is a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

video game developed by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

. It was released in Japan on November 25, 2010, and in other regions in early 2011. It features

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

dodgeball Dodgeball is a team sport in which players on two teams try to throw balls and hit opponents, while avoiding being hit themselves. The objective of each team is to eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them with thrown balls, cat ...

, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. The game features mostly characters and locations from the ''Mario'' series with a few guest appearances by characters from Square Enix's ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...

'' and ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...

'' series of games. Players can also opt to play as one of their

Mii A Mii ( ) is a customizable avatar used on several Nintendo video game consoles and mobile apps. Miis were first introduced on the Wii console in 2006 and later appeared on the 3DS, Wii U, the Switch, and various apps for smart devices. Miis c ...

characters. The game received mixed reception; the game was praised for its graphics and gameplay, and critiqued on its lack of depth and replayability.

Gameplay

The game is played much in the vein of past ''Mario'' sports games, with features such as powerful special moves and over-the-top, arcade-like gameplay, including the use of a "coin redemption system" that allows players to collect coins that are immediately spent on adding extra points to the next goal they score. Both cooperative and competitive local multiplayer modes are featured: depending on the sport, two players (two-on-two) or three players (three-on-three) can play cooperative multiplayer and four players (two-on-two) can play competitive multiplayer in two teams of two. Online multiplayer is also featured, with two players per Wii console joining up to play two-on-two matches either against friends or against random players. The game features most of the characters and locations from the ''Mario'' franchise with a few guest appearances by characters from Square Enix's ''

'' and ''

'' series of games. The

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

, White Mage,

Black Mage ''Final Fantasy'' is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games (RPGs). The eponymous fi ...

Cactuar The Cactuar, known in Japan as is a fictional species of plant-like beings from the ''Final Fantasy'' video game franchise. They are usually depicted as anthropomorphic cacti with ''haniwa''-like faces in a running or dashing pose. One of the ...

and

Moogle are a fictional species of diminutive, sentient creatures and a recurring element of the ''Final Fantasy'' video game franchise, starting with their initial appearance in ''Final Fantasy III''. They also appear in the ''Mana'' and ''Kingdom He ...

characters all appear from the ''Final Fantasy'' series, while the

Slime Slime may refer to: Biology * Slime mold, a broad term often referring to roughly six groups of Eukaryotes * Biofilm, an aggregate of microorganisms in which cells adhere to each other and/or to a surface * Slimy (fish), also known as the pony ...

monster from the ''Dragon Quest'' series also appears. Players can also opt to play as one of their

characters.

Plot

The story mode takes place in the

Mushroom Kingdom The is a fictional principality in Nintendo's ''Mario'' series. It is the setting of most main-series ''Mario'' games with an inconsistent presentation. There is no established canon regarding the topography of the ''Mario'' universe, and many ...

where

Toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientif ...

is gardening flowers, when all of a sudden, an object crashes behind

Princess Peach is a fictional character in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the 1985 original ''Super Mario Bros.'' installment. She is the princess regnant and ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, where she resides in ...

's castle. Toad then runs to the object (along with a few other Toads), and finds a red crystal containing a

, a green crystal containing a volleyball, a yellow crystal containing a dodgeball, and a blue crystal containing a coin (which serves as a

hockey puck A hockey puck is either an open or closed disk used in a variety of sports and games. There are designs made for use on an ice surface, such as in ice hockey, and others for the different variants of floor hockey which includes the wheeled skate ...

). While observing the mysterious crystals, the Toads come up with an idea of introducing new sports—

, and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

—to the Mushroom Kingdom. Toad then organizes tournaments for the four sports. After the player beats the game in all four sports individually, the player is taken to a boss fight against

Behemoth Behemoth (; he, בְּהֵמוֹת, ''bəhēmōṯ'') is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation; he is paired with the other chaos-monster, Leviathan, and ...

from ''

''. After beating Behemoth, a ''Sports Mix'' mode is unlocked. It is largely identical to the previous tournaments, with the exception that all four sports are played in the tournament, and that the final

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

is different, being Behemoth King instead of Behemoth.

Development

''Mario Sports Mix'' is the third ''Mario'' game developed by

after ''

Super Mario RPG ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' is a role-playing video game developed by Square (video game company), Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996. It was the final ''Mario (franchise), Ma ...

