Mario Hoops 3 on 3 is a fun and addicting game of basketball featuring many characters from Nintendo and Square Enix.
There are 4 different modes in Mario Hoops: Challenges, Tourney, Exhibition, and Match-up. The Challenge mode is basically where you can improve your skills. There is a Practice mode where the game has you perform all the simple moves like shooting, passing, dribbling, and so on. In addition to the Practice mode, there is a Special Shot mode. This mode allows you to practice each character's own Special Shot. To use it, you simply tap the touch screen to make a certain shape (that is specific to the character you are using). If you are near the basket when you do this, it is a guaranteed shot, but if you are far a way from the basket, another player on your team will perform an "alley-oop" in which they catch the ball by the hoop and dunk it. This is not always a guaranteed shot because a player on the other team could block the player on your team that is going for the alley-oop. There is also a mini-game called dribble race, in which you must collect 100 coins as quickly as possible.
The Tourney mode is the “main” mode of the game. You play through a series of tournaments (Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Rainbow), each consisting of 3 games. The number of points you score in each game of a tournament will determine whether you get a bronze, silver, or gold cup/medal.
Exhibition mode is exactly what it sounds like. You can play a single game on any court you have unlocked. You can also change settings like CPU difficulty, “? Block” panels on or off, the number of periods, and the time per period.
The Match-up selection is the multiplayer mode on Mario Hoops. Here you can choose from DS Wireless Play in which both players must have a copy of the game and DS Download Play where the other player must go to the download play on the menu screen of their DS. The catch though is with only one copy of the game, you can only play the mini games Dribble Race (also available in single player) and Coin Hunter (only multiplayer). The “real” multiplayer is only available with 2 copies of the game. You can do a 2 player exhibition mode, or the mini games. The 2 player exhibition mode is really fun, and that’s why it is a shame that Mario Hoops isn’t Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection compatible.
Game play - In a game of Mario Hoops 3 on 3 basketball, there is a different point system than a regular basketball game. A regular basket or dunk is worth 20 points, a 3 point shot is worth 30 points, and a Special Shot is worth 40 points. On the courts there are panels. When you have the ball, and you dribble over these panels, you get coins. Each coin adds 1 point to you score when you make a basket. For example, if you have 30 coins, and you make a 3 point shot, you will get 60 points. When you do not have the ball and you run over a panel, an item will pop out. These items include every thing you would expect from a Mario game. You can get red shells, green shells, bananas, stars (that make you invincible), and more. These sort of things make for some really fun game play in Mario Hoops. One issue with the single player game is the artificial intelligence is not so great. It becomes extremely frustrating when you get further in the tourneys, and the CPU difficulty rises. But, the games highly addictive game play keeps having you come back for more (until you have 100% beat the game).
Graphics – Mario Hoops 3 on 3 is arguably the best looking game on the DS to date. The visuals in this game are absolutely stunning.
Sound – The characters hoots and hollers are pretty repetitive, but the music and sound effects suit the game perfectly.
Value – The replay value is decent considering you can choose different difficulty settings and there are a number of things to unlock, like courts, characters, and balls. But the lack of game mode is some what disappointing.
MY SCORE – 8.2 Great