At this point, does there really need to be a premise for the Mushroom Kingdom to face off in a sports tournament? It's probably about as incidental as the plot of Mario Party 5 to the overall experience. And if you can remember the premise of Mario Party 5... more power to you. Basically, Mario, Luigi, Wario, Yoshi, and others step onto the court for some 3-on-3 b-ball action. Hence the title.
So, how does it play? Interestingly, to say the least. The d-pad will be used to move around the court, but in the build we played, almost all of the functionality of gameplay was confined to the touch screen. Characters dribble by tapping the touch screen. In order to keep the ball away from a defender, players tap another side of the screen, and Mario (or whoever) will switch sides and keep the ball away. Shooting is a matter of touching the screen in an upward pattern; it also works for dunking within a safe zone in the paint. Passing is done with horizontal and diagonal stylus strokes, but be cautious, as a defender can easily steal the ball if players are passing offscreen.
Bonus points and items, such as tortoise shells (a la Mario Kart) are available by dribbling in select spots on the court. Offensive players must dribble over question-mark bricks to get coins that will add to their overall score. On defense, players strip the ball by touching downward on the touch screen, if they can get on the right side of the ball. And, similar to shooting, players can block an opposing shot with an upward stroke of the screen.
It's all a fairly fun and simple experience to pick up. Besides multiplayer, there will also be single player tournament modes and mini-games, although their longevity is questionable at this point. If there's anything really negative, it's the question of whether it will be more of a quickie novelty for one player in the same way that Super Mario Strikers was. Also, it's one thing to have a game like this on a GameCube with friends around, but quite another to sit around in a room playing it on some DS systems. Whether the multiplayer magic of Mario sports will translate to four people on DSes remains to be seen. Speaking of playing with friends, it's official that while Mario Hoops 3-on-3 won't feature Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, friends can relive last year's NBA Championsh- okay, maybe not. But it will support up to four people for some trash-talking hoops action. Want to relive the levels of pwnage when you humiliated your friend on the pitch in Strikers as Yoshi to his Donkey Kong? Break out some Lipton's orange pekoe and take it to him.
In conclusion, Mario Hoops 3-on-3 looks and plays like a rather fun title. Whether it will suffer from the lack of longevity in single player that has hobbled other Mario sports titles is something we've got a cautious eye out for. However, the simplicity of gameplay is undeniably entertaining, and hopefully, will translate well to the DS. Square Enix making Mario sports games? Who would've thought?
