Topic: Mario Sports Mix

[Mop it up]

People who care:
Insanolord
Maxi
Mop it up
ThePerm

I'll update this as info becomes available. For now, here is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOlwPqHefws

Here's the line from the press release:

Mario™ Sports Mix: A collection of four amazing sports – Mario style. Players can compete with their favorite Mushroom Kingdom characters in basketball, volleyball, hockey and dodgeball. The game is scheduled to launch in 2011.

No developer was listed. Every third-party game had a developer listed, but Nintendo's titles didn't. So I'd guess it is being developed by some Nintendo-owned company (so not Namco, Hudson, or Camelot).

We have a developer: Square Enix!

Here are some characters that were spotted in the trailer:

Likely Playable:
Mario
Luigi
Peach
Daisy
Wario
Waluigi
Yoshi
Bowser
Bowser Jr.
Donkey Kong
Diddy Kong

Supporting roles:
Red Yoshi
Blue Yoshi
Shy Guy
Blue Shy Guy

In the crowd:
Mii
Koopa Troopa
Pianta
Birdo

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm pretty interested in this, too, and a bit disappointed that I have to wait until next year.

[Mop it up]

Yeah, I was hoping for a Mario game released in the fourth quarter of this year. Or sooner. Or one for every month. I can't have enough Mario games!

I don't even think they announced who was developing it. If it is being done by Nintendo, it may end up being the best Mario sports game yet.

[BeautifulShy]

I'm excited about this.Like the wackyness of the Mario Sports games.

[Peachylala]

Next Level Games...?

[noname2200]

When Reggie started going on about a new Mario sport game, I was keeping my fingers crossed for Mario Football, but this seems interesting too.  I just hope that Basketball is a more expanded version of Resort's 3-on-3: it'd be worth the purchase price right there.

[Mop it up]

I was keeping my fingers crossed for Mario Football

If you mean American Football, that will never happen, because that sport is practically unheard of in Japan.

Next Level Games...?

No developer was mentioned/shown. I'll post it as soon as I find out.

[noname2200]

I was keeping my fingers crossed for Mario Football

If you mean American Football, that will never happen, because that sport is practically unheard of in Japan.

Is basketball popular there?  Serious question.

[Mop it up]

I wouldn't say it is popular, but it has a few fans, which is why Square made that Mario Hoops game a few years back.

[TJ Spyke]

I was keeping my fingers crossed for Mario Football

If you mean American Football, that will never happen, because that sport is practically unheard of in Japan.

Yeah, I guess that's why Nintendo released a Wii football game in Japan based on the hugely POPULAR manga Eyeshield 21? Football may not be the most popular sport in Japan, but it is far from unheard of. Since Nintendo has already made a Wii football game, that is why a lot of people (myself included) want a Mario Football game.

[Adrock]

The novelty of watching Princess Peach dunk a basketball wore off once I played NBA Street Vol 3 for like 10 minutes. I could only posterize Yao Ming so many times before that got old.

And they're skating on sand... gah, trying to imagine that even in the Mushroom Kingdom is hurting my brain.

[Ian Sane]

If you mean American Football, that will never happen, because that sport is practically unheard of in Japan.

Although I understand that this is the reason we should never expect this, it's a stupid reason.  This would be big in America and Canada and that market is bigger than Japan's.  So NCL needs to get their head out of their ass.

[noname2200]

The novelty of watching Princess Peach dunk a basketball wore off once I played NBA Street Vol 3 for like 10 minutes. I could only posterize Yao Ming so many times before that got old.

And they're skating on sand... gah, trying to imagine that even in the Mushroom Kingdom is hurting my brain.

The fact that they're in a world where a flower turns you into a walking flamethrower (complete with water-proof fire!) makes it easier for me to swallow, actually.

Did anyone catch if this game uses Motion+?  Please tell me yes!!!

[Mop it up]

It certainly isn't on the same level as the sports featured in this game. It could happen, but it wouldn't come from a Japanese developer (nor should it, it wouldn't follow the same rules, like 10-Yard Fight on NES). I wouldn't be surprised if it were handed to a North American developer, like how Next Level did Mario (real) Football.

Anyways, the first post has been updated with this:

Here's the line from the press release:

Mario™ Sports Mix: A collection of four amazing sports – Mario style. Players can compete with their favorite Mushroom Kingdom characters in basketball, volleyball, hockey and dodgeball. The game is scheduled to launch in 2011.

No developer was listed. Every third-party game had a developer listed, but Nintendo's titles didn't. So I'd guess it is being developed by some Nintendo-owned company (so not Namco, Hudson, or Camelot).

