• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Mario Sports Superstars Review Thread

J

Jimmyfenix

Member
Metacritic - 69
Opencritic - 59

XGN - 8/10

Meristation - 7.8/10

NintendoWorldReport - 5.5/10

Where Mario Sports Superstars ultimately falters is it simply didn’t do much to stand out. I’m sure that some will get enjoyment out of this game, but the lack of charm made me not motivated to play it. I toyed around with some of the tournaments, played the minigames a whole of bunch and tried some multiplayer matches. At the end of the day, it didn’t really wow me at all. Horse Racing and Football were at least neat and I played them the most of the five sports. Outside of those, there was barely any real drive here to get them all checked off and finished.
Click to expand...

Nintendo Life - 5/10

Mario Sports Superstars straddles that unfortunate line of mediocrity that makes it difficult to actually score. It's certainly not a bad game, as it has plenty of variety and content to offer with a robust multiplayer mode for anyone that wants all their Mario sports in one convenient package, but we'd struggle to call it a good game either. It merely exists; sitting uncomfortably in a space that Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games has been eyeing up for years now.

By offering five games in one it fails to offer a definitive version of anything, and even a pretty decent take on horse racing isn't worth the price of admission unless you're planning on really diving into the other sports as well. As a multiplayer title it could be fun to climb the ranks online, but as a single player experience it's totally functional yet painfully lifeless. It's laid out the groundwork, but Sports Superstars just needs to take a few more risks.
Click to expand...

God Is A Geek - 4.5/10

The dearth of things to do is to obviously ensure that each sport is represented to some degree, but it’s difficult to feel anything other than if there were only three events and more modes for those events that the game would feel a much more rounded prospect. Multiplayer is ham-strung by other players being required to have the game even locally; there’s no support for download play here, meaning that sessions with friends could prove to be an expensive affair.
Click to expand...
 
As a lover of the sports series I'm not sure why the fuck they thought it was a good idea to condense all these sports into one instead of expanding each of the games to have many more features. Hurts to see and makes no sense. All Mario sports games have such a good core. Why not refine the content?

Also LOL no online, seriously?
 
5/10 from Nintendo Life - if even they give such a low score, the game must be pretty bad.


At this point, I wonder if Camelot is just alive as a name. Their latest games haven't really been up to fans' expectations.
 
Part of me wonders if reviews like this won't be uncommon for the last few first-party 3DS games, it really does seem like Nintendo's moved all their best teams to the Switch and are letting the b-teams and licensed third-party devs handle these last few 3DS games.
 
Can't tell how much these reviews reflect the multiplayer-ness of the game, which I assumed would be the only reason anyone would get it (I can't see myself doing single player at all were I to get the game).

Very sad there's no download play, that in itself probably stops my purchase
 
What a shame. The previews sort of gave away the quality but this had potential to be so much more. I'll have to pass and just keep playing Mario Golf World Tour.
 
Nintendo has been doing pretty lazily on their sports titles lately. Normally their sports games have pizzazz, but lately, they've been incredibly plain.
 
Yikes, reviews are generally middling, that's a pity. I was actually looking forward to this game. Maybe I'll get it when it's on sale.
 
clemenx said:
As a lover of the sports series I'm not sure why the fuck they thought it was a good idea to condense all these sports into one instead of expanding each of the games to have many more features. Hurts to see and makes no sense. All Mario sports games have such a good core. Why not refine the content?

Also LOL no online, seriously?
Click to expand...

If every new Mario sports game got the same amount of effort as the Mario Golf 3DS game then we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

I'm really concerned about the future of Mario sports titles in general now. Out of the past 4 games released for this spin-off series (not including Olympic games), 3 of them are duds.
 
Ouch. I felt that was going to be the case unfortunately. I really enjoy Mario sports in general so I might still get it but that's a shame

clemenx said:
As a lover of the sports series I'm not sure why the fuck they thought it was a good idea to condense all these sports into one instead of expanding each of the games to have many more features. Hurts to see and makes no sense. All Mario sports games have such a good core. Why not refine the content?

