Mario Basketball
 

Developed By Square...

There were a few screenshots on the old forum. I'm looking forward to this one but haven't heard much info lately.

http://www.gamespot.com/ds/sports/ma...all/index.html

The whole idea of the project completely sounds like some sort of flimsy rumor, but apparently this is real. The style of gameplay sounds interesting, using the touch screen for a bulk of the action. Could be mucked up very easily. This title certainly has my attention even if I'm not particularly anticipating it. A more up to date preview says the game is slated for a September release.

The only basketball game I know of that doesn't feature a hip-hop soundtrack. :lolsign:
I just hope the game plays better than Strikers and a bit more like Mario Baseball, with special maneuvers for each character on the court. If Nintendo does decide to include this title in it's Wi-fi network then it has a very good chance of being a big hit.

Wai-wait! A Mario basketball game developed by Square Enix? Well at least it's going to have a great and deep storyline now.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13.../59348-5-2.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13.../59348-1-2.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13.../59348-6-2.jpg

It looks pretty good for 3D on DS, but I still don't trust Square.

Nintendo: can you make our new Mario sports game?
Square: probably, what sport, Blitzball?
Nintendo: nah, basketball
Square: Blitzball?
Nintendo: BASKETBALL
Square: turn based basketball it is
Nintendo: wait, no, what?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13.../59348-9-2.jpg
Watch out!

"Mario reaches Level 2. Mario learns dribbling."
Yay.
I'm with Infernal Monkey, here.
Squaresoft did never impress me with real-time games (just look at the minigames in "Final Fantasy VII") except a few of their Action-Adventures.

Why do I see some Square Enix characters popping up? Anyways, I liked Mario Strikers, or at least more than the Baseball version, so I'm hoping that the Basketball will feel more like the soccer version.

But yeah, Mario reaches level 5, Mario learns passing......awesome.

That post was fail. The mini-games in FF7 kicked ass. It's not like those games were supposed to have perfect gameplay and graphics. They're mini-games afterall. :rolleyes:

But it does strike me as... fucking weird that Squeenix is doing basketball of all things. And, why isn't this being released for GameCube like all the other Mario sports titles?

Because the only reason why they are making the game in the first place is because they wanted to jump on the DS bandwagon

Video from E3's over at IGN http://media.ds.ign.com/media/774/774646/vids_1.html

Looks pretty fun to me, the 3D stuff looks really smooth for the DS. Though, the trailer mainly just shows special dunks. Reminds me of NBA Jam back when it was good :D

Oh god. I can see my touch screen full of bullet holes very soon :lolsign:

Touch screen and basketball just don't seem to work very well.

The 3D DOES look really good and smooth on DS too :)

NBA Jam-esque special dunks with Mario? I'm sold.

luckily you don't have to tap every repeatedly to dribble.

- WraithTwo -

lol I'm guessing Infernal is exaggerating but the real story is that Square came to Nintendo about this game. It wasn't one of Nintendo's let's ask around for some 3rd party love. Square actually wanted to make this game and asked for the Mario license. From what I've heard this game is actually really good.

Hmm..I wonder how the music will turn out?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this game. I'm still surprised it managed to be on the DS, and not on the Gamecube, or infact, the Wii.

These are early beta screenshots. The final version is going to have all the characters redesigned by the aesthetic genius Tetsuya Nomura, so you can expect to see Mario and Bowser wearing costumes that have zippers and belts all over the goddamn place, as well as some girly looking dude with a giant silver locket as a hidden character, and an end boss who's big, grey-skinned, muscular and has a crotch composed entirely out of diamonds. Man, I just can't wait!

Because the Gamecube is dead.

I don't even want to begin to think how a basketball game on the Wii would work. I suffer with repetitive wrist strain enough as it is.

I've never purchased a Mario sports game, but this one actually looks pretty cool. Would be fun if there was a worldwide wi-fi mode. Otherwise I won't bother.

The fact that this game is being developed by S-E of all companies surprises me, however, and for a second there, I thought that giant Piranha Plant was a Malboro >_>

Go Squax! Expand your horizons! Follow that rainbow!

Seriously though, looks like a fun game. The controls sound really interesting. I don't know if it'll appeal to me especially, sports games usually aren't my kind of thing, but I loved Mario Tennis, so maybe I'll give this a shot.

Hopefully this is a good WiFi game, after Mario Kart and ACWW there's basically been nothing worth playing.

I've really never seen any point to the Mario sport games but this new concept seems very interesting indeed seeing that square is making it and all. But with me and sports games of any type I say play the real sport and get some exercise unless its like some extreme sport. But the Mario sports games seem to have that zanny feel to them.

Did I mention White Mage is in there?

http://staff.gamingforce.com/qwarky/1152915262125.png


::everyone expects Sora and Cloud to be playable. AND WHAT ABOUT GENO::

Apparently Black Mage, Ninja, Moogle and Cactuar will be playable as well:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/ab3j/ch...aracter02.html

Hahaha, awesome. And there's a whole nother 3rd page of characters that's yet to be unveiled on that website.

Commercial here

I've taken screens of the most important parts!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13...ariohoops5.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13...ariohoops1.jpg
Shy Guy, Boo

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13...ariohoops4.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13...ariohoops2.jpg
Moogle, Cactus Guy (Aril), Some Yellow Blob Coconut Thing, Dixie Kong

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13...ariohoops3.jpg

That commercial is greatness. Funny, catchy, and best of all shows how to play the game in a commercial of all things. And has weird japanese guys.

