Just recently we shared details on the release date for Mario Sports Superstars, which is due on 24th March in North America. In one of those scheduling quirks we see occasionally Nintendo of Europe is releasing it sooner on 10th March, giving Europeans a head start.
Beyond that, the press release outlines some interesting details - for one thing it reiterates that there'll be single player, local multiplayer and online matches available in all five sports (Horse Racing, Football, Baseball, Golf and Tennis).
With the previously announced amiibo cards we know there'll be 90 in total, five for each character - it'll be hard to get the full set, of course, as they'll be sold in blind packs. 16 characters will be unlocked from the start in the game, with two unlockable with progress. Like in North America first-run copies of the game will also come with an amiibo card, but the implementation of 'Star' versions of characters (a staple of Camelot's sports games) may annoy some - you get these by scanning the relevant amiibo; there's even a mode locked behind amiibo scanning.
The Mario Sports Superstars series of 90 amiibo cards (five for each character) builds upon this extensive roster by allowing players to unlock more powerful versions of each character in each sport. By tapping a Mario Sports Superstars series amiibo card, players can unlock the Star version of the corresponding character in the corresponding sport. A Star character has stronger stats than its regular counterpart, giving that character an edge in that particular sport. And by tapping up to three amiibo cards, players can participate in the Road to Superstar mode. Completing this mode will bestow Superstar status on their characters, giving an even greater boost to their stats.
With sets of five cards in a blind pack set to cost $4.99 in the US, it seems that getting those Star characters in particular will be beyond most; hopefully there'll also be a way to earn Star characters in-game that the press release hasn't mentioned.
In any case, are you tempted to pick this up in March?
Comments 57
Hope its good!
I hope all five sports will get a season mode or something like that. Otherwise this would be just a mini-game compilation.
Feel a bit sorry for this game, really.
I was quite looking forward to it, but then what it was got dwarfed by what it wasn't.
And what it wasn't was Zelda on Switch.
It's likely a bit cheaper, but still, anything in the window around March 3rd hoping to get purchased and played is going to meet with a sad fate.
I'm interested. I really enjoyed Mario Golf on 3DS. I just hope it's good!
i so want this to be a switch title.
looking at the picture up top, i see all of the sports could be played with joycons, and only football presents a problem.
Hmm, never really been a big fan of sports games, think the last one I loved playing was "Daily Thompson's Decathlon" for the ZX Spectrum.. best sports game ever.
I'm actually glad it's coming to the 3DS however, there are going to be a lot of people who can't afford a Switch at launch & will want some Nintendo goodness of their own. Think we'll be hearing "this should have been a Switch game" on everything that hits the 3DS now.
It's Me, Mar10 2017 !
Already have 2 copies pre-odored from Amazon, can't wait. My kids and me love all the Mario sports games.
I will be picking this up. I already have Mario Golf and Tennis on 3DS, but Soccer and Baseball are worth the price of admission here. My kids will love the horse races.
@ZurapiiYohane64 It's not really popular anywhere outside North America. That said, it could just skip a release in Europe and Oceania like Mario Super Sluggers did...
Hm...my impressions about that 5 Sports from the Best until Worst :
1. Baseball =
2. Tennis = Not bad
3. Golf = Owkay.... quite frustrating for me
4. Horse riding = quite boring.
5. Soccer = MEH !!!
The game looks pretty good, but this seems like very poor amiibo use. It basically locking game functions as physical DLC... something I am strictly against.
I really enjoyed the Mario Strikers -and Golf series. Tennis was quitte good as well. Hopefully it'll have the same quality and spirit those games had -only a bit more pocket sized ofcourse.
"it seems that getting those Star characters in particular will be beyond most; hopefully there'll also be a way to earn Star characters in-game that the press release hasn't mentioned."
Well, I love this game and love amiibo, never expected however that the two would meet up in such a way to ruin each other >_>;;;
Luckily it still sound like an amazing fun game, but with such a release date I'll have to switch between this and Zelda Wii U instead than actually get a Switch XD
And so the competition begins.....Switch vs 3ds!!!
They can't both sell equally well AND get the same games so one is going to be 'chosen' ahead of the other on and off for a while now..... Can't believe the marketing messages Nintendo are sending out right now. Very contradictory.
Sounds like pay-to-win dlc. Prefer it when amiibo gives cosmetic extras, but not this, especially in an online multiplayer where people who can't afford the amiibo will be at a disadvantage. Oh well, at least it looks to be better value than Mario Tennis Ultra Smash.
@ZurapiiYohane64 I've been wanting a Super Mario (American) Football game for years...
I hadn't heard of this game until just a few days ago, and I'm really disappointed it isn't on Switch!!! Seems to be a fairly common thought, based on the above comments.
We need a NotWii SwitchSports collection. Maybe more Resort-like, if nothing else for Table Tennis!
From what I've seen/heard of this, I predict a 7/10 review score...
@Robotron2084 Haha, I know that feeling... I had three brothers & I'm surprised we didn't kill the keyboard hammering the two run keys!
@Robotron2084 Gotta practice your waggle technique..
Hope this is the next Wii Sports for Switch!
only the games I don't care about come out earlier in europe....
Well, in that case, it better be great, like 8 or 9 to have me even bother with it after its release, maybe in April.
I'm hoping this game is actually pretty good. It looks like it could be.
Wonder if a lack of amiibo cards will have a negative impact on this game, sounds like another form of microtransactions. Do these cards affect other games as well or is it just related to this game?
@Robotron2084 Then a couple of years later all those Spectrum controllers got painted gold & given away on Gamesmaster!
