manner to Mario Sports Mix, each sport plays out as their own separate mode. The Tennis and Golf sports will play similarly to the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series, specifically each series' latest iteration, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Mario Golf: World Tour respectively.

Each mode will have their own tournament mode, a three tier system that has eight participating players in total, catered to single players. Three cups will be available, with the first cup being the Mushroom Cup while the rest are unknown. Players can enjoy the game with multiple players, either with local play, playing with friends online, or playing against randoms online.

Alongside the main sports modes, additional tabs on the main menu screen include "amiibo Card", "Collection", a settings icon, and a manual icon. Aside from the manual, their functions are currently unknown at the moment.

A Training mode is confirmed for this game.

Soccer
Players participate in 11-vs-11 matches. Teams are composed of two player characters, a goalie (either Boom Boom or Pom Pom), and the rest are supporting generic characters such as Koopa Troopas or Shy Guys. Prior to beginning a match, players can adjust placement of their entire team. Powerful Special Shots can be performed by captain-type characters.

Baseball
Baseball involves two teams of nine characters against each other, similar to the Mario Baseball series. Players need to select a team captain, as well as selecting an alternate captain. The seven slots can then be individually filled with the player's choice, from a pool of generic characters such as Koopas, Toads, etc. Star Skill-like abilities can be used, with Bowser using a fiery swing to knock the ball further away. Pitching has slightly different controls than the ones in the Mario Baseball series. In Baseball, team members hold a bat that has their team captain's logo and design on them.

Tennis
Very similar to the Mario Tennis series, players can participate in either singles or doubles tennis. Chance Shots, Jump Shots and the Ultra Smash makes a return.

Golf
Very similar to the Mario Golf series, players can golf on one of the many courses.

Horse Racing
Characters race each other saddleback. Players can race in first person and use some items to their advantage. Players can build stables for their horses as well as training them. Players can groom, pet, and feed horses, which betters their mood and thus performance on the track.

Horses have stamina, where players can replenish their stamina through collecting carrots. Collecting stars throughout the track fills the bar for the Star Dash technique, where, if fully filled out, players can use it to get a speed boost.

amiibo card
Mario Sports Superstars introduces its own line of amiibo cards, where each character receives 5 cards based on the sports of the game. There will be 90 cards in total. The amiibo cards are blindly packaged separately in sets of five for $4.99 each, similar to the Animal Crossing line of amiibo cards. Star characters are unlocked through tapping the corresponding character on the card. amiibo cards can be used for players to power up to unlock superstar versions of the character on the card. Three stats specific for the sport are displayed on the card, as well as a specific special ability on the right of the stats that currently has an unknown function. The red bars indicate the stats characters start with, while the blue and yellow bars have a function not yet announced. Any stats with blue arrows facing to the left means that the stats are decreased when a certain stat is increased; this stat hindrance mirrors starred characters in the Mario Golf series, where their drive increases at the cost of impact.

There is a mode in the game that seems to be inspired from Breakout, where players use their selected amiibo cards to deflect various balls themed after sports to various features, such as Brick Blocks, Goombas, and Bob-ombs. Boom Boom appears to be a boss of the stage.

Road to Superstar
This mode is unlocked when players tap three amiibo cards. Completing this mode bestows a "Superstar" status to their character, greatly increasing all of the stats, moreso than a Star character.

Characters
There are 18 characters confirmed to be playable for this game. 16 of them are currently confirmed.


 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Peach
 * Daisy
 * Yoshi
 * Birdo
 * Baby Mario
 * Baby Luigi
 * Rosalina
 * Donkey Kong
 * Diddy Kong
 * Wario
 * Waluigi
 * Bowser
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Boo

Supporting characters
Supporting characters are represented by different icon outlines than the main characters. Boom Boom and Pom Pom have hexagonal outline while the rest are represented by regular dots. In baseball, generic characters have a green circle behind their icons. Supporting characters are playable in sidekick roles in sports such as soccer.


 * Toads
 * Red Toad
 * Green Toad
 * Purple Toad
 * Blue Toad
 * Penguin Blue Toad
 * Yellow Toad
 * Penguin Yellow Toad (Speed)
 * Flying Squirrel Yellow Toad (Speed)
 * Goombas
 * Shy Guys
 * Red Shy Guy
 * Yellow Shy Guy (Speed)
 * Green Shy Guy
 * Blue Shy Guy
 * Various Bros
 * Hammer Bro
 * Fire Bro
 * Boomerang Bro
 * Koopa Troopas
 * Green Koopa Troopa
 * Red Koopa Troopa
 * Blue Koopa Troopa
 * Yellow Koopa Troopa
 * Magikoopas
 * Blue Magikoopa (Technique)
 * Red Magikoopa
 * Green Magikoopa
 * Yellow Magikoopa
 * Spikes
 * Stone Spike (Power)
 * Boom Boom (Power)
 * Pom Pom (Power)
 * Paratroopa
 * Green Paratroopa (Technique)

Other

 * Lakitu

Soccer fields

 * A stadium

Baseball stadiums

 * A traditional stadium

Tennis courts

 * Hard Court
 * Clay Court
 * Grass Court

Golf courses

 * A pine forest course
 * A palm course with lighthouse
 * A rural course similar in appearance to Links

Horse racing tracks

 * A forested mountain
 * A foliage road

Staff
Mario Sports Superstars is co-developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Camelot Software Planning and is published by Nintendo. Bandai Namco is the primary developer for most of the game, while the tennis and golf portions are credited to Camelot, who are responsible for the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series.

References to other games

 * Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour: Luigi's golf artwork for his amiibo card reuses artwork from this game.
 * Mario Superstar Baseball: Various character animations for baseball have been reused from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Toads in the Penguin Suit power-up are selectable characters.
 * Mario Tennis Open: Graphics have been reused from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. U: Toads in the Flying Squirrel power-up are selectable characters.
 * Mario Golf: World Tour: Graphics and animations have been reused from this game.