Outside of the platforming realm, Mario is best known for the Mario Kart series. However, his spin-off catalog goes much deeper. From party games to RPGs, Nintendo has put Mario in every genre under the sun. A core pillar of Mario spin-off titles used to be sports games; however, they've fallen out of favor. Throughout the Nintendo 64 and GameCube eras, Mario sports games were incredibly popular. From golf to soccer, the plumber and his friends had a hand in every game and a team on every field. But, beginning with the Wii, Mario sports titles began to release infrequently and with less polish. As such, it's time to fix this by taking another swing at Mario Baseball on Nintendo Switch.
After all, for as shaky as the post-GameCube titles ended up being, Mario Super Sluggers was one of the last great Mario sports games. As a sequel to Mario Superstar Baseball on GameCube, Super Sluggers on Wii injected so much content and personality into the formula that Superstar Baseball looked like a tech demo in comparison. At the end of the day, it's still a baseball game. However, with the Mario charm, mechanics, and world layered on top, it's something a lot more engaging and fresh. Like any good Mario sports title, it was far more of a party game than a simulation. Since it was only the second baseball entry, though, there is a lot of room to grow and try new ideas.
After all, both Mario Tennis and Mario Golf have been over-represented in recent years. Mario Baseball is comparatively fresh, outside of a cursory appearance in the wholly underwhelming Nintendo 3DS compilation Mario Sports Superstars. Plus, Super Sluggers was the result of Nintendo and Bandai Namco collaborating. This is a partnership that has only grown since the Wii era. From Pokkén Tournament to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Bandai Namco has played the role of either the main developer or support team on many fan-favorite projects. The studio is so skilled and familiar with Nintendo's IP that they should certainly utilize this refined experience to deliver a modernized Mario sports classic.
In terms of what a new Mario Baseball game should do, Bandai Namco should focus on updating the aesthetic and roster. There are so many interesting new Mario faces and places that should be represented. This has been a shortcoming of other modern Mario sports titles. For as great as Mario Tennis Aces on Switch's central gameplay was, one of its disappointing elements was that, in a post-Super Mario Odyssey world, it incorporated almost none of that imagination. There are so many interesting ways that locales and characters from Super Mario Odyssey and even Luigi's Mansion 3 could be represented in baseball. It would be a shame if the next game didn't try to integrate some.
These modern Mario concepts could also have great applications from a gameplay perspective. Part of what made Mario Super Sluggers so fun was how character stats and items allowed for strategic gameplay. For as action-packed as Mario Baseball is, it also has a thoughtful component that other Mario sports titles lack. With Bandai Namco developing the game and contemporary Mario ideas in mind, a Nintendo Switch Mario Baseball game could be a home run.