Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (Nintendo DS, 2006)

Desperate for a new game and sucked in by the amazingly persuading marketing via television commercials, my daughter and I set out to our local mega-retailer to purchase a copy of Mario Hoops 3 on 3 for the Nintendo DS. It was a no-brainer for us. We both loved Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Baseball, and Mario Strikers for the Nintendo Gamecube. They were all hours of fun, and we knew 3 on 3 would be no different. To add to my excitement, I noticed a pricetag of only $29.99. As a parent looking into that glass case at that one game your child truly desires surrounded by ones priced at $34.99 and higher, this was a dream come true. After our purchase we didn't even make it to the car before my little one had opened the package and pulled out the game card. Her pink DS was equipped with our newly purchased joy and powered up before my key was in the ignition. For hours that day she sat behind the two screens intently playing the newest addition to the Mario Sports family. I was quite intrigued. "What a great game that must be," I thought to myself. As evening approached, she had traded in her handheld for a pillow and reruns of Full House. I decided to give it a whirl. After an extremely long and confusing tutorial I asked my child what she thought of the game. She kind of shrugged her shoulders and went back to her show. I proceeded to play the game and after only a few moments decided that I had just wasted $30. The over-use of the touch screen simply kills the game. This is the one thing I truly feared when the DS came out, and hadn't really noticed it until this very release. The buttons are hardly used at all. When they are, you're hands will be positioned so uncomfortably you won't want to play anymore. While I appreciate Nintendo's attempt at innovation, this was the wrong way to go about it. Mario Hoops has the cool cartoony graphics we're accustomed to in the Mario Sports series, but the way the game is designed to play is just to difficult for enjoyment. I figured, maybe there was a way to swith the controller scheme to not rely so heavily on the touch screen, but alas there is not. If you are considering purchasing this game, and you don't have 3 hands, look deeper into that glass case and possibly consider shelling out an extra five bucks. Needless to say, this game card began collecting dust and ultimately became a sale on my eBay store.