Great game, but not until it gets hard!
Mario Sports Mix has four sports, all of which are decent but not "the best" sports for video games.
Basketball: Very well done(As expected due to their "experience" with basketball). The controls are great. They may seem complicated at first, but once you learn them it's very fun and easy to control. The Special Moves tend to be "weak" though, making them un"special" you might say.
Volleyball: Volleyball tends to be the "most hated" of the sports, but is actually very fun if your opponent is not too easy. The controls are decent but tend to not do what you want them to. If your trying to hit a ball close to the net, sometimes you accidentally try to block the ball instead(And can get annoying). The Special Moves are great and add a lot of fun to volleyball.
Hockey: Hockey is not the most popular sport, but with a good opponent it can be one of the most strategic, action packed sport. The controls are almost perfect, but sometimes the constant "whack the opponent, steal the puck" gameplay can get old. Hockey is very strategic, you have to play good to win against a hard opponent. The Special Moves are great, but some characters Special Moves are weak or require a good deal of strategy to make the most of them.
Dodgeball: Dodgeball is probably the most loved of all the sports. With hard opponents it can be very action filled, but not too repetitive like hockey. The controls are decent, but like volleyball don't like to obey your every command. The Special Moves are excellent, the best of all the sports. The mixture of strategy, with the fun of seeing your opponent get knocked out make the Special Moves the most exciting part of dodgeball.
One of the features that gets people excited is the beautiful blue "Nintendo Wi-fi Connection" label on the games cover. If your wanting an exciting online brawl, sorry, you won't get it. But if you want some fun sports with good opponents, you'll get what you want, sorta. Unfortunately it's only up to 4 players, and that's only if there are 2 players on each of the 2 Wii systems that can connect to each other at the same time. The scoring system is great, similar to the scoring in Mii Sports games such as Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. The main disadvantage to online is the people who play it. Most people you play will either beat you, or quit when you start to overtake them. And if you like either hockey or volleyball and want to play it online, your out of luck. NOBODY plays them! Everyone plays dodgeball or basketball, so if you like those you'll have no problem finding an opponent, but the others are pretty much dead.
The 4 minigames are great and may give you a few moments of fun. They have a few unlockable levels that you win in tournaments(If you can find where to go to unlock them).
The tournament mode is the main downside of this game. First of all, there WAY too easy. The CPU should be much harder. This is what scares away most newcomers to the game. They start a tournament, think "this is so easy", then leave the game on the shelf. Sadly, the CPU isn't even that hard in star cup, until you unlock hard tournament mode. One thing that does help add to the tournaments is the alternative paths, even if there confusing. You can unlock most anything in the game on an alternative path, but finding which paths to take is very confusing and doesn't always give you what you want. The main highlight of alternative paths is the fun "mini game" style of games you play. Each game you play has different rules than normal play, and sometimes has some fun item design.
Unlocking content can bother most people(Since you must unlock everything in EVERY individual sport). But if your one of those people who likes taking a lot of time to unlock everything you'll like it. The unlockable characters are all Square Enix characters, which isn't the best since half of them are CHEATERS!!! Black Mage, Ninja, and Cactaur are too good, and many people online use them for an easy win.
Overall Mario Sports Mix is fun when you have a good opponent, but sadly isn't made to perfection. Square Enix has a few things to learn about making Sports games.