Mario Superstar Baseball/Ballparks

There are seven ballparks in the mushroom kingdom, and each have their own quirks and distractions as well as a minigame. This page will describe each ball park and how to avoid falling into the traps at each one.

Mario Stadium
Mario Stadium is straight up baseball on a beach somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom. No obstacles, distractions, or anything else you'll find at other ballparks. Turn off star skills and you'll have regular baseball. But, honestly, what's the fun in that?

Mario Stadium Minigame: Bob-omb Derby
Bob-omb Derby is as simple of a minigame as you can get. It's basically a home run derby with bob-ombs instead of baseballs. When the bob-ombs reach the outfield, they explode in fireworks for everyone in the empty stadium to see. As long as you can get the timing down, you shouldn't have any trouble with this. You can get bonuses in two ways: By hitting a big bob-omb (200 pts.) or by hitting two or more bob-ombs in a row (+15 for 2, 30 for 3, 45 for 4, and so on).

Peach Gardens
Peach has converted her courtyard into a baseball field. Unfortunately, this means that the center-field wall is the actual castle, so don't expect to hit any home runs in that direction. In fact, don't expect to hit any home runs at all, because this ball park has some of the highest walls in the game. There are two special features for you to worry about here; there are hedges surrounding the infield which temporarily conceal the ball, and there are floating blocks in the air inside the stadium. The hedges aren't a real threat; they hardly even slow down the ball. But if it gets stuck in there it's like trying to find the whiffle ball after you hit into the neighbor's prized shrubbery. The blocks are the real thing you have to worry about. There are three blocks: The bricks have stars inside of them, the solid gold blocks just act as an obstacle, and the white musical note blocks bounce the ball farther in the direction it's heading. Bouncing a ball of the musical note blocks is one of the only ways to get a home run here. Also be warned that Peach's team has mastered fielding balls of the blocks, so try not to hit too many when in challenge mode.

Peach Garden Minigame: Wall Ball
Wall Ball is the sole pitching mini game in MSB. The object is to charge up your pitch so that it goes through the musical note or "bingo" block but no farther. This game takes a little practice getting used to, and the Toads will show no mercy as you try to get the hang of it. If the first block is the bingo block, don't charge up at all or very little if you have to. If the last one is the bingo block, try to get a "NICE!" pitch. The rest are in between at different intervals, and every pitcher has to charge up more or less depending on how hard they throw.

Wario Palace
Wario Palace is Wario's desert ballpark, complete with star shaped sand dunes (that give you a star when you hit them) and gold plated statues that look just like Wario, even though he was certainly too modest to have them put in himself. He was probably so polite he didn't even argue when someone suggested it. Anyway, the two things you have to worry about here is the sandstorms and the chain chomps. The sandstorms are activated by hitting the ball in the vicinity of the floating birds in left and right field. The ball will spin around inside for a moment and will land either on the field just beyond second base or on the chain chomp in the corner of the park. The chain chomps seem to enjoy knocking around the ball if it gets close enough, even if somebody's holding it. This means you have to get your throws off fast or else your left or right fielder could get knocked out. You are also in danger of a double-whammy concerning the sandstorms and the chain chomps: If the chain chomps are awake and the ball gets hit into the sandstorm, it may go directly at the chain chomp, who will knock it into fair territory. If you don't catch it when it lands, the runner(s) will already be somewhere between second and home and will probably score a few runs before you can get the ball in. It's crazy, but that's what Mario is all about.

Wario Palace Minigame: Chain Chomp Sprint
The chain chomps at Wario Palace don't always stay in the corner. Sometimes they hang out at the pitcher's mound while the characters try to collect gems. And that's the basis for chain chomp sprint. You and three other characters run around the bases trying to collect gems. (No, you don't get bonus points for scoring a run) When the chain chomp wakes up, you have to freeze or else it will knock you out and you will lose half your gems. The controls for this game are just like normal baseball. Press to run forward, or you can do it backwards if you feel like it by pressing  as you get started. You can change directions at any time by pressing the alternate button twice as you run the bases, and to stop you just need to tap it once. Luckily, the Magikoopas aren't used to being faced down by an excited chain chomp, so they get knocked around 1-2 times a game.

Yoshi Park
Yoshi Park has only one thing to worry about, the Piranha Plants. They've taken over the field and when a ball comes near them they pop out and try to catch it. Touch a Piranha Plant and you get knocked around for a bit, so if you see one of them near the drop spot, don't even think about trying to catch the ball. The only way you can catch it before they get there is with a Super Jump technique. If the Piranha Plant gets the ball first, it will hold it a few seconds and then spit it out. It will always rotate a bit before spitting it out, so to catch it (Yes, even after all that you can still catch it for an out) just stand a few feet away from the plant. (Un)fortunately, sometimes the plants at the wall will spit it out over the fence for a home run, but that's part of the game. One more thing: the Yellow Piranha Plants won't catch the ball; instead, they'll get hit by it and give up a team star to the batting team.