I believe the yellow blob might be a chocobo... wearing boots... or something. Maybe not.

Edit: In the commercial, it's kind of floating and wobbling about. And looks more like a duck. Confused is I.

Well, it looks pretty interesting, I think. I'm planning on picking up a DS sometime soon; maybe this will be one of the games in my collection. NBA Jam style dunking sounds really cool.

This game looks fucking terrible. How are you supposed to even play it? With the DS Lite's dpad? Oh please. Since the bottom screen is used for a little (and very, very, extremely useless) map, there's no way you'll be able to control your character with the stylus. It won't even get used.

My money says that bowser will be overpowered, as will donkey kong, as will wario, and mario and luigi will be balanced. They'll come up with something so peach can play. Probably better aim.

This is just another predictable, worthless mario rehash. They had mario's soccer earlier this year, and now this. By the end of the year we'll be seeing mario badminton and mario volleyball.

That yellow blog looks like Pac-Man to me. At least in the screenshot.

The touch screen seems to be used for multiple things. Like passing, turning, and so on.

It looks more like a Paratroopa to me..I dunno, it looks to be a lot of fun though, can't wait till the little dents start appearing in my DS screen after playing for a while. I wonder if those versions of Mario and Luigi will be unlockable from the commercial as well. <_<

D-pad + stylus motions/tap

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/ab3j/index.html

Click on the DS to watch the video on how to play.

Nice random flame btw :p

Oh, that's much better, then. I'm glad they're making good use of the stylus in this game.

I still stand by most of what I previously said, though.

I like how that ad and the announcement of Square characters completely killed any interest I had in this game. The controls look truly awkward and no WiFi? I will only even consider this if it gets terrific reviews.

They took out wifi? I thought that was one of the big reasons why SE wanted to make the game. Where are you guys hearing this?

Yeah, you're right. There is WiFi multiplayer, I guess I had my facts wrong. Oh well, the controls still look awkward.

All the sites I found say WiFi is in. I did try to babelfish the japanese site and the translations are as wonderful as always.

YES!

The controls definitely do look awkward... but I have a feeling they may not be that bad once we get our hands on it. I just hope they don't sacrifice quality controls to make fit the DS-type gameplay people expect now.

Aww, there's moogles and cactuars in it, but no moombas? Nuts. I must be the only one who likes those felines. Can't imagine a chocobo playing basketball though...

It'd be too weird if the game has actual Square characters (not stuff like moogles) playing against Mario and the gang, but then again, we have Kingdom Hearts.

so, has anybody picked this up?

HOW IS IT?!

I've played it VIA download play and you do NEED 2 carts to play
VS in basketball mode (exhibition) so me and my cousin just played
the downloadable "Coin Chaser" game where it's basically everyone
runs around and gets items to attack others until they lose all their coins...

So... It's just Mario Kart battles without the karts ^_^''...

Though it was pretty fun~ Only 2 stages selectable through DL play.

As for the basketball game itself, didn't try it out~ My cousin said
he liked it. That is all i know.

I just got this game and I really like it. As usual, I always think I won't get used to using the stylus to move but Star Fox Command and now this game have proven me wrong. The gameplay is great in my opinion and the music quality is way more clearer than most DS games. Overall, this game deserves a thumbs up. :)

This was fun to play, though not worth the $30 price tag IMO. :/ I unlocked everything pretty quickly, and the multiplayer isn't all that great. First of all, no Nintendo Wi-Fi. Then, with one cart, you're limited to two modes of play, neither being an exhibition game. The available modes are fun for a bit, but I grew tired of it pretty quickly. Mario Hoops 3-on-3 now sits away back in its case on my DS shelf. Actually, I think my brother's been playing it on-and-off lately.

Yeah, the lack of wi-fi and download play really crippled what could've been a pretty fun, lasting experience. Hopefully this will be a lesson to other developers thinking of excluding these feautres in order to meet a deadline.

Yeah, I was thinking this game would have done better if it had wi-fi like it was originally designed to have. I wonder what exactly prevented them from including a feature they so proudly touted when the first presented the game. We're talking 6 person only play here. That would have been great!

I was very disappointed about the exclusion of wi-fi as well. I was looking forward to playing other people around the country b/c there is no better challenge than to play another person, not the AI.

I got this game for christmas and it wasn't in the top of my list but I should have, because wow this game if so fun! I didn't expected to like it that much XD

the control are very fun to execute and it's pretty interesting^^ but controling the character with the d-pad really hurt my thumb XD I didn,t notice how uncomfortable the d-pad of the DS is before XD Is the d-pad of the ds-lite better? because I might consider buying one just for that XD

and yeah the exclusion of wi-fi is really a let down, it would have been perfect to play online.

I was a little worried about Square-Enix making this game, but they did a very good job ^^

now I just need to have that gold cup on rainbow to unlock whitemage and blackmage XD

I got this game about 2 months ago, but I only opened it today. It's a lot funner than I thought it would be, but playing defense against the computer is wierd to me. My right hand also hurts a bit when I play it from holding the stylus too hard.

Hope I don't have too much of a hard time unlocking everything.