Super Mario Grand Slam

Super Mario Grand Slam is an upcoming sports baseball game released for the Nintendo Switch. This marks the third installment of the Mario Baseball series and the direct sequel to Mario Super Sluggers. This game notably receives a major upgrade in comparison of its predecessors, most notably from Super Sluggers, such as an inclusion of a Story Mode. One of the main features the game has is the removal of Sub-Captains as every main Captain in the game gets their own teammates, allowing for a more large roster.

This is also the first *Mario Baseball* instalment to feature online mode.

## Gameplay

The game plays very similar much to its predecessors, retaining the classic rules of the Baseball games, while adding a mix of the characteristic and crazy cast of the Mario games to provide a more enjoyable experience. The main objective of a baseball game is traditionally played by 18 teammates divided in two teams, each one having 9 members, the Fielding Team and Batting Team:

The Fielding Team is the most active team, as the Members are given a baseball mitt spread around the stadium, in specific positions, such as in the bases of the stadium, trying to prevent the Batting Team to win a Run and keeping them Out. The Captain of the Team is the Pitcher, who pitches a baseball, and once it has been hit to the center of the stadium, the fielders have to run towards the ball to catch it, when done so it will be considered an Out. If the Player doesn't catch the ball in mid-air, it still can earn an Out when the ball is launched and hit towards a Runner of the opposing Team. Once a Runner is hit by the ball, they're out of the field of play and must wait for their turn to bat again.

On the other hand, the Batting Team's duty is to hit the baseball they're pitched with, then proceed to run safely to the Bases and stick on them, and if they run to all four Bases safely, a Score Run is earnt. The Batter needs to launch the baseball as far as possible to avoid being hit by the ball. If a Batter fails to hit the baseball, a strike is counted, and if the Player fails to hit, they're Out of the field.

When the Batter team gets three Outs, the Teams switch places, the Batters becoming the Fielders and the fielders now take their turn to Bat. The winner Team is the one that earns the most number of Score Runs. Additional Score Points are earnt when the Batter hits a Home Run, a type of hit that launches the baseball far away from the limits of the Stadium, and if all 3 Bases are full, the Home Run becomes a Grand Slam, which adds 4 more Points.

While cooperation is one of the most important parts of the game, Super Mario Grand Slam enhances and focuses more on that tradition in where Players have to cooperate with special tactics that are greatly enhanced via the "Chemistry" Mechanic, which means the Characters get well along (For Example: Mario and Luigi), will perform a special shotting technique in where the Ball is launched faster when passing it to the other Fielder. However if the Characters do not get along (like Mario and Bowser) most of the time, passing the Ball will fail. In that case, its important to wisely organize and choose your members. Other cooperative tactics include the Super Jump, which allows two Fielders catch a baseball before it gets out of the Stadium to avoid a Home Run.

The Game features the return of Captains, which are the main characters of the game, as said Captains have special technique skills called Star Skills, which are triggered by pressing a button once they are full. The meter is replenished when the Fielders succesfully hit a Runner out or a hazard with the ball. The Stare Skills let the Captain perform special batting skills which let the baseball hit far away or have random effects in the court.

## Playable Characters

### Captains

The game brings back all 12 Captains that appeared in Super Sluggers and Superstar Baseball but also notably adding two more to the bunch, those being Rosalina and Pauline..

* Mario
* Luigi
* Peach
* Daisy
* Yoshi
* Birdo
* Wario
* Waluigi
* Donkey Kong
* Diddy Kong
* Bowser
* Bowser Jr.
* Rosalina
* Pauline

### Teammates

Due to the removal of Sub-Captains, each Captain now gets 8 teammates more, this causes to expand the roster more.

## Trivia

* This is the first Mario Baseball installment to come after 10 years since Mario Super Sluggers' initial release.
* This game is notable for having the biggest Character Roster, having the first playable appearance of several Characters such as Pauline or Lubba.
* This is the first appearance of Vivian thats fully 3D rendered, and being in a game outside of the Paper Mario series and as well as a playable character.