The Mario sports titles have become a staple of Nintendo’s lineup of games and the latest installment is Mario Sports Superstars, a compilation of five sports games in one package.
You have four classic Mario sports games, along with the brand-new sport of Horse Racing. But does this collection of games make Superstars more than just a time-killer? I’ve broken up the review by critiquing each specific sport with an overall grade at the end.
SOCCER
This was the first mini-game I tried out because Super Mario Strikers for the Nintendo Gamecube was one of my favorite games for the console, and I was half-expecting the same experience.
However, this is more like the real game of soccer than the high-flying moves you’d see in Shaolin Soccer. The controls are simple, allowing for kicks and passes along with some defensive slides, but the passing needs to be more precise than it was in Strikers. In that game, pressing pass would automatically move the ball to the nearest open player but in Superstar you need to be more accurate in the direction you are kicking.
It’s a fun mini-game, but the long match times can get boring against inferior AI. Also, each team picks a captain and co-captain from a cast of Mario characters and the rest of the teams are filled with Shy Guys, Koopas and the like, but they don’t really do much but act as defenders. Scoring is almost exclusive to your two captains as they are powerful enough to get it past the goalie and have access to a special move when the ball is fired up, which makes scoring too easy.
Overall, this mini-game is fun, but I wish they gave an option to speed up matches because it can become a slog at times.
HORSE RACING
The newest sport featuring Mario and the other Mushroom Kingdom squad is Horse Racing. This mini-game is pretty straightforward, with players choosing their character and their horse. The strategy comes in when picking your horse, as they all have different styles of racing and stats.
The controls are very simple, using only jumps and dashes while turning to avoid obstacles. Part of the strategy of Horse Racing comes from how often you use the dash while being mindful of the stamina and when you use your super dash ability.
Horse Racing made me feel like I was playing Mario Kart without all the crazy items. It’s a simple race where skill trumps luck and the races aren’t too long. It’s a fun, casual way to compete against the AI or others online.
BASEBALL
I’ve never played a Mario baseball game before, so I was surprised when I started playing this mini-game that it’s… pretty much like all baseball games. But that’s not a bad thing.
The controls in this game are really simple, with players only having to press A for a power swing and B for a contact swing. From there, it’s all about timing and reading pitches, which is actually much easier than I expected. Pitches will only go as fast as around 84 mph and that’s only if you hit the right spot on the meter. As long as you can tell if a pitch is going to hit the strike zone, you can be patient until you get a pitch to hit and more often than not, it will drop for a hit.
When you’re pitching, you have a variety of pitches but you won’t fool the AI very often so you are going to have to pound the strike zone and hope that their timing is off or your defense can get the out.
You won’t have to worry about defense in this mini-game, the AI behind you will settle underneath a flyball or scoop up a ground ball and throw it for the out. However, I saw too often that the AI will drop fly balls, which was a bit discouraging, but overall this is a great baseball game and like soccer, this is better suited for longer periods of playtime.
TENNIS
Ah yes, the crown jewel of Mario Sports Superstar. The tennis game feels like a full-fledged Mario Tennis title. While it doesn’t have some of the mini-games and special stages the actual tennis is exactly the same as any of the other iterations of Mario Tennis.
You have your slices and top spin hits, your lobs and drops and your jump shots. Longtime players of Mario Tennis will find it easy to get into this version and the AI is laughably easy in the early tournaments.
There’s not much else to say. If you like Mario Tennis, you’ll love this minigame.
GOLF
Playing the golf minigame in Mario Sports Superstar brought back memories of playing the golf game in Wii Sports about a decade ago, without the motion controls. For a game as complex as golf, the controls are overly simple.
The complexity of the game doesn’t comes from the controls but the environment. You can use different camera angles, wind speeds and the terrain to figure out where and how hard you want to hit the ball.
Like baseball, hitting the golf ball just needs timing. Just press A once when you determine how much power you’re using and you’ll hit the ball. If you play on manual mode, you’ll need to press A twice to determine where you hit the ball.
Also, I found putts are way too easy to sink. As long as you correctly estimate the amount of power needed it will usually go at a straight line to the hole. But overall, the game is for those looking for a longer play time.
VERDICT
Overall, Mario Sport Superstars is a great mix of the Mario sports titles and can appeal to anyone looking for a quick time-waster (Horse Racing, Tennis) or longer playtimes (Baseball, Soccer). While they aren’t full-fledged games, each gives the full experience of their respective sport.
The characters themselves look blocky and not very polished, but that’s the limitations of the Nintendo 3DS. This game would have looked great on the Wii U or Switch.
There’s an interesting feature of Superstars is the inclusion of amiibo cards. You can power up specific characters in a particular sport using these cards bringing a collector’s mentality to the game, which is neat but not really adding too much to the game.
The online mode wasn’t active during our review time but the aspect of being able to compete against others is very cool, as long as there isn’t too much lag. Many of these games need precise timing.
If you’re looking for a fun little gift for younger players or if you are hankering for some casual Mario sports action you don’t have to look further than this game.
