Mario Superstar Baseball

This page details one or more prototype versions of Mario Superstar Baseball.

Two demos of Mario Superstar Baseball (at this point, Mario Baseball in the US) were present in the Interactive Multi-Game Demo Disc volumes 27-30 in the US, and the Gekkan Nintendo Tentou Demo discs from July to September 2005 in Japan. While the Japanese demo is identical to it's final version, the US demo is still in the middle of localization.

Sub-Page#

Early GraphicsEarly graphics and icons that differ from the final game.

Hidden Banners & Text#

Region	Demo	Final
US
Japanese

The following can be seen by extracting the zz_MarioBB_US.tgc and SuperMarioStadium.tgc files from the demo discs and viewing it on the GameCube menu. Both demos have their own banners, with the US Demo's banner using the game's logo from E3 2005, and the Japanese demo's using the final logo without the white outline. The title for the demo translates to "Famista2003 GC" refering to Family Stadium 2003, a baseball title developed by Namco which was released for the GameCube on May 30, 2003 as reflected by the maker name underneath the title. The description for the demo reads "Comment line 1, comment line 2", which was likely meant to be left blank as the description wouldn't be visible normally in the demos.

Title Screen#

Region	Demo	Final
US
Japanese

Aside from the Demo Version text seen below the logos in both versions of the demo, the logo in the US demo uses the design from E3 2005, that of a baseball diamond. It may have been a placeholder, as the logo used in the demo disc's select menu matches the retail design. The Japanese version's title screen is about the same as the final, where the only difference was Mario's artwork being stretched in the demo. The title screen's music is slightly different, with the final having more depth and instruments.

Main Menu#

General#

Region	Demo	Final
US
Japanese

• The only two accessible modes in the demos are Exhibition and Minigames, the rest of the modes are inaccessible and the cursor skips over them when moving around the menu.
• In the US demo the title on the left says SUPER MARIO STADIUM instead of Mario Superstar Baseball and the corner has main menu in low caps, matching the Japanese version.
• The Dictionary from the Japanese version is present in the list in both versions, albeit inaccessible. This mode was removed in the final US release.

Mode Previews#

• The capital letters used in the demo's English header text is smaller.
• The "p" in "For 1 to 2 Players" isn't capitalized and the lines also end with a period.
• The description for Exhibition Game is aligned differently.
• The preview for the minigames has a different picture showing Star Dash in the top left, which was changed to show the Wall Ball minigame instead. There's also a weird gray chunk on the left side of the minigames preview image which was removed in the final version.

Modes#

Exhibition#

Captain Select#

Region	Demo	Final
US
Japanese

• The only selectable captains in the demo versions are Mario and Wario. Upon selecting them, the game cuts straight to the stadium select screens and skips the teammate and order select screens.
• Player profiles can't be viewed from pressing Z in the demo versions, the bottom scrolling text for it doesn't appear either in the demo.
• The text for each captain's stats in the US demo (Batting, Pitching, Fielding, and Running) were stretched in the final game to match the size of the stat bar. Baserunning was shortened to Running in the final.
• The Select Team Captain header in the final US version is lowercase in the demo.
• The P1 / 1P text appears behind the captain select box, this error was fixed in the final.

Stadium Select#

Region	Demo	Final
US
Japanese

• Mario Stadium and Peach Garden are the only playable stadiums in the demos, the rest of the stadiums are inaccessible with their preview icons being blacked out.
• The Select ballpark header in the US Demo was changed to Select Ball Park in the final.
• In the Japanese demo, the stadium text on the bottom right corner of the stadium preview image is fully lowercase. The final game changed this to be uppercase.
• The bottom text doesn't scroll and the text and option to press the R trigger to select a random stadium doesn't appear and function respectively.
• The text "Select a ballpark to play" in the US Demo was changed to read "Select where you want to play" in the final game.

Gameplay#

General

• After choosing a stadium, a pre-set order of characters are selected to appear on both Mario and Wario's team.
• For batting, Mario's team is first to bat when played with a computer player, while Wario's team is first to bat if Player 2 is present.
• Star Skills and mercy are turned on, and the number of innings is set to three.
• Lakitu uses his Japanese voice in the US Demo, as the International voice clips likely hadn't been recorded yet.

Batting & Fielding Calls

Demo	Final

In the US Demo, three batting & fielding calls differ from their final counterparts. The Foul Ball call was one word instead of being spaced out, the Ball Four! was written as Walk, and the Take Your Base call was written as a Bean Ball.

Mario Super Sluggers later used the Walk and Bean Ball calls for batting and fielding.

That's The Ball Game!

Early	Final

At the end of a game, Lakitu holds up a message which reads That's The Ball Game! in the US Demo. This was changed in the final version to exclude the Ball text, making it instead read That's The Game!

Minigames#

Minigame Select#

Region	Demo	Final
US
Japanese

• Bob-Omb Derby is the only playable minigame in the demos on Special level. The rest of the minigames are inaccessible, and the sixth and seventh options for Star Dash and Mario Grand Prix are not present.
• The screen header was colored pink but changed to white in the final. Minigame in the Select minigame header in the US demo was lowercased.
• The MINI GAME text in the Japanese and US Demo for each option is fixed to remove the erroneous space in the final US version.
• The minigame description for Bob-Omb Derby in the US Demo is aligned differently.

Character Select#

Region	Demo	Final
US
Japanese

• The Character select header from the Japanese and US Demo was changed to read Select Character.
• The scrolling text in the US Demo reads Select characters., which was changed grammatically in the final to read Select a Character.
• Character names in the US Demo are written in black, which was changed to be written in white in the final version.
• Character voice clips have no echo effect when selected in the demos. Baby Mario and Pianta have lower pitched voice clips while Boo and Birdo use different voice clips, Birdo's in particular has her saying "Catherine!", her Japanese name.

Minigame Instructions#

The minigame instructions in the US demo have a few text differences compared to the final version.

• A space was added between "homerun" on the first page's instructions
• The top text on the second page was moved down a bit in the final.
• The "machine" text under the pitching machine was capitalized.
• Each slot image is referred to as a "Ball" instead of a "Bob-Omb".

You made the high-score list!#

Demo	Final

When completing Bob-Omb Derby and placing in the rankings, the US Demo's message reads You made the high-score list! which was changed to NEW RANKING! in the final.

Music#

To do: A sub-page should be created for the songs that aren't heard in the demo.

Some songs are a bit different at this point in development.

Victory#

Has a more triumphant feel in the final.

Results#

Sounds a little more MIDI-ish in the prototype.