Mario Hoops 3-on-3

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Mario Slam Basketball
Developer(s) Square Enix
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Release date(s) Japan July 27, 2006
European Union November 10, 2006
United States September 11, 2006
Genre(s) Sports
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s) CERO: A
ESRB: E (Everyone)
OFLC: PG
Platform(s) Nintendo DS
Media 64MB

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (also known as Mario Basket 3-on-3 in Japan and as Mario Slam Basketball in Europe) is a basketball video game developed by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS.

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. The music is composed by Final Fantasy sound editor Masayoshi Soken.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

Touch control is used for all actions except for 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. Note: During practice one may 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.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection play was supposedly going to be included, and many fans believed so, due to an IGN article which stated the game had WiFi, albeit subtly.[1] The final released game is not Nintendo WiFi Connection compatible, instead it is "Wireless Play" compatible and "Download Play" compatible. Some fans may think that IGN had mistaken "Wireless Play" for Wi-Fi.

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 3 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".

[edit] Scoring

Getting the ball in the hoop awards 20 points, but the amount of points for landing a basket can be greatly increased by collecting coins. Scattered on the floor are question mark blocks that can be activated by dribbling over them (i.e. tapping on the right part of the screen). Oftentimes question mark blocks will bestow players with gold or red coins (which are worth ten gold). The maximum amount of points per shot is 140 in most basketball courts, which equates to 100 coins plus the 40 points for making a successful special shot. In one court shot worth can be doubled or tripled, making coin gathering more important.

There are several different combinations to do a special shot. To do a special shot, you need to make the player bounce the ball in a specific way. The most common is to tap out the letter "M" on the touch screen. This is for characters such as Mario. Other letters for other characters include "L", "B", "N", "W", "S" (looks like a backwards "Z"), an upside down triangle, and a star.

Normal question mark blocks are in yellow. Red question mark blocks are available as an item. When a red question mark block is thrown onto the ground, it slowly turns yellow, but the question mark is reversed. If walked upon, it trips up the player. Purple question mark blocks are available in Jr. Street, and contain purple coins. They can be used in the slot machine connected to the hoop to increase the points you earn by 10, 20, 30, or multiply the player's shot score by two, three, or zero. The more purple coins you collect, you can line up results on multiple lines or diagonal.

[edit] Playable characters

[edit] Default Characters

[edit] Unlockable Characters


[edit] Courts

[edit] Mushroom Tourney

  • Mario Stadium
  • Koopa Beach
  • Peach Field
  • Sunset Beach (Unlockable)

[edit] Flower Tourney

  • DK Cruiser
  • Luigi's Mansion
  • Daisy Garden
  • Malboro Garden (Unlockable)

[edit] Star Tourney

  • Wario Factory
  • Jr. Street
  • Bowser Castle
  • Glare Desert (Unlockable)

[edit] Rainbow Tourney

  • Sherbet Lands
  • Bloocheep Sea
  • Pirate Ship
  • Rainbow Ship

[edit] Reception

Among video game critics, the game was not as well-received as other Mario Sports titles [1]. While the game is generally praised for its control, graphics and variety, it is often criticized for its simplistic AI, unsatisfactory minigames, and overpowered skills for the Final Fantasy characters. The lack of Nintendo Wi-Fi connection support also severely hurt it.

[edit] Scores

[edit] Voice cast

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2006-06-19). Hands-On Mario Hoops 3-on-3. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-09-24.

[edit] External links

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Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. Please remove this tag when this is done. This article has been tagged since October 2006. (talk)
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