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Slam Dunk

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 32 / 36
Date: September 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Since Nintendo created their Nintendo DS system, they've absolutely maintained and and defined a whole new way of playing video games to the next degree. Not only that, they've also shown that in the element of their games with Mario. Since Super Mario 64 DS was developed, they've maintained so many DS titles with the Mario name that've delivered from Mario Kart DS, to the return of the classic 2-D days with New Super Mario Brothers. Now, with the success of their sports titles from other systems such as Super Mario Strikers from their Gamecube system, many skeptics are wondering if that kind of a Mario sports title can deliver on the DS. Here is the result.

Mario Hoops 3 On 3 for the Nintendo DS, brings the element of basketball, through Mario and company as if they've made the slam dunk. The object of the game is like most other basketball games, score the highest. You have so many differnt characters to choose from such as Mario and Yoshi, as well as clever unlockables Moogle and company from the Final Fantasy franchise. The courts all have unique Mario details that gave a whole unique way of playing basketball, from slam dunking on a airship, to the depths of the Blooper Sea. The graphics in the game are amazing, and absolutely deliver in detail from each character and move to score. The control, sadly misses a bit of the beat. Although you can control each of the characters well through the regular controls, but with the stylus, that is another story. The stylus controls miss out a little, and take a bit to get used to. Not only that, but it is the only way your character can actually execute their specialty shot from a Mario fireball, to a rainbow swoosh from Yoshi.

Despite a few flaws, Mario Hoops 3 On 3 is a solid sports title for the Nintendo DS. Although there may be other basketball titles down the road for the system, this is a really fun game to play for solo players, as well as muliplayer slam dunk action. I absolutely recommend this as addition to your DS library, and that is worth the slam dunk.

Graphics: B+

Sound: B

Control: B-

Fun & Enjoyment: B+ for solo players: A- for multiplayer action

Overall: B 1/2+

A fun, fun game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: October 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Normally, I don't offer direct rebuttals to other reviews, but in this case I'll make an exception. Some have said the controls for this game are "fiddly" and "unreliable". Not so for me. I find them simple and intuitive and very fun. It's cool to actually play a basketball game where there is actual ball control. Furthermore, shooting, blocking, passing, and stealing are all very easy to use. As for the complaints that the game is all about coin collecting, I'll have to disagree a bit on that, too. Sure, the more coins you collect, the more points you score when you make a basket. But here's the catch, if your opponent makes a basket before you, then all those coins you collected are worth squat. I don't concentrate on coinage at all, merely collecting what I can when it's convenient, and I don't have a problem with winning. Except on the more difficult tournaments, and that's because my opponents are so skilled that they keep me from scoring at all.

Onto the game itself. I love it. However, let me admit a few things. I'm not a sports game guy. I generally find them repetative and dull. The last great sports game I enjoyed was Tiny Toons Sports for Sega Genesis. So if you're a hardcore sports guy, this probably isn't the game for you. On the other hand, if you're like me and want a game with lively animation, great theme, fun gameplay, and fast-paced knucklebiting games, this is a good choice.

The music, graphics, etc. are all top notch, and I love the theme courts. The Luigi's Mansion court, for instance, has ghosts hovering overhead. Sometimes, they catch the ball and float around until someone jumps up and steals it back. The Flower court has giant venus flytraps for baskets. Don't try and dunk because they'll knock you out every time. These schticks are well balanced. They affect the gameplay, but don't dominate it.

Solo play is either Tourney or Exhibition. There's four tournaments consisting of 3 games (or 4 in the last tourney), and each is progressively harder opponents. After you beat them all, a Hard mode is unlocked. And it is definitely hard. But that adjustable difficulty means that you can play at whatever level suits you.

The more I play this game, the better I get and the more I appreciate the level of character interraction. While obviously not everyone will agree with me, this is a very cool little game.

FUN, BUT IT DOESN'T LAST FOREVER.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: December 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Reviewer:Adriel Rahman

This game is very fun as soon as you pick it up but after a while, it gets repetitive. Your teamates know nothing about basketball. They don't help you out in any way. You are the one who has to do everything. So when you play against tougher teams, they will knock you into the year 3000. Also the controls don't always work properly. After you beat single player theres only
multiplayer to look foward to. If this didn't have single card multiplayer this would get a very low rating.

