The game is Mario's first foray into basketball, not counting his appearance in the Nintendo GameCube version of NBA Street V3. The game puts the player into a team of three characters who simply must play a game of basketball and win by scoring the most points. What makes this game unique is the inclusion of Special Shots, which are made by making special marks on the system's touch screen. Special shots render the player vulnerable to having the ball stolen, but they always make a basket if they are made at the three-point line. In addition, scoring in the game works differently. Regular shots are worth 20 points, 3-point shots are worth 30 points, and all special shots that land are worth 40 points. The player can also compound scores by getting coins from "?" blocks that appear on the court. Much like regular basketball, the teams switch sides at the end of every period.
The game would get a sequel in 2010 in the form of Mario Sports Mix.
Tropes:
- Banana Peel: Sometimes they appear on DK Cruiser and can trip up players.
- Big Boo's Haunt: The Luigi Mansion stage is a haunted mansion and players must deal with the occasional Boo stealing their ball.
- Casino Park: Jr. Street where the player can bet coins earned on the court into a slot machine that can change all player's coin counts.
- Charged Attack: By holding down on the touch screen when in the three-point area, the character holding the ball will gather energy and when swiping up, will throw the ball with a lot better timing and accuracy. One of the balls is unlocked by winning a match using nothing BUT these.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Anyone can play on Bowser's Castle despite the fact that the court is set over boiling magma.
- Crossover: Having been developed by Square Enix, the game features classes and enemies from Final Fantasy as playable characters, specifically a male Black Mage, a male Ninja, a female White Mage, a Cactuar and a Moogle.
- Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: Any character that touches the tornado on Glare Desert will be blown away, but only if they touch the actual tornado.
- Eternal Engine: Wario Factory is within a Bob-Omb factory which make Bob-ombs anyone on stage can use by throwing. Of course, they can explode.
- Foreshadowing: Bombs (the living fireball creatures) are in Bowser's Castle and Mimics are in Bloocheep Sea, which are both early indicators that the game isn't just a Super Mario Bros. spin-off game.
- Floating Continent: Peach Field takes place on top of a large rocky plateau.
- Frictionless Ice: Players will slide on Sherbet Land if they miss a steal.
- Gangplank Galleon: Koopa Beach features the occasional pirate ship, but the Pirate Ship stage is more straight played.
- Green Hill Zone: Mario Stadium is the game's "basic" stadium, having no gimmicks or hazards, and will be the first stadium the player can face off a team in the Mushroom Tourney.
- Ground Pound: Characters can pull this off as a defensive skill to force opponents to drop the ball.
- Harmless Freezing: If the player touches a Freezie on the Sherbet Land court, they are frozen solid, and will be freed from the ice without any worse for wear after a few seconds.
- Jungle Japes: DK Cruiser is a court that is located on a floating raft crossing a jungle in the river.
- Lethal Lava Land: Bowser's Castle is the typical castle inside an active volcano.
- Light 'em Up: White Mage has the Holy Shot special shot, which infuses the ball with the Final Fantasy spell Holy. When not passed to a partner, the ball comes down through the net in a large pillar of light with circular runes.
- Palmtree Panic: Koopa Beach, which has the occasional cannonball coming from a pirate ship, and the more casual Sunset Beach.
- Shifting Sand Land: Glare Desert takes the role of the traditional "Mario desert" with the occasional sandstorm.
- Sidelined Protagonist Crossover: The Final Fantasy characters are three mooks (and one Helpful Mook) and a trio of regular class characters rather than using more well-known named characters.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Sherbet Land takes place as the typical "Mario Snow world".
- Spin Attack: Characters can spin around near the hoop for a few seconds to deny opponents trying slam dunks.
- Under the Sea: Bloopcheep Sea is an underwater court which accordingly slows down the game's physics.
- Wham Shot: After the player's team conquers the Rainbow Tourney, an airship suddenly flies above them, with the Ninja stealing away the trophy. A vine then ascends to the Rainbow Ship stadium, triggering one last extra round against the Final Fantasy team. All of the tournaments before this one only had three rounds, so the game surprises the player with this fourth one, and is the only one to use all four stadiums in a tournament.
