Mario Sports Superstars Explained
Mario Sports Superstars is a 2017 sports video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The game contains five sports minigames: football, baseball, tennis, golf, and horse racing.
Gameplay
The game consists of five sports – association football, baseball, tennis, golf, and horse racing.[1] Despite the number of sports contained, they are not mini-games, but rather, full-scale recreations of each sport.[2] For example, the soccer part of the game contains eleven versus eleven gameplay, the same as is standard in the sport.[3] Each individual sport contains single player tournaments, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer game modes.[3]
Development
The game was first announced during a Nintendo Direct on September 1, 2016.[4] The title was co-developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Camelot Software Planning, with the latter having developed games in the Mario Golf and Mario Tennis series.[5] [6] tri-Crescendo assisted on design.[7] While Nintendo's Mario Sports line has featured stand-alone entries in soccer (Mario Strikers), baseball (Mario Super Sluggers), tennis (Mario Tennis) and golf (Mario Golf), they had never featured horse racing, or compiled all these sports into one compilation.[8] Additionally, all of the sports except tennis had previously been featured in minigames in the Mario Party series. The game was released in PAL regions on March 10, 2017, in North America on March 24, 2017, and in Japan on March 30, 2017.[9] As with Camelot's previous Mario sports games, the soundtrack was written by Motoi Sakuraba.[10]
Reception
Mario Sports Superstars received mixed reviews. According to review aggregator Metacritic, the game had an average score of 62/100, based on 45 critic reviews.[11] Destructoid called it a "lazy experience, one developed solely for the purpose of selling what are basically Mario-branded Topps cards."[12] Nintendo Life stated that while the game offered five games in one it failed to offer a definitive version of anything adding that "as a multiplayer title it could be fun to climb the ranks online, but as a single player experience it's totally functional yet painfully lifeless." concluding that "Sports Superstars laid out the groundwork, but just needed to take a few more risks".[13]
By May 2017, the game had sold over 92,829 copies in Japan.[14]
Notes and References
- Web site: Makuch. Eddie. 2016-09-01. New 3DS Mario Sports Game Announced, Looks Pretty Fun. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160904141542/http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-3ds-mario-sports-game-announced-looks-pretty-f/1100-6443216. 2016-09-04. 2017-01-05. GameSpot.
- Web site: Crecente . Brian . Mario Sports Superstars coming to 3DS next spring . Polygon . 2016-09-01 . 2017-01-05 . 2016-12-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161215003356/http://www.polygon.com/2016/9/1/12749854/mario-sports-superstars-3ds . live .
- Web site: Marchiafava . Jeff . Mario Sports Superstars Combines Five Sports In One Handheld Package - News . GameInformer.com . 2016-09-01 . 2017-01-05 . 2016-11-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161106070504/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/09/01/mario-sports-superstars-combines-five-sports-in-one-handheld-package.aspx? . dead .
- Web site: Goldfarb . Andrew . Mario Sports Superstars Announced for 3DS . IGN . 2016-09-01 . 2017-01-05 . 2017-01-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170105090253/http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/09/01/mario-sports-superstars-announced-for-3ds . live .
- Web site: McFerran . Damien . Mario Sports Superstars Is A Collaboration Between Camelot And Bandai Namco . Nintendo Life . 2016-09-05 . 2017-01-05 . 2017-01-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170105084435/http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/09/mario_sports_superstars_is_a_collaboration_between_camelot_and_bandai_namco . live .
- News: von Benjamin Jakobs Ver . Mario Sports Superstars: Camelot und Bandai Namco arbeiten daran • . Eurogamer.de . 2016-09-05 . 2017-01-05 . 2017-01-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170105175746/http://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2016-09-05-mario-sports-superstars-camelot-und-bandai-namco-arbeiten-daran . live .
- Web site: 株式会社トライクレッシェンド 製品情報 . 2022-12-05 . 株式会社トライクレッシェンド . ja . 2022-12-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221205101037/https://www.tri-crescendo.co.jp/works.html . live .
- Web site: Fahey. Mike. 2016-09-01. Mario Sports Superstars Is All The Mario Sports. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160902045159/http://kotaku.com/mario-sports-superstars-is-all-the-mario-sports-1786045581. 2016-09-02. 2017-01-05. Kotaku.com.
- Web site: Romano. Sal. Mario Sports Superstars launches March 24 in North America. Gematsu. 24 January 2017. 24 January 2017. 26 January 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170126165521/http://gematsu.com/2017/01/mario-sports-superstars-launches-march-24-north-america. live.
- Web site: Greening. Chris. Motoi Sakuraba scores Mario Sports Superstars. Video Game Music Online. 12 March 2017. 12 March 2017.
- Web site: March 24, 2017 . Mario Sports Superstars Metacritic Listing . . May 25, 2017.
- Web site: Andriessen . CJ . March 31, 2017 . Review: Mario Sports Superstars . . May 25, 2017 . May 27, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170527072456/https://www.destructoid.com/review-mario-sports-superstars-428568.phtml . dead .
- Web site: McMahon . Conor . March 8, 2017 . Review: Mario Sports Superstars . . April 23, 2024 . May 24, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240524025223/https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/3ds/mario_sports_superstars . live .
- Web site: Romano . Sal . May 24, 2017 . Media Create Sales: 5/15/17 – 5/21/17 . Gematsu . May 25, 2017 . May 28, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170528101556/http://gematsu.com/2017/05/media-create-sales-51517-52117 . live .
