Mario Baseball
May 19, 2005 15:52:56 GMT -5
Post by Link on May 19, 2005 15:52:56 GMT -5
Swing Battah!
May 18, 2005
Your ace nintendo.com investigative team in action
Oh, the ordeal of E3. Here at NOA HQ in Redmond, they've set up a bunch of kiosks in Café Mario and called it the 'Mini E3.' Our higher journalist impulses kicked into gear when we saw Chuck from Accounts Payable monopolizing Mario Baseball. A few swiftly administered Spin Kongs and Giant Punches (lessons well learned at our alma mater, Super Smash Bros. Melee) freed up the game so we could dutifully report on it for you, dear reader.
First up, it always deserves repeating how gorgeous Mario games are. Everything from Daisy's diaphanous dress to the closely cropped hedges veining the outfield of the Peach Garden stadium looks polished and professional.
The Mushroom Kingdom sluggers are grouped in familiar categories. Balanced players include Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Shy Guy and Koopa Troopa. Technical players include Peach, Boo, Toadsworth and Dry Bones (swinging a bone for a bat, DB makes his first appearance in a sports title). The speedster squad stars Yoshi, Diddy Kong, Baby Mario and Paragoomba (a Goomba with itty-bitty wings). The roster of power players has expanded beyond the usual heavyweight suspects -- Wario, Donkey Kong and Bowser -- to include Blue Pianta (from Super Mario Sunshine) and King Boo.
Don’t assume the groups are final; Shy Guy was a technique maestro in Mario Power Tennis.
Besides Peach Garden, two other fields of dreams were available: Mario Stadium and Donkey Kong Jungle. You couldn't help but notice giant blocks in the air over Peach Garden, but we haven't been able to figure out what they're for. A river runs through right field in Donkey Kong Jungle. The fountain in Peach Garden's center field appears to affect play less than that weird hill at Minute Maid Park.
Controls were pretty simple in the exhibition demo. As you might suspect, the game tilts heavily toward arcade fun. You press A both to pitch and swing. Holding A before releasing results in a power pitch or swing. You can hold R and A simultaneously to throw a special pitch.
You can only throw three pitches: a regular pitch, a change and a super pitch (Waluigi's looks like a pair of purple dumbbells). As yet there's no curve, slider, splitter or spitter.
Mushroom Kingdom vets swing standard, albeit gaudily colored, bats. Mario's is red, Luigi's is green and Boo's is white. The newcomers, though, shoulder unique lumber. Bowser Jr. totes a mace, Magikoopa a wand and Blue Pianta an uprooted palm tree.
As with pitching, you can power up your swing by holding A. You can also bunt. You can crowd the plate or move away, but as yet you can't open or close your stance. At least in this build the pitches tend to be around the plate, so we hacked away at anything within range.
Once on base, you can take leads and steal. Defenders can leap for fly balls and pick the base they throw to.
Gamers have come to expect excellent minigames in Mario sports titles, and Mario Baseball looks to maintain that reputation. The two batting minigames available are a home-run contest and one that makes learning bat control a blast.
In the home-run contest, an icon telling you what pitch to expect appears just before a cannon fires away. Get good wood on the ball and it will burst in midair as the screen blazes with your point total. If you go yard on a giant Bob-omb, you'll get bonus points.
The bat-control minigame presents you with rows of stacked yellow, red or blue barrels. If you hit one barrel, you'll get points for exploding it and all adjoining ones of the same color. One barrel gives you a scant four points. Your total goes up geometrically, though, as you explode multiple barrels of the same color.
All in all, this game looks hothothot, even to a cynical baseball fanatic.
----------------------------------------------------
Nintendo's Official Site
May 18, 2005
Your ace nintendo.com investigative team in action
Oh, the ordeal of E3. Here at NOA HQ in Redmond, they've set up a bunch of kiosks in Café Mario and called it the 'Mini E3.' Our higher journalist impulses kicked into gear when we saw Chuck from Accounts Payable monopolizing Mario Baseball. A few swiftly administered Spin Kongs and Giant Punches (lessons well learned at our alma mater, Super Smash Bros. Melee) freed up the game so we could dutifully report on it for you, dear reader.
First up, it always deserves repeating how gorgeous Mario games are. Everything from Daisy's diaphanous dress to the closely cropped hedges veining the outfield of the Peach Garden stadium looks polished and professional.
The Mushroom Kingdom sluggers are grouped in familiar categories. Balanced players include Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Shy Guy and Koopa Troopa. Technical players include Peach, Boo, Toadsworth and Dry Bones (swinging a bone for a bat, DB makes his first appearance in a sports title). The speedster squad stars Yoshi, Diddy Kong, Baby Mario and Paragoomba (a Goomba with itty-bitty wings). The roster of power players has expanded beyond the usual heavyweight suspects -- Wario, Donkey Kong and Bowser -- to include Blue Pianta (from Super Mario Sunshine) and King Boo.
Don’t assume the groups are final; Shy Guy was a technique maestro in Mario Power Tennis.
Besides Peach Garden, two other fields of dreams were available: Mario Stadium and Donkey Kong Jungle. You couldn't help but notice giant blocks in the air over Peach Garden, but we haven't been able to figure out what they're for. A river runs through right field in Donkey Kong Jungle. The fountain in Peach Garden's center field appears to affect play less than that weird hill at Minute Maid Park.
Controls were pretty simple in the exhibition demo. As you might suspect, the game tilts heavily toward arcade fun. You press A both to pitch and swing. Holding A before releasing results in a power pitch or swing. You can hold R and A simultaneously to throw a special pitch.
You can only throw three pitches: a regular pitch, a change and a super pitch (Waluigi's looks like a pair of purple dumbbells). As yet there's no curve, slider, splitter or spitter.
Mushroom Kingdom vets swing standard, albeit gaudily colored, bats. Mario's is red, Luigi's is green and Boo's is white. The newcomers, though, shoulder unique lumber. Bowser Jr. totes a mace, Magikoopa a wand and Blue Pianta an uprooted palm tree.
As with pitching, you can power up your swing by holding A. You can also bunt. You can crowd the plate or move away, but as yet you can't open or close your stance. At least in this build the pitches tend to be around the plate, so we hacked away at anything within range.
Once on base, you can take leads and steal. Defenders can leap for fly balls and pick the base they throw to.
Gamers have come to expect excellent minigames in Mario sports titles, and Mario Baseball looks to maintain that reputation. The two batting minigames available are a home-run contest and one that makes learning bat control a blast.
In the home-run contest, an icon telling you what pitch to expect appears just before a cannon fires away. Get good wood on the ball and it will burst in midair as the screen blazes with your point total. If you go yard on a giant Bob-omb, you'll get bonus points.
The bat-control minigame presents you with rows of stacked yellow, red or blue barrels. If you hit one barrel, you'll get points for exploding it and all adjoining ones of the same color. One barrel gives you a scant four points. Your total goes up geometrically, though, as you explode multiple barrels of the same color.
All in all, this game looks hothothot, even to a cynical baseball fanatic.
----------------------------------------------------
Nintendo's Official Site