Mario Sports Mix

Mario Sports Mix
Developer(s)	Square Enix Nintendo SPD Group No.4
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Shin Azuma[1]
Composer(s)	Masayoshi Soken Kumi Tanioka[1]
Series	Mario
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date(s)	JP November 25, 2010 AUS January 27, 2011[2] EU January 28, 2011 UK February 4, 2011 NA February 7, 2011
Genre(s)	Sports game
Mode(s)	Single-player, local and online multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: G CERO: A ESRB: E PEGI: 3
Media/distribution	Wii Optical Disc

Mario Sports Mix (マリオスポーツミックス^?) is a sports video game developed by Square Enix for Wii. It was released on November 25, 2010 in Japan, and was released in early 2011 in other regions. It features volleyball, both field hockey and ice hockey, dodgeball, and street basketball. The game features mostly characters and locations from the Mario series with a few guest appearances by characters from Square Enix's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series of games. Players can also opt to play as one of their Mii characters. Mario Sports Mix has received average reviews, having an aggregate score of 64/100 on Metacritic and on score of 65.59% on Gamerankings.

Gameplay

"Basketball". One of the Sports in Mario Sports Mix.

The game is played much in the vein of past Mario sports games, as well as Konami's Tiny Toon Adventures: ACME All-Stars, with features such as powerful special moves and over-the-top, arcade-like gameplay.^[3] Both cooperative and competitive local multiplayer modes are featured: depending on the sport, two players (in two-on-two) or three players (in three-on-three) can play cooperative multiplayer and four players (in two-on-two) can play competitive multiplayer in two teams of two. Online multiplayer is also featured, with two players per Wii console joining up to play two-on-two matches either against friends or against random players.^[4]

The game features mostly characters and locations from the Mario series with a few guest appearances by characters from Square Enix's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series of games. The Ninja, White Mage, Black Mage, Cactuar and Moogle characters all appear from the Final Fantasy series, while the Slime monster from the Dragon Quest series also appears.^[5][6] Players can also opt to play as one of their Mii characters.

Plot

The story mode takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom where Toad is gardening flowers, when all of a sudden, an object crashes behind the castle. Toad then runs to the object (along with a few other Toads), and he finds a red crystal with a basketball in it, a green crystal with a volleyball in it, a yellow crystal with a dodgeball in it, and a blue crystal with a coin in it. While observing the mysterious crystals, the Toads suddenly comes up with an idea of introducing new sports—Basketball, Volleyball, Dodgeball, and Hockey—to the Mushroom Kingdom. Toad also organizes tournaments for the four sports. Once the four tournaments are won, a ‘’Sports Mix’s’’ mode is available. It is largely identical to the previous tournaments, except after the players' team defeats the Final Fantasy team, the three Sports Mix trophies that they receive will end up merging into a dark crystal. That crystal also leads them to an alternate dimension, where the Behemoth King is found. Similarly with Behemoth, players have to defeat the Behemoth King yester it takes them out.

Development

Mario Sports Mix is the third Mario game developed by Square Enix after Super Mario RPG for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Mario Hoops 3-on-3 for the Nintendo DS and was first shown at E3 2007. During the Nintendo E3 Presentation, Reggie Fils-Aime stated that none of the included sports had featured in any previous Mario sports title.^[7] However, three of them have been featured in some fashion: basketball was the focus of Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (and there are basketball-based mini-games in Mario Party 4, Mario Party 6, and Mario Party 8); volleyball mini-games were featured in Mario Party 4 and Mario Party 5; and hockey was a featured sport in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Mario Sports Mix marks the first time dodgeball has been featured in a Mario sports title and the first time the other three have featured in prominent roles in a home console title.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	65.45%[8]
Metacritic	63/100[9]
Review scores
Publication	Score
Eurogamer	7/10[10]
Famitsu	30 out of 40[11]
GameSpot	4/10[12]
IGN	6.5[13]
Nintendo Power	80/100[14]
Official Nintendo Magazine	72%[15]

Famitsu released the first review for Mario Sports Mix approximately a week before its launch in Japan. The game received an overall score of 30/40, with two reviewers giving it 7/10 and two giving it 8/10. One reviewer praised the title for its "simple and easy" controls, while also commenting that the characters' special moves were "pretty neat" and that the courts included in the game were "fun in their own way". However, concern was raised with the number of playable sports, with one reviewer commenting that "with only four sports included, some people might get bored pretty fast."^[11]

