Mario Hoops 3 on 3
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Game Information
Developers: Square Enix
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Sports
Release Date: July 27, 2006
Platform: Nintendo DS

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Synopsis
Mario Hoops 3-on-3, known in Europe and Australia as Mario Slam Basketball and in Japan as Mario Basketball 3on3 ( 3on3 Mario Basuke 3on3?), is a sports game developed by Square Enix and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in 2006.
This game is the first in which Mario and Final Fantasy characters appear together as playable characters, and the second Mario game developed by Square, the first one being Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. It is the first Mario basketball game ever to be released, although characters from the series have appeared in the Nintendo GameCube version of NBA Street V3.

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Gameplay
The gameplay of Mario Hoops 3 on 3 is very addicting and just cant stop being played. I have played multiple days or hours on this game and it just stays the same all the time. It is very similar to real life basket ball with just a changes in Mario World to it. When the player dribbles over certain pads the more he dribbles on the pad the more coins he gets. If the player scores with all of those coins in his hand or pocket you could say, he can get a little bonus from it by scoring. But say if you had some coins in your hand and the ball gets taken away, well you lose some of those coins and the other team can get them. Another thing that this game has is if you are on the other team and dont have the ball you can pick up weapons to try and get the ball easier for you. Some of the things you pick up can make the other team lose coins and you can pick them up. The game has two modes; story and exhibition. In story mode there is two game difficulties, hard and normal. In both you are playing in tournaments but to get the hard mode you must beat the final fantasy team to get it. In exhibition mode the player can customize the rules including the amount of playing time, the number of periods played, and turning items on or off. If off, then teams will receive two to four points for each shot.

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Graphics
The graphics of this game look like any other old Mario game. The characters are perfectly designed the way this game runs. When they run around they all have a different look to them, like Daisy will have a much lighter dribble it looks like and Mario will have a stronger one. But the thing about the dribble is it doesnt really look like it is hitting the ground hard enough to come back up. When the players are gonna go in for a dunk you can tell they are sprinting or jogging because there heads and bodies lean forward a little looks good. When there actually dunking they have a regular dunk and a special dunk. The regular dunk just looks as a normal one would. The special one your character will do crazy stuff, the ball will go different colors or on flames, it all looks good! I saw nothing absolutely wrong with the graphics in this game besides the dribbling of the ball. The ball in this game looks like it would have in any other game would. It has a texture to it which looks good and no one should complain about. I would say that this game is possibly one of the best Mario games graphics out on the DS.

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Controls
The controls of this game can be quite confusing depending on which type you would like to use. I will try my best to do both controls as good as possible. One way you can use the buttons the other way you can do touch screen. In the touch screen tapping the screen will cause your character to dribble the ball in one spot. If you tap the screen on lets say the right to the left your character will change directions of dribbling and get a little tricky with your game. The one advantage with this is that everything is on the touch pad right there. Another advantage is if you dribble you can dribble faster with the touch pad than the buttons. The buttons I would not prefer at all they are just a jumbled pile of mess. Some of the moves you do with the controls can lead to bigger scores when you put the ball in the hoop, get more coins, or even get more characters. I really like how theres two options of controls in this game, but the touch pad is better. Overall it is a great control game that you have to take time to get used to.

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Rating
Synopsis 8/10
Gameplay 9/10
Graphics 9/10
Controls 8/10
Overall 8.5/10