It may sound complicated in print, but Square-Enix’s execution of this unique control scheme is near-flawless. After a short tutorial, I was navigating the court like a pro. I was disappointed by a lack of left-handed controls, but the rumor mill says that both left-handed and stylus-free control options will be available in the final version. I don’t know why anybody would want to not use the stylus, but I guess the choice would be nice.

Even in its early state, Mario Hoops feels very polished. It plays just like you would expect a Mario sports title to: at a first glance, it’s just a regular old three-on-three game of basketball, but it doesn’t take long until you know you are playing a very different game. As you play, question mark tiles appear on the pavement. By dribbling in these boxes, your coin total increases.



When you score a basket, you get twenty or thirty points (30 for a long-range shot, 20 for a dunk) plus the number of coins you have. Shooting baskets once again ties into the brilliant control scheme; the straighter your stylus stroke, the better your shot. Getting a certain number of coins also enables you to perform special moves, but I wasn’t able to figure out exactly how this worked. When you are playing defense, these coin tiles are replaced by item boxes, which also grant special powers and abilities.

The demo of the game only contained a tutorial and a short 3-on-3 game on a single court, but I am told that the final version of the game will contain at least nine courts, as well as multiple game types. The Nintendo rep I spoke with mentioned WiFi support, but after consulting other sources it seems that the game will only feature local multiplayer, not online play via the Nintendo WiFi Connection.