Wii Review: Mario Super Sluggers

Mario Super Sluggers is a perfect fit for the Nintendo Wii with fun arcade-style gameplay, colorful and interactive environments, and simple toss-and-swing motion controls, Sluggers has all the makings of a typical Mario sports game.

Successor to the Gamecube’s Mario Superstar Baseball, Sluggers is easily the most fun baseball game on the Wii mostly because of its Wii Sports-esque pitching and swinging motion controls. Motion controls are usually right on target, but an occasional flick might not register or might accidentally have your player swinging at air.

There are two main control schemes in Sluggers: one is just playing with the Wii-mote and the other is playing with the Wii-mote and Nunchuk attachment. The latter control scheme gives you more control over the outfield and baserunning, adding more depth to the gameplay. When just using the Wii-mote, running and catching in the outfield are almost done automatically for you, other than just waggling the Wiimote to run faster. I’d go with the Wii-mote/Nunchuk combo for a more simulated gameplay experience.

The first thing you’ll want to do when you get your hands on this game is play with a bunch of friends, but if you’re playing by yourself, the one-player story mode is something to check out. Filled with a bunch of RPG-style fetch quests and simple baseball challenges, the story mode puts you in the role of Mario on a quest to stop Bowser Jr. and his minions from taking over the baseball parks owned by Mario and his pals. Theses challenges aren’t very difficult, but simply require you to get an out or a home run to complete. However, the on-field action is where the game really shows its strengths.

With easy-to-learn controls and an arcade-style approach, playing a game of Sluggers is incredibly enjoying. If you take account of all the different pitches and swings, unique special moves and the addition of player chemistry, Sluggers shows some depth in its gameplay.

For example, the player chemistry allows some players to work together if they match up (perhaps a couple of Toads or Shy-Guys), and they’ll receive jumping and throwing boosts in the field and error items to use from home plate. Using player chemistry can turn a home run into an easy out, so make sure it’s in mind when putting together a formidable lineup.

Other than the story mode and exhibition play in the game, Sluggers also contains a host of different minigames including one that has you hitting Piranha Plants with different pitches and another in which you hit Bob-ombs for home runs. The Toy Field game is another option and is pretty cool with up to four players in a game of hitting and fielding trying to earn the most coins.

Graphically, Mario Super Sluggers has much of the same eye-popping, bright colors you usually see in a Mario game and there’s nothing to complain about there. The game looks good and shows off  some really nice looking stadiums and dazzling animations for special moves. One of my favorite stadium’s to play in is DK’s Jungle, which has barrels rolling through the outfield and gigantic flowers that put players to sleep.

One shouldn’t complain about the music in Sluggers, with many familiar tunes from past Mario games, each stadium has its own setting and melody when winding up for the first pitch. With the usual bright and bubbly voices and sound effects Mario games are known for, there isn’t much else to expect sound wise from the game.

Simply put, Mario Super Sluggers is one of the most fun sports titles on the Wii. Other than some minor issues from the motion controls and the lack of a season mode and online play, Sluggers is a pretty solid title. If you’re a big fan of the Wii Sports baseball game, then you’ll most definitely want to check this game out. Meanwhile, any fans of other Mario sports games should feel right at home with Sluggers and, hopefully, we’ll see the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series make there way to the Wii soon enough.