Nintendo
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The Mario Baseball series is a spin-off series of the Mario franchise that revolves around the concept of baseball. Only two games have been released to date: the first one, Mario Superstar Baseball for the Nintendo GameCube, and the second one, Mario Super Sluggers for the Wii. Unlike the previous spin-offs, the player could recruit people via completing scout missions to get enough scout flags to recruit the player on one of the four opposite teams. Another unique feature is chemistry, which effects how well the player's teammates cooperate. Even though there are only two baseball games, this series features more playable characters than other spin-off titles in the Mario franchise. The games were developed by NowProduction with Bandai Namco.

Series Elements[]

The main elements were the large roster of Mario characters playing in baseball fields with Mario elements. Mario Super Sluggers features the largest roster of any Mario game. The main games included a chemistry mechanic that improve character's abilities if they had good relationships. There is also a special swing and pitch mechanic which is increases the power of the pitch/ swing and made it difficult to receive. Captains had special versions of the swing and pitch which had addition effects.

Installments[]

Direct[]

Title
Cover, original release, and system Synopsis
Mario Superstar Baseball
MarioSB Cover
Japan
July 21, 2005
Nintendo GameCube
Mario Superstar Baseball is the first installment in the Mario Baseball series. It features a total of thirty-two playable characters (not counting alternate characters), six of which can be unlocked. These characters are divided into four different groups: balance, technique, speed, and power. The game also features three characters from the Donkey Kong franchise: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Dixie Kong. The game also has a unique feature called chemistry. Chemistry is the relationship status found between the team captain and its players. The better the chemistry between the characters, the better that team will likely perform. Should a team have bad chemistry, they may perform poorly in the game. Six mini-games were also featured in the game, one of which is unlockable.
Mario Super Sluggers
SuperSluggers
Japan
June 19, 2008
Wii
Mario Super Sluggers is the second and most recent installment to the Mario Baseball series; it was released for the Wii in 2008 in Japan, South Africa, and North America; however, it was never released for the European, Australian, and South Korean regions. The game takes place in the Baseball Kingdom. The game features a total of forty-one playable characters (not counting alternate characters), nine more than the original. All of the previous game's characters were reunited in the sequel, and they were all default. The nine new ones must be unlocked. There were a total of nine stadiums to play in, four of which had to be unlocked; each stadium, unlockables included, had their own unique mini-game for the player to engage in. The game also featured many cutscenes, each of which told a story to give the game a more involved aspect of gameplay.The Challenge Mode was changed from going around playing other teams to recruiting players by clearing special missions for more of a RPG feel. This game can switch between day and night. This is useful because Bowser Jr. Playroom can only be played in during the day and Luigi's Mansion and Bowser's Castle can only be played in at night.

Indirect[]

Title
Cover, original release, and system Synopsis
Mario Sports Superstars
Mario Sports Superstars (NA)
Europe
March 10, 2017
Nintendo 3DS
Mario Sports Superstars is a 3DS game released on March 10, 2017 in Europe. Baseball, developed by Bandai Namco Studios like the main series, is included as one of the five sports available.

Characters[]

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