GRAPHICS - 10/10
SOUND - 7/10
GAMEPLAY - 6/10
CONTROL - 6/10
OVERALL - 6.8/10

Its better to borrow it from a friend. This game is worth 20 bucks not 30.
Too bad nintendo couldn't put lots of minigames and game modes like tennis
and Super Smash Bros Melee. Its just too repetitive

Not without it's flaws, but still fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Nintendo's longtime plumber mascot has had his share of whacky sports games for a while now with the Gamecube, and Mario Hoops 3 on 3 finds Mario gracing the hardwood on the DS. The first thing you'll notice is that the game uses an interesting control scheme. Using the stylus and touch screen to perform moves and such, this takes a bit of time to get used to, but once you do, the game's a breeze. That being said, Mario Hoops ends up being pretty easy, which is kind of disappointing. Not to mention that there is no Wi-Fi multiplayer included in the game either, which is a supreme disappointment. The mini-games really aren't anything to write home about either, but the good does outweigh the bad. There's a very nice variety of characters, courts, and charm to the game; with colorful graphics and nicely done sound effects. All in all, Mario Hoops 3 on 3 may not be without it's share of flaws, but it's still a fun game that's easy to pick up and play; which in itself is reason for DS owners to check it out.

Mario Hoops: The prettiest brick ever shot

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: September 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Mario's been the man on the tennis court and golf course, but he's never walked onto the hardwood of one of America's most popular sports: Basketball. Mario Hoops 3-On-3, a game that was interesting developed by Square-Enix, is a beautiful, impressive game on all fronts of presentation, unlockables, and the traditional Nintendo charm. Sadly, Mario and Co. get stuffed in the key element of any basketball game: the action on-court.

Square-Enix, as I said, worked wonders with the Mario style. Mario Hoops 3-On-3 is one of the most visually impressive DS games to date, if not the most advanced. All of the character models are very bright and detailed, animated as smoothly as possible on this hardware. The courts are detailed with crowds (although these crowds are very basic) and other visual treats like old-school set pieces, floating ghosts, and detailed, moving backgrounds. The dunk animations are quite extreme and would look appropriate for Dwayne Wade and T-Mac in an NBA Street video game.

The sound is as, well, "Nintendo" as you could ask for. You'll hear familiar music and classic sound effects, some even taken from the NES and arcade classic, Donkey Kong. There are all sorts of voice clips that play throughout the game including some new ones that I'd never heard. For example, Mario exclaims "Fantastico!" after sinking a big basket.

The praise for Mario Hoops 3-On-3, sadly, can't continue. There is something drastic that is missing from the gameplay found here, and it's the fun, easy gameplay that Mario sports titles have become popular for. To say that Mario Hoops 3-On-3 isn't entertaining in a small sense is definitely unfair, as the game features tons of recognizable and legendary characters, but it trips in some way for almost every playable aspect. About 80% of your control is done with the stylus and touch screen. This would be just fine if the stylus control was spot-on, which it isn't. To shoot, the player must slide the stylus at a near-perfect angle upward, and to pass, the player slides the stylus at a near-perfect angle towards another player.

Sadly, this just doesn't work well enough when you're trying to move your player with the directional pad, dribble over the game's power-up squares, or even go for a dunk. Stealing the ball is the only thing that I thought was simple to do, and everything else is too sluggish, it's too sketchy. It's too darn bad that they didn't nail the control mechanics, because Mario Hoops 3-On-3 would have been a beast of a handheld game.

The action is slow for a basketball game, featuring all-new rules and tricks. There are two periods, each three minutes long, for players to compete. By collecting coins and items via the power-up squares found on the ground, players can earn coins that increase their score payout when they make a shot, or they can defend the basket with relative ease. Fair items like green turtle shells were fine, but some of the other items, like the homing-missile blue turtle shell, are absolutely absurd.

Also, when the ball is stolen or blocked, you lose some of the coins you've accumulated, and the number of coins you lose seems to be very random. Sometimes it's three or four of the elusive gold pieces, and sometimes you'll lose almost all of your stash. Blocking is inconsistent. Last of all, like other Mario sports titles, the difficulty curve is very steep. In the game's different tournaments, I noticed that I had a much greater amount of trouble in the later games, to the point where the action wasn't fun and was more of a chore to proceed through the tournaments.

The problems sadly don't end there. Mario Hoops 3-On-3 has the worst A.I. I've ever seen in a sports title. I complained about the Xbox 360 sports titles NCAA Football 2007 and Madden NFL 2007 for the having some weak A.I., but Mario Hoops 3-On-3 takes the cake for the dumbest characters playing any sort of sport. There would be times I'd block a ball or even swat the ball away and my teammates would stand around shifting their weight between their feet and doing nothing to get the ball. They never went for blocks or steals, either. This was endlessly frustrating, as a nicely-timed block would often result in the opponent picking up the ball and scoring anyway. The next problem isn't an A.I. flaw but rather a poor design flaw-when passing the ball, the receiver stops moving completely. This means that fast breaks or anything to speed up the action are virtually impossible to do.

