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.
| Mario Sports Superstars | |
|---|---|
 Promotional art, showcasing some of the game's playable sports and characters | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Composer(s) | Motoi Sakuraba |
| Series | Mario Sports |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo 3DS |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Gameplay
editThe 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
editThe 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
edit| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 62/100[11] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 5/10[14] |
| Game Informer | 6.5/10[13] |
| Nintendo Life |   [12] |
| Nintendo World Report | 5.5/10[15] |
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.[16] Destructoid called it a "lazy experience, one developed solely for the purpose of selling what are basically Mario-branded Topps cards."[17] 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".[18]
By May 2017, the game had sold over 92,829 copies in Japan.[19]
Notes
edit- ^ Special Work by tri-Crescendo assisted with development
References
edit- ^ Makuch, Eddie (2016-09-01). "New 3DS Mario Sports Game Announced, Looks Pretty Fun". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2016-09-04. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ Crecente, Brian (2016-09-01). "Mario Sports Superstars coming to 3DS next spring". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2016-12-15. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ a b Marchiafava, Jeff (2016-09-01). "Mario Sports Superstars Combines Five Sports In One Handheld Package - News". GameInformer.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (2016-09-01). "Mario Sports Superstars Announced for 3DS". IGN. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ McFerran, Damien (2016-09-05). "Mario Sports Superstars Is A Collaboration Between Camelot And Bandai Namco". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ von Benjamin Jakobs Ver (2016-09-05). "Mario Sports Superstars: Camelot und Bandai Namco arbeiten daran •". Eurogamer.de. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ "株式会社トライクレッシェンド 製品情報". 株式会社トライクレッシェンド (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2022-12-05. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
- ^ Fahey, Mike (2016-09-01). "Mario Sports Superstars Is All The Mario Sports". Kotaku.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-02. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ Romano, Sal (24 January 2017). "Mario Sports Superstars launches March 24 in North America". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
- ^ Greening, Chris (12 March 2017). "Motoi Sakuraba scores Mario Sports Superstars". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
- ^ "Mario Sports Superstars for 3DS Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
- ^ McMahon, Conor (8 March 2017). "Mario Sports Superstars Review (3DS)". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
- ^ Shea, Brian (31 March 2017). "Mario Sports Superstars - A Shallow Sampling". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
- ^ Andriessen, CJ (31 March 2017). "Review: Mario Sports Superstars". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
- ^ Koopmaan, Daan (8 March 2017). "Mario Sports Superstars (3DS) Review". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
- ^ "Mario Sports Superstars Metacritic Listing". Metacritic. March 24, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
- ^ Andriessen, CJ (March 31, 2017). "Review: Mario Sports Superstars". Destructoid. Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
- ^ McMahon, Conor (March 8, 2017). "Review: Mario Sports Superstars". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on May 24, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ Romano, Sal (May 24, 2017). "Media Create Sales: 5/15/17 – 5/21/17". Gematsu. Archived from the original on May 28, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.