Mario Superstar Baseball is a 2005 sports video game developed by Namco and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The game was created in the vein of other Mario sports games such as Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Power Tennis. A sequel, Mario Super Sluggers, was released for the Wii in 2008. Gameplay mainly focuses on the player assuming the role of many Mario series characters to challenge any opposing teams compatible in the Challenge Mode, the final being Bowser, having baseball matches to see who will win the Cup of the mode. Other playable modes include Exhibition Mode, in which players choose the leader and the other rosters in the team and challenge another team to a single baseball game, and Minigames where the player must complete a certain mission. A common power-up in the game is a charged swing, a hit by a baseball bat performed by a character that will give the ball a strong hit, causing the length of a normal hit baseball to be twice as powerful. The game received generally favorable reviews from critics. Game modes Exhibition Game A single game of baseball, players choose the Team Captain and a roster of players, and play one game. Players can choose which team bats first. Players can also choose how many innings the game will last, and pick their choice out of six unique stadiums. Bowser's Castle can be unlocked after beating Challenge Mode. Challenge The heart of Mario Superstar Baseball is the Challenge Mode. It is a single-player mode where the player selects a pre-built team and must defeat all the other teams; at first Bowser's team is the last team to beat for the cup, and must be unlocked before the player can use him. There are six teams, each led by one of the Captains (Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser), features a secondary captain (Luigi, Daisy, Birdo, Diddy Kong, Waluigi, and Bowser Jr.), and is filled with a mix of sub characters, some of which are duplicated within a team, but do not appear on any other team. For example, aside from the aforementioned captains and sub-captains, Mario's team consists of Monty Mole, 3 Piantas, and 3 Nokis, Princess Peach's team consists of Toadette, Toadsworth, and 5 Toads, Wario's team consists of Boo, King Boo, Petey Piranha, and 4 Magikoopas, Yoshi's team consists of Baby Mario, Baby Luigi,