As much as we love Wii Sports Baseball, its measly three inning games don't satisfy us nearly as much as the upcoming Mario Super Sluggers. This is the baseball game Wii owners need, with full nine-inning games, a host of fictitious teams and well over 40 characters from the Mushroom Kingdom. Now factor in motion controls via the Wii remote, and you have a wild take on America's pastime.
Sluggers is a lot like Mario Superstar Baseball, where you select a famous Nintendo character (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Toad and Yoshi, among others) and hit imaginative and fictitious baseball diamonds. Case in point, Yoshi Park has an enormous roller coaster that operates behind the outfield and trains that actually roll across the field and cause havoc by running over unfortunate players. Yankee Stadium, this isn't.
In addition, the game features special moves per character, as well as unique batting styles. Whereas Mario holds a standard issue looking bat, Donkey Kong uses his bare fists to send the ball into orbit.
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Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
Robin Yang, AOL GameDaily
To bat, you hold the remote behind your head and follow through, as you would in actual baseball. The strength of your swing determines your overall power, and your actions are a one to one ratio with the game, so when you swing, Mario swings at the exact same time. From there, it's all about watching the ball sail out of the park for a homerun or frantically mashing the A button to help your batter run the bases.
As for pitching, you grasp the remote, select your pitch and mimic the actions of a real pitch. Just make sure you put on your wrist strap to avoid stray remotes crashing through your TV.
From what we played, Mario Super Sluggers is a lot of fun. Its over the top special attacks, festive looking stadiums and addictive gameplay makes this one of the year's best Wii games and a must play when it debuts August 25. It feels similar to its GameCube predecessor, but considering we dig that game, it's not a bad thing.
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