Nintendo has announced bonus-granting amiibo character cards for the upcoming 3DS title Mario Sports Superstars. One card will come packed in with the game for a limited time upon release, with more available for purchase in five-card blind packs for $4.99 each.
Our first look at the Bandai-Namco developed title came during the Nintendo 3DS Direct last September. A minute-long preview showcased Mario competing with friends and enemies alike in tennis, baseball, soccer, golf, and for the first time in a Mario sports title, horse racing. Nintendo is promising a surprising amount of depth for each sport, and packing in advanced features to make them full-scale. Soccer matches will be 11 vs 11 and allow for formation changes, infield shifts will be possible in baseball, and there will even be stable building and horse training in the Mushroom Kingdom’s newest sport. Players can also expect the ability to power-up during matches, as in previous Mario sports titles.
The eighteen-character roster includes most of the usual suspects, bringing Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, and Yoshi together with Bowser and Bowser Jr., Wario and Waluigi, Birdo, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, and a Boo. A training mode and single player tournaments have been confirmed for the game, and although local and online multiplayer modes are available, the game will not support single-cart download play.
It will be interesting to see how each mode in Mario Sports Superstars compares to previous standalone Mario sports games. The Mario Strikers soccer titles for the GameCube and Wii were arcade-style, where Superstars looks to incorporate more traditional rules. Meanwhile, I was a big fan of Camelot’s Mario Golf series, and am hoping to see the same fun gameplay captured here (but hopefully this won’t take that series’ place going forward).
Mario Sports Superstars will be released for the 3DS on March 24th.