Kotaku
Nintendo kicked off its Media Summit this morning with a quick preview of its next mascot-filled baseball title, now known as Mario Super Sluggers. Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen walked the gathered press through a single inning—much speedier than the real life thing—featuring the Mario Firebats team taking on the Peach Royals. Like Mario Strikers Charged, Mario Super Sluggers uses a similar coach character team set up, with second string Nintendo characters like Shy Guy and Baby Mario covering the field while the player handles pitching duties.
Mario Super Sluggers uses a control scheme built on the foundation of Wii Sports baseball, with only Wii Remote gestures required to play. With Mario as his pitcher, Trinen demoed the game's controls, using Wii-mote swinging to throw fastballs, curveballs and, naturally, fireballs. Twists of the remote during your swing allows for curveballs, with a properly timed swing—performed just as a set of glowing rings centers on your character—adding extra heat to the ball.
Power moves can be pulled of with an A+B button combination, when charged.
Fielding appeared to be largely controlled by the game's AI, with a shake of the Wii Remote making your fielder sprint to the ball. Throwing to a baseman requires just a simple toss. A quick press of A will make your defensive player dive for the ball, for dramatic last second catches.
Batting used a similar control method, with a Wii Sports-like batting swing and timing for hits following the same ring indicator. Your character can use power-ups while at bat, with Mario delivering a flaming baseball to center field, which Donkey Kong obviously dropped when caught.
Nintendo was light on details during the brief demo of Mario Super Sluggers, but it looks to follow previous Mario-themed sporting events, with guest appearances from a big number of Nintendo mainstays. We saw Mario, Luigi, Peach, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Daisy, Shy Guy, Monty Mole, and Donkey Kong—who opts for a boxing glove instead of a bat—in the line-up.
Mario Super Sluggers was described as one of Nintendo's "bridge games", one that is designed to appeal to the Wii Sports crowd, and looks to aim for accessibility for traditional non-gamers. No one will mistake it for anything resembling a sim, but it's clear Nintendo is going for an even more casual audience-friendly look and feel.
It doesn't appear that Nintendo will be offering hands-on time with the Mario Super Sluggers at the Media Summit, but we'll be asking more about details on the game while we're here.
Comments
Hated the gamecube one. The AI was ridiculously good.
Didn't play the first Mario baseball game, but I always prefer arcade sports games to simulation sports games.
@Stormrider: Agreed. However, I don't think I'll get this myself. I still prefer to play something like say, oh Smash. =P
awwww. can we at least get a new sport, like football(american) or lacrosse, or even hockey?
Well once the inevitable Mario Tennis for Wii is unveiled, I think Nintendo have pretty much updated all their Mario franchise games for this generation.
It'll probably be time for another Mario Party by then, of course.
Not trolling, just wondering what Ninty will unveil after their usual suspects are released. Hopefully something new like Pikmin was last generation!
Oh man, I hope there's a baseball bat attachment for the Wiimote!
I hope it weighs at least as much as a tall can of beer!
I hope it makes the thing fuckin' grotesquely huge!
I hope they announce Mario Tennis, with a tennis attachment, and then Mario Bowling with a spherical remote shell, and then Mario Boxing, with boxing glove shells.
Then we wouldn't even need Wii Sports anymore, because we'd have Mario!
Oh boy. A skin and power-ups for Wii Sports Baseball.
...
Oh no...
No can't think of a funny comment for this one.
@108:
Not only would we not need Mario anymore, we'd totally have a reason to spend, like, $300 more!
Nintendo's buissness model
1)Pick type of game
2)Add nintendo owned characters
3)simplify it down to it's lowest common denominator (for old ppl and kids)
4)???
5)Profit
Ugh... why must they do this? Give us Disaster DoC details, or Pikmin, or even Animal Crossing, just something exciting and new!
@Godluvsugly: #4 should be: Do something.
i want mario tennis
And now we're back to Gamecube graphics!
Do Nintendo even try anymore?
Super Mario Sleeping:
Watch Mario and the other Mushroom Kingdom characters sleep soundly in their beds, but not for too long! Press the A button when it's time for their alarm to wake them up for the brand new day!
With Alarm Clock attachment for the Wii Remote! RRP $94.99.
Nintendo makes the most "innovative" console, and the least innovative games....
@Ollivander:
on nintendo? how can this be?
I enjoyed Namco's take on Mario baseball, so maybe this will be some good fun too.
I loved the Superstars Baseball on GameCube, or whatever it was called. Hopefully, this will be good.
@Godluvsugly: What's a buissness?
If 'simplifying it for old people and kids' means 'making sports games that are actually fun rather than tedious', then I guess I have to agree with you.
I loved Mario Superstar Baseball, I hope this one lives up to it, and isn't toned down so much as to lose the depth.
Memo to Nintendo:
DO SOMETHING NEW!!!! Would you please quit recycling the same games and characters and dev something new? We have been seeing the same characters return in the same games for almost 30 years now!! Animal Crossing used original charcters and look how well that turned out. You can do it Nintendo! Lock a buch of your guys in a room somewhere and don't let them out until they come up with at least ONE original IP. For the love of Christ enough is enough already.
Love Always,
Mr.SithNinja
p.s. When are you going to be taking pre-orders for his and will there be any cool promotional items like the Mario Galaxy Coins?
@Kazzahdrane: Mario Golf?
Where's mario's detailed overalls? :(
@Ollivander: I remember that once you get the game and you could match the ai at maximun it was really funny in some stadiums when you hit a ball it ended up in a piranha plant or something like that, yea that was funny...
1) select Mii characters in Wii Sports
2) delete
3) paste in Mario Characters
4) profit
I hate the way Nintendo puts their mascots into so many games inexplicably.