Mario Sports Mix has received average reviews, having an aggregate score of 64/100 on Metacritic and a Gamerankings of 65.59%.^[9] IGN's Jack DeVries rated the game 6.5, stating "it could make a fun party game, but this is a pretty weak offering". They praised the graphics, calling the animations "well done", and said "everything is bright and smooth". They also praised the music, calling it "fun and energetic, though kind of repetitive."^[13] Eurogamer's Keza MacDonald rated the game 7/10 and Common Sense Media gave the game 5 stars and an on rating for ages 8 and up, Saying "Top-notch sports compilation is good fun for all ages."^[16] Gamespot, however, gave the game a low rating of 4/10 stating that "Every sport is tedious and shallow", "Computer opponents are too easy or too cheap", "Requires very little skill", "Too much chaos in the competitions" and "None of the sports offer anything new or unique".^[12] Official Nintendo Magazine also mentioned in its review that "volleyball is the weakest game of the four" because it only involves flicking the Wii remote and pressing A.^[15] It also noted issues with the unlockable characters because they are only Square Enix characters, which it stated that they "are a bit underwhelming" and that "Replacing them with other Mario characters would be much better".^[15]

As of April 2011, Mario Sports Mix has sold 1.54 million copies worldwide.^[17]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The Ending Credits
2. ^ "Mario Sports Mix". Nintendo Australia. 2011-01-04. http://nintendo.com.au/index.php?action=news&nid=421&pageID=6. Retrieved 2011-01-04. 
3. ^ Calvert, Justin (2010-06-15). "Mario Sports Mix First Look". GameSpot. http://uk.gamespot.com/wii/sports/mariosportsmix/news.html?sid=6265638&mode=previews. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
4. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2010-10-15). "Mario Sports Mix Goes Online". IGN. http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/112/1128307p1.html. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
5. ^ Fahey, Mike (2010-11-11). "There's A Little Final Fantasy In Mario Sports Mix". Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/5687485/theres-a-little-final-fantasy-in-mario-sports-mix. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
6. ^ Yip, Spencer (2010-11-15). "The Dragon Quest Character In Mario Sports Mix Is...". Siliconera. http://www.siliconera.com/2010/11/15/the-dragon-quest-character-in-mario-sports-mix-is/. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
7. ^ "Nintendo E3 Network | E3 Presentation". Nintendo of America. 2010-06-15. http://e3.nintendo.com/e3-presentation/index.html. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
8. ^ "Mario Sports Mix". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/wii/997753-mario-sports-mix/index.html. Retrieved 2011 March 23. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "Mario Sports Mix Critic Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/mario-sports-mix/critic-reviews. Retrieved 23 March 2011. 
10. ^ Keza MacDonald (28 January, 2011). "Mario Sports Mix Wii Review - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net". Eurogamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-28-mario-sports-mix-review. Retrieved 2011-02-07. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Gilford, Kevin (2010-11-17). "Japan Review Check: Mario Sports Mix, DoDonPachi". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/news/japan-review-check-mario-sports. Retrieved 2010-12-06. 
12. ^ ^{a b} Mc Shea, Tom (2011-02-08). "Mario Sports Mix Review for Wii - GameSpot". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/wii/sports/mariosportsmix/review.html. Retrieved 2011-02-09. 
13. ^ ^{a b} Jack DeVries (February 7, 2011). "Mario Sports Mix Review - Wii Review at IGN". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/114/1148337p1.html. Retrieved 2011-02-07. 
14. ^ Nintendo Power Feb 2011, p.82
15. ^ ^{a b c} Wii Review: Mario Sports Mix review - Official Nintendo Magazine
16. ^ Mario Sports Mix - Review on Common Sense Media http://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews/mario-sports-mix
17. ^ "Supplementary Information about Earnings Release" (pdf). Nintendo. 2011-04-26. pp. 10. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110426e.pdf#page=5. Retrieved 2011-04-26. 

External links

• Mario Sports Mix official Japanese website (Japanese)
• Mario Sports Mix official North American website
• Mario Sports Mix game page at Nintendo.com
• Mario Sports Mix game page at Nintendo.co.uk
• Mario Sports Mix game page at Nintendo.com.au