Mario Sports Superstars (Nintendo 3DS) Review

With core Mario sporting entries of golf and tennis on Nintendo 3DS already, the scepticism comes in just how fleshed out these games are really going to be. There is no way these renditions will have the same presence as the dedicated standalone counterpart versions that have been available on the system for a while. Sure enough, basically all of the activities are bog standard, with little in the way of presenting anything super exciting or unique. Rounding out the package following the aforementioned golf and tennis are football, baseball and horse racing - the latter of which is a new one for the Mario sports range, and comes off as the event that seems to have had the most effort put into it.

Horse racing features a number of courses with a few shortcuts to speak of, and some minor tactical gameplay. When riding in close proximity with other racers, the stamina bar refills much faster, so the biggest decisions come in when to stay with the pack or storm off ahead and waiting that extra bit longer for the gauge to fill up again. Outside of races, players can groom a horse, walking it, feeding it and cleaning it to boost its compatibility and stats, producing a better racing companion. This added involvement is the sort of thing expected of previous Mario sports titles, but sadly, it seems that being a new game for the series has meant only horse racing has received this bonus treatment here.

The other sports are pretty lax in content. Football might be the first time Mario and company have played the game in a proper 11 versus 11 scenario, but it offers relatively little fun after the initial amusement. Baseball and golf have a bit more depth to their games, but are still generally simple affairs. Tennis features special moves and jump shots, and characters seem to have a better reach to get to serves and wider balls compared to previous renditions, but it is comparatively lacking to its older siblings, with fewer interesting gameplay mechanics and options.

This is echoed throughout the whole game. A small number of arenas, poor unlockable characters (just two), a single main tournament mode, a lack of other modes, annoying reused voice clips, simple presentation with little visual variety, scaled down gameplay… This is a really unimaginative bundle of games that becomes tedious very quickly, with little to no replay value at all - aside from the multiplayer mode that might just extend the life a tad. The in-game unlockable cards aren't enticing, and amiibo cards that are sold separately and can be scanned in just unlock stronger versions of characters to play as.

Each game works and achieves its purpose, but none of them have any lasting appeal whatsoever. They are generic, mindless and simplistic, and that usual fun factor that accompanies Mario sports games is non-existent here. It'd be far more worthwhile to search out the best versions of each sport on previous Nintendo systems, such as Mario Smash Football on GameCube, or Mario Power Tennis on Game Boy Advance. At least the old Camelot GBA games had those brilliant RPG modes on top of the main sporting goodness to keep players going for weeks at a time. If really keen on horse racing, though, well, this is still tough to recommend for that event alone, but Mario Sports Superstars will suffice for some half decent arcade action, particularly if planning to play online with friends.