Also LOL no online, seriously?
Click to expand...

Huh? I'm pretty sure online was announced when this game came to light.

Poltergust said:
If every new Mario sports game got the same amount of effort as the Mario Golf 3DS game then we wouldn't even be having this conversation.
Click to expand...

Which is.... waaay behind the last sports games before it (Strikers, Sluggers). Heck, it's leagues behind Mario Golf World Tour. Camelot just isn't what it used to be anymore
 
I want a legit strikers and baseball sequel, not some garbage you put together and tried to call a video game. I'm afraid the sports games are gonna be dead after this failure.
 
Finally we come to Baseball, which is perhaps the most limited of all the game modes. While you'll initially choose your entire team and get ready for a fierce challenge, all that amounts to is taking control of either the batter or the pitcher and timing a simple press of the 'A' button over and over. You can change your positioning or the type of pitch thrown of course, but these minor options are all you get to control, with the computer handling everything else.
Click to expand...

Wait... so you do not control field players...? You can not throw the ball to any base you want? This... doesn't seem right

djplaeskool said:
Please let Camelot move on from the Mario Sports ghetto.
Click to expand...

More like let Mario Golf and Mario Tennis move on from Camelot please
 
Sports games should be one of the easiest genres in the industry to develop.

The gameplay simply needs to adhere to and accommodate very clear rules as defined by the sport.

For example, start off with a barebones baseball game. Leave the lame power-ups, supers, or quirky shit for now. Mario hits the ball, runs to first base like a normal person. Luigi catches the grounder and throws it to the first baseman like a normal person. Toad catches the ball from Luigi like a normal person. Etc. Etc. MAKE IT AS REALISTIC AS POSSIBLE.

Once these fundamentals are established and tested over and over again, they can add some polish like character animation and very subtle attributes for each character to distinguish one from the other (e.g., Bowser having a stronger arm than Mario, or Peach being able to hop a tad higher at the wall).

POLISH THAT SHIT UP. TIGHTEN IT LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER.

When that's done - this is the hard part - THEN you add OPTIONAL power-up bullshit. The same way like in Smash Brothers where you can adjust the frequency of their availability.

Why is that hard to do????????????
 
I'm a bit confused about the complain in baseball... they say you only press A... wasn't Super Sluggers basically the same or am I missing something?

Berordn said:
Mario Golf World Tour is still the definitive Mario Golf experience.

I mean, unless you're really into that RPG mode.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that. I still really miss Topspin and Backspin. My favorite will be forever Toadstool Tour, I found the course design to be really lacking in 3DS (and gimmick courses only had 9 holes) Still, the Mario Golf 64 DLC was lovely I have to admit

The Horror the horror said:
Sports games should be one of the easiest genres in the industry to develop.

The gameplay simply needs to adhere to and accommodate very clear rules as defined by the sport.

For example, start off with a barebones baseball game. Leave the lame power-ups, supers, or quirky shit for now. Mario hits the ball, runs to first base like a normal person. Luigi catches the grounder and throws it to the first baseman like a normal person. Toad catches the ball from Luigi like a normal person. Etc. Etc.

Once these fundamentals are established and tested over and over again, they can add some polish like character animation and very subtle attributes for each character to distinguish one from the other (e.g., Bowser having a stronger arm than Mario, or Peach being able to hop a tad higher on the wall).

POLISH THAT SHIT UP. TIGHTEN IT LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER.

When that's done - this is the hard part - THEN you add OPTIONAL power-up bullshit. The same way like in Smash Brothers where you can adjust the frequency of their availability.

Why is that hard to do????????????
Click to expand...

...I don't think you read the reviews or is even aware of how this game works. Please read them and then come back to your post. No game has power-ups at all. They tried to make it as simple as possible. And Mario Sports should definitely be more about arcade fun and gimmick than realism, that would just blend it with every other sport game

DrROBschiz said:
they should have been given more time and money to rebuild this as a switch game

much better place for it than 3ds
Click to expand...

