Mario Super Sluggers, Nintendo’s first-party baseball game, stepped into the batter’s box today and prepared for its retail appearance in North America. Mario Super Sluggers will hit retail tomorrow, letting Wii players use their Wii Remote for various baseball-related actions.
The game, which includes more than 40 playable Nintendo characters, lets players swing the Wii Remote like a bat or make a pitching motion to throw a pitch. In addition to the first-party Nintendo characters, Mario Super Sluggers also lets players use their Mii characters in some modes.
The single-player mode lets players visit Baseball Kingdom, where they encounter characters with different baseball skills. Players must defeat them in a variety of game types to persuade characters to join their team, much like recent versions of NBA Street.
Team captains can perform special moves on the field, such as Mario’s fireball pitch and Luigi’s ability to turn infield hits into a tornado. Different character combinations also result in good chemistry, to the point that — for some unknown reason — certain characters combos can result in better outfield catches or the ability to interfere with fielders.
Multiplayer modes let up to four people compete at once. In Toy Field mode, up to four players compete in a hitting and fielding exhibition. There’s also a quick play/exhibition mode where gamers can pick their team and play.