Mario Baseball is yet another foray by Nintendo into the Mario sports genre. Nintendo did not separate Mario Baseball much from their MLB baseball game as the two played very much alike on a fundamental level.  However, I did like that each character had their own style of batting and fielding. For example, the Sunshine guys from Mario Sunshine use a palm tree as their bat which allow them more space on the bat to hit the ball. Read on for our full impressions.

The version of Mario Baseball that I previewed at E3 had three stadiums unlocked.  Each of the stadiums had a unique look and personality - Mario Stadium which was a traditional baseball stadium, Peach Garden which was set in the courtyard of Peach’s castle and featured a huge fountain in the middle of the outfield, and Donkey Kong Jungle, which which looked like the jungles from the Donkey Kong games.

The game features mini-games as well, and two where playable.  The first one was Bob-omb which is basically a home run derby with a twist.  The pitch and size of the ball is decided by a random item which appears at the start of each pitch.  The second mini game was where you try to knock out a wall of colored barrels by hitting balls in their direction.  Neither of the mini-games where that impressive, and really just felt like filler.

Graphically, Mario Baseball held up to the high standards of all Mario-themed games. Bright and vibrant with an overall great look.

Mario Baseball was a lot of fun, but after a while I got frustrated and bored with it - it is no Super Mario Strikers.