That did not really work well for Mario Tennis Ultra Smash did it...? I don't think it being on Switch would solve any problems. Heck, it might have added more
 
I'm not sure this was developed by Camelot, to me it seems like they're starred as the original creators of two sports (whose code and content was brutally copy pasted in this "collection").
Anyway since the Wii/DS era Camelot too has been bad at making proper Mario Sports so it changes little.

I hate to say it, but that's kind of a rule for small developers in Nintendo (Camelot, Skip, Brownie Brown, Alpha dream...), with the saddening addition that Camelot had a masterpiece series in their hands (do I have to spell its name?) and threw it out of the window for boring spinoffs which nowadays sell for anything but quality.
Don't know how much it's Nintendo's fault and how much it's theirs, after all in the few interviews I read they say working on jrpgs is so tiring, it should apply to proper mario sports too.

Hoping it sells so bad that they stop this farce.
 
Buzzi said:
I'm not sure this was developed by Camelot, to me it seems like they're starred as the original creators of two sports (whose code and content was brutally copy pasted in this "collection").
Anyway since the Wii/DS era Camelot too has been bad at making proper Mario Sports so it changes little.

I hate to say it, but that's kind of a rule for small developers in Nintendo (Camelot, Skip, Brownie Brown, Alpha dream...), with the saddening addition that Camelot had a masterpiece series in their hands (do I have to spell its name?) and threw it out of the window for boring spinoffs which nowadays sell for anything but quality.
Don't know how much it's Nintendo's fault and how much it's theirs, after all in the few interviews I read they say working on jrpgs is so tiring, it should apply to proper mario sports too.

Hoping it sells so bad that they stop this farce.
Click to expand...

Wasn't the DS Golden Sun also really bad? I think Camelot is honestly the culprit here. AlphaDream has still put out quality games, with the sole exception of Paper Jam which is just bland. Skip just does whatever it wants when it wants.

The Mario Sports games that weren't handled by Camelot (Sluggers, Strikers and 3-on-3/Sports Mix) have been great and I wish we could get more of them
 
-Mutsukki- said:
I don't know about that. I still really miss Topspin and Backspin. My favorite will be forever Toadstool Tour, I found the course design to be really lacking in 3DS (and gimmick courses only had 9 holes) Still, the Mario Golf 64 DLC was lovely I have to admit
Click to expand...

You could stop Top/Back spin and adjust impact location, but i'll agree that there could've been more gimmick courses.
 
Nachtfalke said:
Nintendo should stop with these mediocre Mario Sports games the last years. They were so great on GBA or Wii.
Click to expand...

I heard World Tour was great, but that's about it since Mario Tennis Open and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash were not good from what I've heard.

I'm hoping that Next Level is making a new Strikers game. Charged is probably one of my favorite Mario sports games, so fun.
 
Christ, has Mario Golf World Tour been the only Mario sports game this gen that wasn't completely phoned in? They've really lost the plot with this subseries.
 
77fMc4P.gif
Click to expand...

Add me to the "I want a new Strikers" game, that shit was awesome.
 
-Mutsukki- said:
I don't know about that. I still really miss Topspin and Backspin.
Click to expand...

Mario Golf World Tour has topspin and backspin, you just have to switch to manual mode instead of auto mode.
I'm not even sure some of the challenges are even possible without adding spin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Saros | Review Thread
Review  8 9 10 11 12
586
3K
ByWatterson replied
Mina the Hollower | Review Thread
Review  2
94
302
Ceadeus replied
REPLACED | Review thread
Review 
23
865
AJBungah replied
Motorslice | Review Thread
Analysis Review  2
77
886
Guilty_AI replied
Invincible VS | Review Thread
Analysis Review 
0
292
Draugoth replied
Top Bottom