It looks brilliant! I'll definitely be preordering when it's available
@Andrzej777 Microtransactions indeed! For the most part I'm fine with amiibo cards (AC:NL used them well), but I cannot, in good conscience, support this behavior. Count me out. I can only hope that this tactic does negatively impact the overall sales of the software itself.
Gross.
I hope there are just standard sports modes in these games without some of the power up gimmicks that have been known to go into Mario sports titles - Mario Tennis Open on 3DS being the worst. I don't mind having superstar characters as those can be optional to use, although I doubt I'll buy many amiibo cards for this game.
@Hokanchu
Been looking forward to this game. Will buy it day one with pikmin together. Rumour has it theres gonna be one card included . Will see what it does. I will definitely not buy any of those cards. Amiibo cards? I just own the mario maker amiibo, still sealed but I recognize its collective and display value. But amiibo cards? And just related to one, I would say minor game, give me a break!
I think this might have been day 1 on Wii U, we really enjoyed Wii Sports baseball and Mario Supper Sluggers, but my kids aren't the least bit interested on 3DS.
Do the 90 cards have anything on them that can be used stand alone like Pokemon cards? Even stats for a simple game like War?
Guess I'm more interested in the cards than the game at this point.
Nintendo really loves this pay-to-win scheme. Tons of cash for them, without the need of quality content. Game ruined for me.
Wario Strikers was awesome, wish this was on WiiU for multiplayer.
Not a big fan of how they're implementing amiibo in this game (this is coming from someone that usually like amiibo). I feel like they should have pulled a robobot or star fox zero and made star characters available in game but behind hours of gameplay or allow people to buy the amiibo to unlock those features early. Locking star characters behind a randomized paywall leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Does anyone have a list of upcoming games for 3DS in Japan? The West is always behind. Just wondering whether it might indicate the future of 3DS support vs. the Switch.
I need to see gameplay, but doesn't sound too bad except for the amiibo cards.
Sounds very good. I'll take this one instead Dragon ball fusions.
The Amiibo implementation here killed it for me. Cosmetics only or no sale.
I feel sorry for anybody who want's the whole set of amiibo cards. They're gonna cost well over $100 to find them all. And there's no way it's gonna be done without having a fist full of doubles.
It's a way for Nintendo to sell more cards than people want or need. I just don't like that Nintendo won't just bundle each characters 5 cards together, that way it's easier for people to get the set for the characters they want.
Remember the time when you didn't need to pay to unlock Star versions of each character?
Oh well. Still was gonna buy the cards anyway but it's still dumb.
You only need the one pack of five.
Because our wallets get zero rest after the Switch launch...
Lol i like the image. Is there something that mario cant do?
He is a doctor mario?
He is a fighter,
He ia funny,
He is fast (olympic)
He can play soccer / basketbal /tennis / golf.
He can party (mario party)
He can race.
He can fly / transform to do anything.
He doesnt age.
Lol but most of all he has a big belly even when doing so much sport lol!
@The-Chosen-one You can thank delicious Italian cuisine for that. (:
Nintendo finally realized that no one was gonna shell out $40-$60 for a single sports game just because it has Mario in it.
No! Nintendo, you couldn't have used amiibo any worse here. Skylanders uses figures that you level up and save moves to. This is literally pay to win. I was considering buying this game; definitely not now.
Ouch, locking Star characters behind amiibo? In Mario Golf, you needed those (arguably) to clear a bunch of challenges. I would've been fine with DLC characters (Mario Golf: World Tour brought enough content that I didn't mind paying for DLC to add to it), but paywalling behind random chance packs is kinda gross.
Man, as much as I know I'd play the soccer/football mode, I might end up skipping this one. Disappointing.
Im tempted to get this game. I wish it had a decent version of Hockey on it. I have been hoping for a good hockey game since the 3ds came out. Heck I would take a VC version of the EA versions from Genesis or SNES.
@World omg I didnt know they were using Amiibo cards in that way for this. Im no longer tempted.
Strange that Nintendo didn't made this for the Switch. A 2 player tennis would be fun with the joy-cons. Even golf would benefit from a swing motion control as well as baseball. Horse racing too, using the whip.
@Windy Yeah, it's really too bad. It looked fun!
This would have made so much sense as a Switch launch title, and it would also have made sense to use the "Mario Sports" branding seeing as Nintendo won't be able to use the "Wii Sports" moniker for any future instalments in the franchise. Honestly, what were Nintendo thinking?
Portable motion-controlled tennis? Yes, please!
"By tapping a Mario Sports Superstars series amiibo card, players can unlock the Star version of the corresponding character in the corresponding sport. A Star character has stronger stats than its regular counterpart, giving that character an edge in that particular sport. And by tapping up to three amiibo cards, players can participate in the Road to Superstar mode. Completing this mode will bestow Superstar status on their characters, giving an even greater boost to their stats."
Makes this game the easiest non-purchase ever.
The amiibo card stuff is kind of dumb, but it sounds like the game is perfectly playable without them (and may indeed be a better experience without artificially strong characters). In any case, I like the trailers I've seen, and unless the game gets very bad press upon release, I intend to buy this in March or April.
Fancy this but all the amiibo stuff puts me off a little. I don't really want to buy them - it's like DLC but you might get a duplicate!
Tennis is my favorite Mario sport (and the easiest for me to play lol), others don't excite me as much, but horse racing may be a lot of fun. I'm glad Europe finally gets something extra (earlier release) since so far all the good news were mainly for NA.
Yesterday I purchased DLC for Fantasy Life so this probably will be the next game on my list that I'll pick to play next. I'm just a little bit sad it does not include wider variety of sports, but I guess for that we have Mario & Sonic at Olympic games.
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