Yoshi Park Minigame: Piranha Panic
This game can get annoying at times, but once you get the hang of it it's pretty easy to win. There are three piranha plants at first, second, and third base. Your job is to throw yoshi eggs of a corresponding color at them. For example, you would throw a blue egg at a blue piranha plant. Unfortunately, there are four colors of eggs and only three plants out at a given moment. If you come across and egg that doesn't work, you can either wait for the right plant to come out or just throw it one of them anyway. If you throw the wrong colored egg at a plant, it will shoot a fireball at you. By holding the control stick down you can avoid the fireballs. The best plant to throw "rotten" eggs at is the middle one, since its fireballs are easier to time and avoid.

At certain times throughout the game, all the plants will duck out of sight and one giant purple one will show up in the middle. At this point, throw all your eggs at him, since he spits out fireballs at everyone at timed intervals, even if they don't throw any eggs. You can get lots of points this way. Also, sometimes you will get bob-ombs instead of eggs. These are like wild cards. You can throw them at any plant, or at an opponent by throwing it like you would to home plate.

DK Jungle
DK Jungle contains some of the lowest outfield walls in the game, the exception being a giant fence-like wall in left field. (This park's green monster. Sort of.) The problem with this park is what's behind those walls. In left and right field are two giant cannons that launch giant barrels through the outfield between every half-inning and more importantly, whenever a ball gets hit into the outfield. It's pretty much all luck concerning when and if you'll get hit. If you can catch the ball before a barrel gets you, catch it and try to get it in to the infield. Most of the time the barrels will just miss the outfielders, but players will get hit, so don't assume your players are safe on any given play. The other distraction in DK Jungle is the Klaptraps swimming in the river that runs through the parks. If you get near enough to one, they'll bite you and your player will have to wander around for awhile with an alligator clamped on his leg. It apparently slows you down, but I haven't noticed much change in speed, so I mark this up just as something to annoy the player.

DK Jungle Minigame: Barrel Batter
DK Jungle is home to arguably the most annoying minigame ever. In barrel batter, the object is to bat the ball at barrels. (Obviously.) When you hit a barrel, that barrel explodes, along with all adjacent barrels of the same color. For instance, if the top row of barrels is blue, the middle row is all red, and the bottom is also all blue, and you hit a ball into the top row of barrels, all 5 barrels would explode due to the fact that they are all the same color. (Barrels exploding is a good thing!) If one of the barrels in the second row was blue instead of red, the top row would be cleared, along with the blue barrel in the second row and the entire bottom row, because they are now connected through the barrel in the middle row. If all the barrels are blue, you've managed to manipulate the game or something, because that has never happened.

As you clear the barrels, a power meter next to the pitching machine increases. When it fills up to the top, a brown barrel will appear, which will make all the barrels explode. The only catch is that you must hit it the first turn it shows up! Otherwise, it'll be worth a piddly 4 points, and that's not what you want when you're going for up to 2,000 points!

Just like in regular Mario baseball, moving backwards in the batter's box hits the ball higher, forward hits it lower, left hits it to the left, and right to the right.

Koopa Castle
This stadium is unlocked the first time you complete Challenge Mode

Bowser has made his own stadium complete with lava pits and thwomps thundering down to prevent home runs. In challenge mode, it is blocked off until you defeat all the other teams. The hazards here are the fireballs shooting out of the fire pits and the thwomps at the left and right field walls. The fireballs won't normally hit the outfielders, but just like the barrels at DK Jungle, don't assume you're invulnerable. The thwomps are a different story. Whenever you hit a ball between the bottom of the left or right field wall and the thwomps high above the walls, they come down to prevent any balls from getting through. Together with the rest of the walls, the combine to create the second highest walls in the game, the exception being Peach Garden's. The thwomps aren't insurmountable; if a power hitter gets a hold of a pitch they can rocket the baseball over the thwomps. But it's better to aim for the center wall and the foul poles.

Koopa Castle Minigame: Star Dash
In this game, thousands of coins come out of the container in the center of the field. Your job is to collect them. Simple enough, right? Well, there's always a Mario twist on things. Every now and then, the thwomps will come down. These are pretty easy to avoid, because their shadows are on the ground for an eternity. Still, I've seen players (me) get hit by the thwomps because they aren't paying attention. Other items pop out of the center other than coins; a bag of coins is worth 10 coins and it splits apart upon impact with the ground. There are two mushrooms available; the red one speeds you up, and the purple one slows you down. However, the real prize is the invincibility star that pops out 3-4 times a game. When this happens, everyone stops what they are doing and goes after the star. Having possession of it renders you invulnerable, and if run into anybody while under the affect of the star, they lose half of their coins. Coupled with a mushroom, it's nearly unstoppable. It's best you dash throughout the whole game (which can be done by tapping repeatedly).

Toy Field
Toy Field isn't a normal playing field, as you find out when you get there, but instead it looks more like an arcade game. Each tile represents something different, and every at bat is a chance to gain coins. The object is, of course, to "gain tons of coins." Toy Field is available from the main menu, or from the Shop in challenge mode by buying the secret map (Only available after you defeat all the minigames in challenge mode!). Here's what every tile means:

It's best to choose somebody who frequently hits line drives to play this game, for example, Boomerang Bro hits line drives more often than Hammer Bro. Line drives are harder to catch than even deep fly balls. It should also be noted that there is no drop spot for this game, and that the baseball is closer in size to a softball, thus making it harder for the players to catch successfully