Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Encyclopedia
Mario Hoops 3-on-3, known in Europe
and Australia
as Mario Slam Basketball and in Japan
as , is a sports game
developed by Square Enix
and published by Nintendo
for the Nintendo DS
in 2006.
This game is the first in which Mario
and Final Fantasy
characters appear together
as playable characters, and the second Mario game developed by Square
, the first one being Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
. It is the first Mario basketball game ever to be released.
Navigating menus and playing the game can be done with either the touch screen or the d-pad. You can play left or right-handed, depending on what you choose in the options menu. There is also an option of using the A, B, X, Y buttons instead of the touch screen. There are certain moves that only use the touch screen.
The player shoots by drawing a line forward on the touchpad. Depending on where the character is and how he/she is moving, the shot will either be a normal shot or a slam dunk. Normal Shots and Slam Dunks are 20 points plus the number of coins the player currently has. Super Shots (Specials) are 40 points each plus the number of coins. Ranged shots (three-point shots in usual basketball) are worth 30 points each plus the number of coins.
The game is structured in tournaments, which the player must win to progress. The tournament ladder is made with graphics based on the original Super Mario Bros.
. Each tournament consists of three games with two halves of 2.5 minutes, except that the player needs to play an extra game with the Final Fantasy team at the end of the rainbow tournament.
The player can win a tournament by winning the three games on its ladder. The player would obtain either a gold cup, a silver cup or a bronze cup. A gold cup is available only if the player has 200 points more than the opponents in all games of the tournament. Silver if all games are won by more than 100 points and bronze for winning all three games.
There are two modes: the normal mode and the hard mode. The hard mode is available after beating the Final Fantasy team on "normal mode".
Reviews were mixed. While the game was generally praised for its control, graphics, and variety, it was criticized for its simplistic artificial intelligence
, unsatisfactory minigames, and overpowered skills for the Final Fantasy characters. The lack of Nintendo Wi-Fi connection support also hurt the game. It currently holds an average critic score of 71% on Game Rankings
.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
as Mario Slam Basketball and in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as , is a sports game
Sports game
A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...
developed by Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
in 2006.
This game is the first in which Mario
Mario (series)
The video game series, alternatively called the series or simply the series, is a series of highly popular and critically acclaimed video games by Nintendo, featuring Nintendo's mascot Mario and, in many games, his brother Luigi. Gameplay in the series often centers around jumping on and...
and Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
characters appear together
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
as playable characters, and the second Mario game developed by Square
Square Co.
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
, the first one being Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, often shortened and officially known in Japan as , is an action role-playing game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . It was originally released on March 9, 1996 in Japan and on May 13,...
. It is the first Mario basketball game ever to be released.
Gameplay
Touch control is used for all actions besides movement (which is handled by the directional pad). Dribbling is performed automatically, but at a lower rate if the touch screen is not used actively to dribble. Touching the screen in a certain direction causes the character that the player is controlling to change which way the character is dribbling and face in another direction, allowing the player to turn his/her character without having to move with the d-pad and gives the player better defense. In addition, dribbling is faster on coin pads. Dribbling on coin pads also earns the player coins to be used as points while shooting.Navigating menus and playing the game can be done with either the touch screen or the d-pad. You can play left or right-handed, depending on what you choose in the options menu. There is also an option of using the A, B, X, Y buttons instead of the touch screen. There are certain moves that only use the touch screen.
The player shoots by drawing a line forward on the touchpad. Depending on where the character is and how he/she is moving, the shot will either be a normal shot or a slam dunk. Normal Shots and Slam Dunks are 20 points plus the number of coins the player currently has. Super Shots (Specials) are 40 points each plus the number of coins. Ranged shots (three-point shots in usual basketball) are worth 30 points each plus the number of coins.
The game is structured in tournaments, which the player must win to progress. The tournament ladder is made with graphics based on the original Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...
. Each tournament consists of three games with two halves of 2.5 minutes, except that the player needs to play an extra game with the Final Fantasy team at the end of the rainbow tournament.
The player can win a tournament by winning the three games on its ladder. The player would obtain either a gold cup, a silver cup or a bronze cup. A gold cup is available only if the player has 200 points more than the opponents in all games of the tournament. Silver if all games are won by more than 100 points and bronze for winning all three games.
There are two modes: the normal mode and the hard mode. The hard mode is available after beating the Final Fantasy team on "normal mode".
Reception
As of July 25, 2007, Mario Hoops 3-on-3 has sold 1.5 million copies worldwide.Reviews were mixed. While the game was generally praised for its control, graphics, and variety, it was criticized for its simplistic artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, unsatisfactory minigames, and overpowered skills for the Final Fantasy characters. The lack of Nintendo Wi-Fi connection support also hurt the game. It currently holds an average critic score of 71% on Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
.
External links
- Official UK website
- Mario Hoops 3-on-3 at Nintendo.com