Slam dunking Mario and Co

Mario Slam Basketball is a fast, challenging and action packed 3 on 3 basketball game. In single player mode you select a team consisting of 3 of the popular Nintendo characters from the ‘Mario and Luigi’ genre and challenge a team of 3 other characters in a game of basketball with a difference.

In this game there are no set scores for scoring a basket. Points are awarded for dribbling the ball over ‘?’ boxes on the court floor and collecting coins on the way to either placing or slam-dunking the ball in to the opponents basket. This is the only game of basketball I know of whereby it is possible to score over 100 points with one slam-dunk.

The court contains ‘weapons’ that you can use on your opponents and that your opponents can use on you. In true Mario genre style there are red and green shells that can be picked up and thrown to render another character useless for a split second. In addition there are walking bombs that will suddenly walk in front of your character when you are on the way to making a stylish slam dunk and explode just before you get a chance to complete the manoeuvre and score.

****Characters****

Initially you can choose 3 out of 10 popular characters from the ‘Mario and Luigi’ genre of computer games. The characters include Mario, Luigi, Wario, Warluigi, Princess Peach (in pink clothes), Princess Peach (in yellow clothes), Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Yoshi and Bowser. All characters have their individual skill set as follows;

i) Technical skills

These characters are skilful and are good at dribbling and ball. Characters with this trait include Princess Peach (in pink clothes), Princess Peach (in yellow clothes) and Warluigi

ii) Powerful players

These characters are strong and are the best characters to steal the ball from opponents and blocking opponents from stealing the ball from you. Characters with this trait include Wario and Donkey Kong.

iii) Speedy players

These characters are fast and able to sprint away from opponents and make quick dashes towards the basket. Characters with this trait include Bowser and Diddy Kong.

iv) All round players

All round characters are not strong in a particular area and are average at everything. These characters will lose out in situations where it is up against a character with a single strength. For example a powerful character will quickly win the ball from an all rounder, a technical character will dribble around an all rounder and a speedy character will out sprint an all rounder.

All round characters include Mario, Luigi and Yoshi.

In order to be successful you need to put together a team with the appropriate skill set. Whilst this is easy in the earlier levels of the game it does actually get quite difficult as you progress through the game.

****Graphics****

The graphics are superb. All the characters are bright, colourful (just like the originals) and easily identifiable. Like the characters, the court and background share the same vivid colours. There are no ‘blocky’ graphics here.

Despite the good graphics the playability is not compromised and the game is fast and furious, which surprised me. I thought that this would have been too much of a challenge for the DS but there are no problems here at all.

****Sound****

Like all games of the Mario genre there is ‘cheesy’ music and individual sound effects from each character. Whilst not too bad I did find it annoying after a couple of hours of game play.

Personally, I would like to see sound effects found in the NBA Jam basketball game on the Megadrive back in the year dot. The commentary was great including “He’s on fire!”, “Is it the shoes?”, “Boom-shack-alack!” and the like. I guess if this commentary was included this game would not be a ‘true’ Mario genre game.

****Controls****

Mario Slam Basketball makes full use of the DS touch screen as well as the directional pad. There are left and right handed modes to make this possible, and I only found this out after 5 minutes of struggling in getting to grips with the controls.

The characters are moved around the court using the directional pad (if playing in right handed mode) or the A, B, X and Y buttons (if playing in left handed mode).

The stylus and touch screen is used to dribble the ball, shoot, pass the ball, block opponents from stealing the ball, stealing the ball from opponents and making the characters jump.

The L button (in right handed mode) and R button (in left handed mode) is used to change players within the team.

The controls are complex and it is difficult to get the hang of them at first. This is not helped by the speed of the game meaning it is easy to become ‘lost’ and the ball is down the other end of the court before you even realise it has been stolen from you. However, persevere and practice and the game will become more enjoyable.

In order to hone the skills required to play the game, there is a practice mode. This allows you to practice all manoeuvres including slam-dunking, stealing the ball, dribbling the ball and protecting the ball. This feature is only useful to a certain extent since the practice pace is far slower than that of the game mode. The only way to really improve is to keep playing the tournaments.

****Modes****

In this game you can either play simple 3 on 3 with Mario basketball rules, in single games, or you can play in a tournament. When playing in tournament mode you will be awarded either a gold, silver or bronze trophy depending on how much you win by.
By winning certain trophies there will be bonus features unlocked.

*****Bonus features*****

As you progress through the game there are additional features unlocked including more characters, different courts and different balls.

****Negatives****

The only negative I can think of is there is not an online mode, although I can live without this. 

****My opinion****

This is a great game that will provide hours of entertainment. It remains true to the underlying concept of the Mario genre games in that is focuses on fun and playability, however, the graphics are in no way compromised in achieving this.

Nintendo have also kept the concept of collecting coins for additional points, as well as providing weapons in the form of red and green shells, just like when the first Mario Brothers was released on the NES back in the late 1980s. Whilst the concept is over 20 years old it is still great fun and whilst some people may think it should be changed I am a firm believer of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and this definitely is not broken.

It takes time and patience to learn the controls and keep up with the speed of play. It is easy to get lost and you will find that your opponents would have stolen the ball and scored a basket before you even know what had happened! To overcome this you need to be able to switch team players quickly and at the right time. This also takes a lot of practice.

The trick here is to persevere and not get too disheartened when it takes ages to win a game. When you finally do learn the game and how to dribble like a pro, pass the ball and finish it off with a super slam-dunk that Michael Jordan would be proud of and earn massive points along the way it is a great sense of achievement.

The game can get very fast and frantic with a lot going on at the same time. The walking bombs and your opponents trying to throw shells at you, as well as trying to steal the ball all add to the chaos.
I would recommend this game, but it is not a game suitable for younger players. I would not even contemplate giving this to my co DS reviewer (my five year old nephew) since it is far too complicated for him and he would not have a clue.

However, it is a game that I will keep for when he’s older since I think this game, like the Mario Brothers and Mario Kart before it, will stand the test of time and will be just as enjoyable in 10 more years time.
 
 (Originally posted on Dooyoo under the name of Yackers1)