Mario Superstar Baseball

 Hey everyone, sorry for such a long break in posts, life gets busy!  Thankfully I’ll be having some help in the near future on this blog so I will try to make these posts a regular occurrence once more.  With that being said, lets dive back in!

 

Our game today is one of my favorites, a perfect for the spring/ summer season we are in right now.  Mario Super Sluggers is loads of fun for anyone who loves baseball, or just anyone who loves having a good time playing with friends and family. 

At its core MSS is like any normal baseball game, with players attempting to score runs while keeping the other team from scoring.  But of course this is a Mario game, and those games cannot be held to just a normal sports experience! Players can choose from the whole cast of characters to fill out their roster, from the obligatory Mario or Bowser to less known charcaters like the Piantas from Super Mario Sunshine or even King K Rool from Donkey Kong.  Different players have different abilities on the field and team selections can be a big part of the game.  There are also several different fields players can choose from, most having some sort of crazy gimmick that can mess with the game.  Bowser Jr’s playroom has chain chomps in the outfield while on Daisy’s cruise ship a giant blooper can tip the entire field to the right or the left.  These situations lead to a lot of ridiculous and fun playing scenarios.  Now on to the actual baseball game!

Each player has a set number of players who they are friends with, like Mario is friends with Luigi (makes sense right?).   If they are near each other on the field or next to each other in the batting order, friends award each other with bonuses or items that can be tossed around, such as banana peels, green shells or even bob-bombs.  On top of this, if you so choose, the captains of teams (normally the main characters from the Mario universe) can have special abilities at the plate or on the field.  Mario can ignite the ball when he hits it, sending a fireball ripping across the field or Waluigi creates two balls off the bat, one that is fake and if caught will knock a fielder dizzy.  These abilities add another level of crazy to an already goofy game.

Mario Super Sluggers was made to play with other people, even allowing you to have all four players on the same team.  It is easily one of my favorite multiplayer games, one that my friends and I constantly turn to when the Wii is plugged in.  It helps teach kids not only how to lose gracefully, but win in the same fashion.  On top of that this is one of the few sports titles on the market that actually rewards teamwork.  With multiple players on the same team, the player on deck is in charge of using the items for the batting player that can result in an out becoming a hit.  This is a fun game that you don’t have to be a sports fan to play, as long as you are up for having some fun.