Mario Baseball E3 2005 Preshow Report

Mario makes Bo Jackson look like a hobo. Sure, Bo could play football and baseball. But Bo's a sucker compared to Nintendo's champion. Mario's a master of tennis, golf, kart racing, and, as of late, soccer. And those are just the sports we know about. We can safely assume that Mario is also probably way into curling, lacrosse, horseshoes, cricket, shuffleboard, croquet, and, of course, the ESPN2 strongman competition. But one thing we don't need to make assumptions about any longer is Mario's baseball prowess, as he's finally getting some time on the diamond in Mario Baseball.

Mario Baseball is under development at Namco, and it starts out with the basic structure you'd expect from a Mario sports game. Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and a bunch of other characters from the Mario universe appear as baseball players. The characters seem to be very animated, and each sort of has his or her own take on the baseball standard. Donkey Kong, for example, doesn't even bother bringing a bat to the plate; he just puts on a boxing glove and punches the ball. The Hammer Brother carries his traditional hammer and swings it.

The pitching and batting are timing-based endeavors. You can put a little speed on your pitches when you're on the mound, while as a batter, you can wind your bat up and release for power swings. However, both will require you to use star power. Furthermore, each character will have unique powers. The game will also have a collection of minigames, such as a home run contest known as the Bob-Omb Derby and a mode that puts colored barrels on the field and gives you points for smashing baseballs into them.

Mario Baseball has a great look to it, and it sounds like the gameplay is aiming for the right mix of traditional baseball gameplay and wacky Mario hijinks. Look for more on Mario Baseball soon.