Mario Hoops 3 on 3 (DS)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.1 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Jeff Gerstmann
• Reviewed on: 09/12/2006
• Released on: 09/11/2006
• Originally published on GameSpot: Mario Hoops 3 on 3 (DS) Review

Mario Hoops 3 on 3 is a Mario-themed basketball game that uses the Nintendo DS touch screen for shooting, passing, sidesteps, and just about every other move you can pull off. It's a good use for the touch screen that's often clever and gives you a variety of moves to choose from at any given moment. That sets up some unique strategies that come into play when you're going up against another player. But the teams you face in the single-player mode aren't nearly as much fun.

As the title indicates, the game pits teams of three players against one another. The ballers include Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Wario, Peach, Yoshi, Dixie Kong, and so on, though despite the wide selection of characters, there only seem to be a few different types of players. As you'd expect from a Mario-themed sports game, liberties are taken with the rules of basketball. The biggest one is the way scoring works. You'll never see a two-point basket in this game. Instead, the number of points you score for a basket varies and seems dependant on the type of shot and how many coins you're holding onto when you score. Question-mark tiles litter the floor of the court, and dribbling on them while tapping the touch screen earns you coins. You can also earn coins while dunking by executing a charge dunk, which leaves you hanging up in the air near the basket while coins ring up. That leaves you wide open to get bopped by one of the opposition, though, making the shot risky. Many of the moves in the game also have countermoves. To stop steal attempts, you can hold the stylus on the screen. From there, moving the stylus around moves the ball in the player's hands, letting you dribble on the other side of your player to dodge the swipes of an incoming steal. But that, of course, can be countered by a charged-up steal. The list of different moves goes on, and many of them have proper countermoves. If you were playing against a player of similar skill, the moves and countermoves can be interesting.

Unfortunately, the only way you get to play against a player of similar skill is if you happen to have a friend with a copy of the game. Online support for Wi-Fi multiplayer would have been a smart addition. Game sharing only lets you participate in a couple of tedious minigames, and the artificial intelligence you face off against in the tournament and exhibition games is a little too robotic to be fun for long. There are four cups and multiple difficulty levels for each one that unlock as you play, as well as five settings for exhibition matches. In the harder games, they'll swipe the ball from you if you get careless, and they'll usually block your charge dunks, as well. But scoring is rarely difficult; instead, it's defense that gets tougher as you play, as the AI opponents get better about preventing steals and passing the ball when their shots are likely to get stuffed. That evens the playing field out a lot.

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