Mario Superstar Baseball
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Game Information
Release Date: August 29, 2005
Developers: Namco
Publishers: Nintendo
Platforms: Gamecube
Genre: Baseball
Players: 1-4

Synopsis
Continuing the tradition started by such games as Mario Power Tennis and Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Baseball lets you play in arcade-style baseball. You can clear all the trials in Challenge mode, or sit down for a game in the Toy Field. With multiplayer options for up to four players, wild, character-specific power moves, intense minigames, and more than 50 characters from the Mario universe, Mario Baseball offers a complete arcade baseball experience.

Gameplay
Mario Superstar baseball is unlike any other Mario game ever created and is sure to intrigue those players that favor baseball. Players can select their own roster from a variety of characters and place them in certain parts of the field like actual baseball. Players will be able able to gain star power-ups in order to perform a special action for either batting or pitching. Players will be able to determine the speed of the pitch before throwing by holding the button for a specific amount of time. A feature that players should take notice of is the chemistry of each character. In order to gain chemistry amongst characters, a music note symbol would appear next to their patron that would keep jumping up and down notifying the player that the 2 characters have chemistry between them. With chemistry when batting, the player can receive an item after hitting the pitch and use it to injure the opposing players to gain an edge and try to get an easy run. If pitching, chemistry will allow the player to pitch faster and control the ball easier and if the outfielders have chemistry, the outfielder can throw the ball at a really fast speed or double jump with the other character with chemistry to prevent a home-run from happening. There is also bad chemistry in which characters that dislike each other. With this, the player's pitch will be slower and have less control of the ball as well as the fielders with throwing the ball could cause them to pitch the ball and have the receiver miss the catch. Players will be able to play in 6 different stadiums that are created with characteristics from one of the main characters throughout the Mario Series.

Graphics
Surprisingly for being on the Gamecube at the time, the graphics were great and impressive to see. The fields represented what an actual baseball field would like and balanced out the extra details on the field which made it more similar to what Mario baseball would look like. The theme on each baseball field are very exquisite in taste of colors and design of the field. The background of each field is clear and easy to see what is being hidden behind the barriers and the stands of the field. During a night game, the lights would turn out and actually shed some light onto the field, rather than just for looks which is a cool feature to see. Another surprise was that the crowd rather than being a thin piece of character just standing there in the stands, they actually had texture and movement amongst each member of the crowd and moved rather than just a solid stance and cheering away. Overall, the graphics are really superior for being on the Gamecube system and has implemented many graphics that show a variety of textures, colors, and details.

Controls
Due to it being the first of its kind, the controls can be difficult for all players of this game. And due to the many different parts of the baseball team such as the fielder, pitcher, and batter, the multiple controls for each are different from each other and will take a times to memorize what control serves that specific purpose for that part of the team. Some similarities are that the controls for the usage of the star power-ups are the same, to pitch and swing the the bat are also the same. If the player holds down the action button to pitch or swing, they will add more power put into their swing and pitch. Players will also use a combination of 2 different controls when pitching and batting as well as playing the outfielders. Overall, the the game features many controls for the player to handle but if the player is a quick learner to controls and movement of different controls, then this is no problem at all.

Rating
Gameplay: 9.4/10
Graphics: 9.7/10
Controls: 9.1/10
Overall: 9.5/10