Once Mario Fishing is done..my life is complete.Isn't he running out of sports though..I mean he's been to the Olympics,played golf,tennis,soccer,baseball,basketball.
There's still time for Mario Football,Hockey and gymnastics though.
Ok,I'm done..It probably is a decent game though.
@enewtabie: Let me add to the list.
Mario Rugby
Mario Cricket
Mario Curling
@Kazzahdrane:
Disaster: Day of Crisis is just around the corner... and who knows what other new IPs they might be cooking up.
Besides, not all usual suspects are updated yet... There's still pikmin, animal crossing, f-zero and star fox to come... and then there are the rumors of a new Kid Icarus, too. And then there's Wii Music, and possibly other Wii-something games coming out. I wouldn't rule out a Wiintendogs, or something similar, either.
So, there's at least a couple years before they run out of franchises to recycle. Not that I mind the recycling, as long as the games are good and bring something new into the table.
It took over 20 years, but I'm finally getting a little tired of Mario. Even still, this game looks like it could be pretty fun.
@enewtabie: Who would have thought that a fat, little plumber could be a galaxy saving decathelete?
I'd trade in all of these cash-in Mario spin-offs for another 2D Mario on the DS, in an INSTANT.
Wow, whole lotta complainers. First thing I thought when I saw the title and screenshot was 'kick ass'. Maybe I'm just not emo enough...
I'm quickly starting to lose my patience with the Wii. Nintendo pulls shit games like this, yet my Wii continue to collects dust while I wait for the next Nintendo exclusive title to come out every X months so i can finish it within 8 hours and ignore it again until the next quality-par game comes out.
Mike Rowe has done less Dirty Jobs than Mario.
@Ryumeka: Yes, but it still looks better than Mario Kart Wii
...Fielding doesn't look very fun. Isn't that the one thing that Miyamoto wanted to improve? But I guess They don't want people to use Nunchuks. People swinging Wii Remotes one handed breaks TVs...
@Stormrider: Except making fun generally means simplifying a game, which generally turns into.... "fun for an hour then you get sick of it".
Complexity helps keep gamers playing, they keep learning, they try to master the game......
Wiisports were fun for a while, but quickly got boring because they were just to simple.
@Ryumeka: like they need to. heh.
Pft! Nintendo doesn't need new franchises! Kid Icarus, the Ice Climbers, Punch-Out, Pro Wrestling, 10-Yard Fight, Cobra Triangle, Hogan's Alley, Kung Fu, Slalom, Star Tropics, Wild Gunman, Wrecking Crew- Nintendo's only mistake is not reusing their franchises, but not reusing enough of them.
all right, I'm officially sick of Mario's face. lol.
Anybody else beyond tired of Nintendo making the same games with the same characters?
Looking on the bright side of the shit bucket, it can't be worse than MLB 2k8
@thelastslice: I greatly enjoyed my StarTropics I got on the VC, enough to actually see it through to the end. Man, a StarTropics Wii could be freaking sweet.
You guys are complainers!
Baseball on Wii sports was moderately fun and I for one am looking forward to a game that builds upon that foundation and is still accessible to all my non-gamer friends and family.
@Mr.SithNinja:
Yeah,Mario is pretty hardcore..Mario RTS game soon???
Argh i wish Nintendo wouldn't do this. I don't mind the character titles, Metroid, Super mario, whatever, but they've more than spent their quota of basically generic outsourced games they can lace with mascots and get away with it.
I think it's honestly lazy. I don't mind another Wii baseball game by nintendo; bring it on. I just wish they'd do something like capitalize on the Miis more, or try some new characters for new games.
Hell, why not revive some of the lesser characters and make them the focus, if they're so adamantly uninterested in new characters. Make me a shy guy bowling game or something. Make a Koopa troopa turn based tactics game. Make me a Lakitu air combat game. SOMETHING else!
I never thought i'd say this (though i guess it's obvious to many others) but the slapping of "Super mario" on Wacky Sports Game X is starting to feel really, really cynical of them.
i love that with the Wii, you can now virtually beat a dead horse with a quick gesture of the wiimote.
There are a lot of great properties that they could be developing for, but instead they are going to pull this lame game.
Games like this are just lazy at this point.
@Psychtaygar: A lot of games look better than MKWii.
WHY DOES DONKEY KONG HAVE ANGULAR SHOULDERS? WHYYYY?!
Nobody has played it and yet it's already a "terrible" game. Gotta love the gaming community.
@Cchrist: step 4)??? is a homage to South park
@Stormrider: well maybe we differ on our definitions of fun, i personally like games that are difficult, have many facets, don't just use the same stupid characters over and over, aren't just money making schemes aimed at anyone retarded enough to buy anything with the word mario in it! but that's just me!
I am still waiting for the Mario FPS. I can't wait to see his little white glove wrapped around a Deart Eagle, picking off Goombas with head shots.
@eugaet: Gaming is now a boys club; no girls, kids, or adults allowed! They're angry that Nintendo stopped trying to appeal to them. (Not that they gave a shit about Nintendo in the first place, poor GC.)
No disaster. Famistu revealed that the game is still in production and due to come out in japan this year.
I guess they are saving it for e3.
Next up in the Mario series... Mario Jumps the Shark!
@Ollivander: actualy i did play it... last time they made it, and the time before that, and the time before that... get the point?
I think mario is over-extending in that picture there... There's a pun here but I don't know that I can find it.
@eugaet:
No, it just shows you have a minimal level of maturity.
@Godluvsugly: Awesome. I won't cry and complain like a lot of others. A good arcade baseball game? Sign me up. Gamers are far too hard to please anymore. If they don't like arcade games, then they can play one of the other games that aren't arcade games instead of whining over it. There's choice out there, people.