Here are some characters that were spotted in the trailer:

Likely Playable:
Mario
Luigi
Peach
Daisy
Wario
Waluigi
Yoshi
Bowser
Bowser Jr.
Donkey Kong
Diddy Kong

Supporting roles:
Red Yoshi
Blue Yoshi
Shy Guy
Blue Shy Guy

In the crowd:
Mii
Koopa Troopa
Pianta
Birdo

[NWR_insanolord]

I hope it's Motion+; I want the basketball to be an expanded version of the 3-on-3 in Wii Sports Resort.

[Mop it up]

Nothing was mentioned about Motion Plus, but given what was shown and how far away the date is, it might be possible. We probably won't get any more details for a while.

[noname2200]

I hope it's Motion+; I want the basketball to be an expanded version of the 3-on-3 in Wii Sports Resort.

Hi-five!

Although looking back at the footage, especially the smoothness of the dribbling, I'm a bit worried that it's not...

[TJ Spyke]

Mop it up, why wouldn't they do a real football game? It's more popular than vollyball is (when was the last time a volleyball match was watched by more than 100 million people? Or had 100,00+ fans come to see a match?). Hockey has decline in popularity and was never up to football's level. Ad dodgeball? Please, it's a recreational sport at best.

And again, Nintendo themselves (meaning internally) have already developed a football game on Wii, so I don't get why you think that is the reason a Japanese company wouldn't do it. I think they would likely have Next Level Games do it though, but just because they did a good job on Mario Strikers Charged[/j]. So I could see them doing Mario Football.

[Mop it up]

It's only popular in America, not Japan. And Nintendo focuses on Japan. Plus, the game of American football is a bit rough, and not very family-friendly. That kind of style certainly didn't work out for Mario Strikers Charged, as it has a dark and depressing art style, and the characters seem mean-spirited and unlike themselves. It is no surprise it is one of the worst-selling Mario games. Also, football has 11 players on the field for both teams. That's 22 Mario characters already, so there's no way to have a bunch of different teams. Mario baseball was already stretching it with 9 players per team.

It could certainly happen, but I still have my doubts. After this though, there aren't many sports left. If we do see one, it would be widely changed, more family-friendly with altered rules and less players. Which would be fine with me. It does seem weird that they created one based on that manga, but there may have been a reason for it. I wouldn't know.

[noname2200]

It...wouldn't be that hard to make football family friendly.  We already have the Pop Warner league, i.e. six year olds playing the game.  We also have flag football, and backyard football.  Backyard football in particular would be perfect for Nintendo, while still being really fun.  And to be honest, I'm not swayed by the "Japan won't care" argument either, for multiple reasons.

But it's all academic, since what we think doesn't mean much to Nintendo!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a future Mario Football.

[TJ Spyke]

Besides the fact that football is growing in popularity outside of North America, it's popular enough in Japan that Nintendo has already made a Wii football game, based on a popular manga where the main characters play football. As for being rough, you should know that Nintendo would soften it up or make it more cartoonish to fit in when the other Mario Sports games. As for number of characters, I don't think that is a problem since they have dozens of possible characters.

I think it's just a matter of when it happens, not if.

[Mop it up]

Oh don't get me wrong, I hope it happens, but I have many doubts.

It wouldn't be hard to make it family-friendly, but whether or not it is depends on the developer. If it were handed to Next Level Games, it would once again have that "too much Mountain Dew in-your-face" extremeness that Mario Strikers Charged had. And that would be a very bad thing, I do not wish to see that. It has to keep the charm of Mario characters, as well as mix up the rules. I want to see less players per team, because otherwise we'd be filling them up with colours of Yoshi. Plus, the gameplay would be more streamlined and action-packed, but also more simple and easy to understand and pick up and play.

It would take a lot of work to make it be a good game that captures the charm of Mario characters and provides a unique and interesting gameplay experience. Maybe that's why I don't think it would happen. Most companies don't put that kind of effort into Mario games, sadly.

[noname2200]

That's fair.  So...what's Camelot doing after Golden Sun?

[Caliban]

If you mean American Football, that will never happen, because that sport is practically unheard of in Japan.

There's an anime, a video game of that anime, and they even have a league of some sort, so it's not like it's not unheard of. Maybe they're just not interested in the sport at the moment.

[Mop it up]

Ha ha.
Camelot stated they have no interest in creating more Mario games. I believe they said this when they released We Love Golf for Wii, which was clearly based on the Mario Golf engine. So, no Mario football from them.

Which is sad, actually. I think Camelot could do it. Mario Tennis and Mario Golf both do a good job of capturing the fun of the Mario universe.