Mario Hoops 3-On-3, like most Nintendo DS games these days, features Nintendo WiFi connections that allow you to play against others worldwide with a wireless internet connection. There are stat boards and friend lists as well, which are nice touches. Mario Hoops 3-On-3 is saved by an entertaining multiplayer experience, and if you can find a nearby friend or wireless connection to play online, you'll really enjoy the competitive gameplay.

Overall, it's unfortunate that such an alliance between Square-Enix and Nintendo created such an average and disappointing video game. Mario Hoops 3-On-3 isn't the worst DS game out there, but it can't run with the big dogs like Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, or any other basketball game for that matter. Better luck next time, guys.

Great Game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Ok, overall, this is a great game. The only problem I've had with it so far is that my character sometimes throws the ball in a different direction when I want him/her to throw it to another teammate. Also, it can be hard for people that are left-handed to play this game because you have to use the D-pad(on the left side of the DS) and use the stylus at the same time. Other than that, it is a great game and can be challenging sometimes, but that makes it harder to beat the game and you get more play time out of it.

I LOVE THIS GAME!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

So far I have ten ds games and this is the best one by far. At first I thought it was hard to memorize all of the special shots that each character has... but it really wasn't. This game has a bunch of characters from the start and you get more and more each time you beat a tournament. There are millions of things to do with this game and I can't find ANY cons (i am pretty hard on rating ds games). When you start out with the first tournament, i think it is the mushroom one, it is pretty easy to win. But when you start moving on to things like the star one, it takes several times to win, plus there are a few surprises along the way. Another good thing about this game is that if you are in the middle of a tournament and you have to stop playing, you can easily pause the game and it will save your progress so you can countinue later from the start of that game. Also, you won't really need to read the instruction book because the game includes a place where it teaches you all of the special trick shots and all of the controls and moves that you will need to play.

Overall this is an AMAZING game and highly better then every other ds game on the market.

Frustrating.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game has its moments but it doesn't go far beyond that. With a frustrating AI, its hard to enjoy this game on the harder difficulties. I've been playing this game for a couple of weeks now and its a lot of fun. Unfortunately, that fun has been squashed by its frustratingly hard AI opponents.

Pros: Great Graphics
Pretty good music
Fun Concept
Cons: Useless AI teammates (they won't pick up the ball if its right next to them.
Amazingly difficult AI in the final stages. (how do they just appear out of no where!)

Fun game, bad multiplayer

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This really is a fun game. The stylus controls can detect a wrong movement now and then, but it isn't anything to make you stop playing the game.

The big problem that I have with the game is that in order to play a game of basketball with a friend you must BOTH have the game cart. I could understand that if it was over the internet (which this game doesn't support), but for local wireless this is a deal breaker.

Lovely design, but severely lacking in other elements

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Mario has had his fair share of excellent sports-knock-off games, from Mario Kart to Mario Golf. However, there is always a first time for everything, and while this not exactly being a first time, it is a new low.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 comes in a very flashy package, with very high-end graphics, and Final Fantasy developer Square Enix as a partner. Perhaps the partnership with Square may be partly to blame here, as the great Mario sports games are developed by Camelot Software. But that is aside the point.

I will not argue that Mario Hoops is poorly put together, it isn't. As I said before, the graphics are smooth, very colorful, and overall a joy to look at; it looks like your average Mario sports game. The sound is good, with your typical grunts and shouts of both victory and defeat. The partnership with Square allows for some vocalized songs here and there, quite a pleasant surprise.

Just to make myself clear on this, I will say it one more time: Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is a very polished, very well put together game, and has no doubt strengthened the partnership with Nintendo and Square Enix. However, despite the overall quality of the Mario Hoops, the game itself is flawed.

Nintendo tries to change the concept of basketball in Hoops. Your objective is not so much to score actual points, but to collect coins. This aspect is quite irritating, and makes the game a bore to play. Granted, you still need to score baskets, but scoring baskets alone will not do the trick. The coin-collecting aspect was an interesting idea, but it creates an entirely separate game that is not basketball; scoring baskets comes second to collecting coins.

What made Mario sports games so successful before was that they mostly stayed true to the games they were based around. Golf was the same, Tennis was the same, Baseball was the same, each with their own unique Mario flair. However, Mario Hoops 3-on-3 changes the game entirely, and in this case, for the worse.

For those who dislike reading lengthy reviews, I have made assembled a sort of "report card" for quick reference:

Graphics: 9.5/10: absolutely brilliant.
Sound/Music: 9/10: nothing memorable, but still solidly done.
controls: 7/10: well put together, but the touch screen is often unresponsive to commands.
Gameplay: 5/10: Coin collecting digs deep into the score here, it just doesn't work well for the game.

Overall: 7/10: Flashy package, mediocre game.

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