Mario Super Sluggers - Review

Written by Chad Grischow Friday, 05 September 2008 00:13

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Some might look at the too brief five inning games of Mario Super Sluggers as a mistake, but may just be a clever metaphor for how shallow it is.  Developed by Namco Bandai, Sluggers gets the Nintendo branding, but sadly lacks Nintendo quality. 

The game offers five game modes to test their Wiimote-waggling baseball skills in: exhibition, challenge, minigames, toy field, and practice.  Exhibition allows gamers to pick a team made up of any of the game's characters and play against a friend on the same console or the computer for five innings.  It may be where you spend the majority of your time, since you only play a couple of actual games in the 'challenge' mode.  

Challenge mode offers up a story, with Bowser and his son landing on Princess Peaches' baseball-field laden island looking to take it over. Rather than spending your time playing actual baseball games, you spend most of it hitting up the island's ten stadiums to perform (mostly) baseball-themed challenges in an effort to impress characters enough to join your team.  The events, typically game-situation scenarios, do well to teach you the game, but most do not buy baseball games to walk around an island to find players.  Once you have eight other characters with you, you can play the relatively easy Bowser Jr. Before taking on daddy you might want to put in some time collecting better players, though. 

The rest of the modes deserve a quick glance at best.  Toy field takes you to the titular field for an odd and unsatisfying mix of '500' and slots.  There are four characters, with one hitting and the others in the outfield.  The hitter tries to hit the ball away from the fielders, so it lands on point pads; adding to their score.  If a fielder catches the ball, they are then the batter.  The players in the field control the pitches coming at the hitter with a slot system, with three slots controlling speed, break, and the error item.  The hitter can toss error items in the direction of the fielder, trying to get them to drop the ball.   They are similar to the items used to knock opponents off-course in Mario Kart, only you aim at the fielder with the Wiimote here.   

The minigames are unfortunately mediocre baseball themed events.  Each of the stadiums has two minigames available, one in the day and one at night. Though you start on 'easy' and unlock additional difficulties with each passing stage, you are unlikely to play each more than once.  The obligatory home run derby, where cannonball pitches turn into fireworks when hit over the wall, is better than most.  The barrel roll, a hitting game where you knock away oncoming barrels before they break through a wall and hit you, reveals some issues with the controls.   Though the basic controls work decent enough, it appears as though little thought was given to the physics of hitting the ball.  They manage to get the early/late swing hits correct, in terms of pulling the ball or slapping it to the opposite field; though those balls almost always go foul.  The game runs afoul when you get hit a ball on the outside corner off the end of the bat and it is still miraculously pulled.  While you are not playing this game for realism, it does not play well enough to recommend as an arcade baseball experience either. 

The controls are handled with your Wiimote, with some help from your nunchuck.  Hitting and pitching control nearly identically, just in different directions.  You swing the Wiimote to your side to start the hitter's step in anticipation of the pitch.  This motion also starts the 'charge' circle, which begins closing in around your player's feet.  When the charge circle meets the one at your feet, the charge meter is full and you are likely to hit the ball further; though the charge disappears if not used after a second or two, so timing this motion against the pitcher's windup is useful.  The charge system is also used for pitching, in the same manner, to give your fastball a little extra giddy-up.  Swinging the Wiimote upwards starts the windup and the charge circle.  Flinging it forward throws the pitch, with the option to throw either a fastball or hold 'A' for a high-arcing changeup.  The speed of your pitches is tied more to the charge meter than the speed of your Wiimote swinging, which does not take full advantage of the motion controls.   

The basic timing of the motions feel just fine, but the dumbed-down nature of the horizontal-only movement on the pitches is annoying.  Pitchers do not have a cursor to aim, and instead can only control their pitch location by sliding the pitcher on the rubber to one side or the next.  They also have some after touch control to break it inside or outside of the plate with a twist of the Wiimote or pressing left or right on the nunchuck.  Hitters are similarly constrained, with the sweet spot only moving left to right.  It gets the job done, but feels too basic given all they could have done with the controllers. 

Players can pull off character specific special moves while pitching and hitting using the 'star meter'.  Pulled off by holding 'A' and 'B' when swinging the Wiimote, it unleashes either a powerful swing or pitch that is tough for the opposition to handle.  On the pitching side, the moves range from Donkey Kong's barrel roll to Mario's fireball.  Even when hit, the batter is unlikely to do much damage with it.  When hitting, it does not necessarily mean a home run.  Most times, it will actually result in a screaming line drive so powerful that it knocks the fielder trying to catch it down.  Each time the star meter fills a new star is added for your use, for a maximum of five.  Since the meter gradually refills during the game, you do not need to use them sparingly.  For an arcade style game, they show up at the right pace to keep it entertaining without getting out of control. 

Running the bases is easy enough, with simple commands for advancing or retreating to bases.  The game uses waggle for sprinting between bases, and it never feels quite right.  Players seem to have one slightly faster speed regardless of how fast, or slow, you shake the Wiimote.  Running in the field is not quite as simple, as your fielders run frustratingly slow after balls in the outfield, and the infield feels like playing in quicksand.  The error items make the already annoying fielding mechanics more difficult yet.  Accurately throwing to bases is a chore, with the nunchuck to aim and the Wiimote to make a throwing motion.  You will find yourself accidentally throwing to the wrong base too often, thanks to the nunchuck’s inaccurate stick.  Learn to pitch well, because your best bet is to just not let them hit the ball. 

The game is loaded with characters from the Mario universe, but many of them are doubled-up on by just changing the color.  You also have the chance to play with your Miis, but they only get generic attributes making you and your friends decent, but not great, at everything.  Since you are only fielding a standard baseball team of nine players, the depth of characters does not make enough of a difference to keep you playing.  Those determined to put together the best possible team in Challenge will have quite a bit of unlocking to do.  Putting certain characters in the batting order near each other results in 'chemistry', strangely signified with a music note rather than a beaker.  Chemistry slightly boosts player abilities as well as gives them the ability to pull off slick fielding plays called 'buddy moves'. 

Buddy moves are pulled off by picking up, or catching, a ball, then immediately pressing 'B'.  The result is similar to watching a slick-fielding short stop flip the ball with their glove to the second baseman to start a rapid-fire double play.  The second player touching the ball can then fire the ball over to a base incredibly fast; think Ichiro throwing a rope to third base.  It is a nice concept that matches the arcade style, but the timing of picking up a ball that has already hit the ground makes it tough to pull off. 

In the end, the lack of leagues or online play will severely limit the amount of time you spend with the game.  The pitching and hitting is decent enough to have a good time with, but only until you realize just how little there really is to do. 

6.5/10