Remember when they made Mario sports games that were fun to play even when you didn’t have three friends at hand? I’m thinking of “Mario Golf” and “Mario Tennis” — the Nintendo 64 versions, of course, before their makers thought character-specific special moves were the one and only thing that made Mario sports games special. Sadly, it seems “Mario Kart” is the only Mario sports franchise left that’s worth playing solo. “Mario Sports Mix,” containing hockey, volleyball, basketball and dodgeball, carries on the tradition of games like the Wii soccer outing “Super Mario Strikers.” It’s just barely saved by its multiplayer modes, without which you face such erratic, idiotic computer-controlled opponents that if you couldn’t play online, you’d beg strangers on Craigslist to come over for a little Wii.
“Mario Sports Mix” is the second sports game made by Square Enix — after the odd DS outing “Mario Hoops 3-on-3” — and the company’s third Mario game — after 1996’s beloved “Super Mario RPG,” back when the company was just Square. Its pretty music and cheerily bizarre arenas — basketball on the beach? — fit the aesthetic of previous Mario sports titles, but two of the sports played in the Mushroom Kingdom are a lot better than the other two.