'' and ''

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 ''Mario Hoops 3-on-3'', known in Europe as ''Mario Slam Basketball'' and in Japan as , is a sports game developed by Square Enix and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in 2006. The game is the first in which ''Mario'' and ''Final Fantasy'' ...

'' and was first shown at

E3 2010 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 (E3 2010) was the 16th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 14, 2010, and ended on June 17, 2010, with 45,600 total attendees. Ther ...

. During the Nintendo E3 presentation,

Reggie Fils-Aimé Reginald Fils-Aimé ( ; born March 25, 1961) is an American businessman best known for being the president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, the North American division of the Japanese video game company Nintendo, from 2006 ...

stated that none of the included sports had featured in any previous ''Mario'' sports title. However, three of them have been featured in some fashion: basketball was the main focus of ''Mario Hoops 3-on-3'' (and there are basketball-based minigames in ''

Mario Party is a party video game series featuring characters from the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called "CPU (gaming), CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with mi ...

'', ''

Mario Party 4 ''Mario Party 4'' is a 2002 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The game is the fourth installment in the ''Mario Party'' series and is the first game in the series to be released for the GameCube. ...

'', ''

Mario Party 6 is the sixth installment in the ''Mario Party'' series of board game-style party video games by Nintendo and is the third game in the series made for the GameCube and was released in Japan on November 18, 2004; in North America on December 6 ...

'' and ''

Mario Party 8 ''Mario Party 8'' is a 2007 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The game is the eighth main installment in the ''Mario Party'' series, and the first title in the series released for the Wii. It wa ...

''); volleyball minigames were featured in ''

'' and ''

Mario Party 5 is a party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the fifth installment in the ''Mario Party'' series and the second game in the series to be released for the GameCube. It was first released in N ...

''; and hockey was a featured sport in ''

'' and ''

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is a 2009 and 2011 sports and party game developed by Sega. Like its predecessor, it was published by Nintendo for Japan and Korea and by Sega in the Western world. The game is officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) th ...

''. ''Mario Sports Mix'' marks the first time dodgeball has been featured in a ''Mario'' sports title and the first time the other three have been featured in prominent roles in a home console title.

Reception

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' released the first review for ''Mario Sports Mix'' approximately a week before its launch in Japan. The game received an overall score of 30/40, with two reviewers giving it 7/10 and two giving it 8/10. One reviewer praised the title for its "simple and easy" controls, while also commenting that the characters' special moves were "pretty neat" and that the courts included in the game were "fun in their own way". However, concern was raised with the number of playable sports, with one reviewer commenting that "with only four sports included, some people might get bored pretty fast." ''Mario Sports Mix'' has received average reviews, having an aggregate score of 64/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

and a

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

of 66%.

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

's Jack DeVries rated the game 6.5, stating "it could make a fun party game, but this is a pretty weak offering". They praised the graphics, calling the animations "well done", and said "everything is bright and smooth". They also praised the music, calling it "fun and energetic, though kind of repetitive."

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

's Keza MacDonald rated the game 7/10 and

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

gave the game 5 stars and an on rating for ages 8 and up, Saying "Top-notch sports compilation is good fun for all ages."Mario Sports Mix - Review on

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews/mario-sports-mix

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

, however, gave the game a low rating of 4/10 stating that "Every sport is tedious and shallow", "Computer opponents are too easy or too cheap", "Requires very little skill", "Too much chaos in the competitions" and "None of the sports offer anything new or unique". ''

Official Nintendo Magazine ''Official Nintendo Magazine'', or ''ONM'', was a British video game magazine that ran from 2006 to 2014 that covered the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U video game consoles released by Nintendo. Originally published by EMAP as ''N ...

'' also mentioned in its review that "volleyball is the weakest game of the four" because it only involves flicking the Wii remote and pressing A. It also noted issues with the unlockable characters because they are only Square Enix characters, which it stated that they "are a bit underwhelming" and that "Replacing them with other Mario characters would be much better". As of April 2011, ''Mario Sports Mix'' has sold 1.54 million copies worldwide.

Gameplay

Plot

Development

Reception

References

External links