You all know that the Mario universe had his blockbuster movie, RPG, sports games, racing games and party games. But the franchise is missing one thing and that is an online team game. The Sonic universe has an open zone game that is Spyro the Dragon, but with Sonic characters, so I think it's time that the Mario universe gets a third-person online 4v4 game that is Crash Team Rumble, but with Mario characters and it has to be completely free-to-play on Switch and a future Nintendo console potentially called Switch 2 with crossplay and cross-progression between them to so that everyone can play this game, including those without a Nintendo Switch Online membership.
I want this to be announced at E3, but since it is dead because of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic and not Geoff Keighley, I want this to be announced at their future Nintendo Direct, the Summer Game Fest or on MAR10 Day. I told you about it in an episode of Joe's Monologues, so I'm gonna start from the very beginning and fully explain the meta for a desired dream online 4v4 Mario game to be called Super Mario Team Arena and that's what the online 4v4 Mario game is gonna be called.
Seasons:
First off, I'll start with talking about the game idea's cadence of Seasons. A new Season releases every eight weeks. Each new Season has a content cadence of a new Battle Pass, three new Heroes, two new maps, balance changes, limited time events, etc. On the fifth week on each Season, there will be mid-season balance changes.
Heroes:
Heroes are playable characters in online team games that have abilities. Each Hero across the Mario universe will have primary and secondary attacks and an Ultimate attack that can turn the tide of battle and use cutouts in your perspective and use a circular meter that fills up overtime when not doing anything, but fills up a bit faster by doing actions. There will be skins and emotes for each Hero. Three new Heroes get added every season, like in Crash Team Rumble. They are divided into three classes like in Overwatch and Crash Team Rumble. You'll see what they are later on. Each Hero has accolades specific to them and they have challenges.
And since I monologued the pre-release phase, here are the Starting Heroes you will see during the Alpha.
Starting Heroes:
Mario
Luigi
Peach
Bowser
Yoshi
Wario
Waluigi
Daisy
Donkey Kong
Birdo
These are the Starting Heroes that will have on the start of the Alpha phase of the game. More Heroes will be added during the course of the Alpha and beyond. However, there is a catch. New Heroes will be locked, but they can be unlocked using currency that can unlock Heroes. The reason why I wanted the number of Starting Heroes to be ten is because Ranked bans mirror matches and duplicate Heroes.
Talents and Perks:
Know about the Perks system in MultiVersus and the Talents system in Paladins? Well, Talents and Perks are capable of augmenting characters during combat and and this is something we can want to be in the game as they can enhance the gameplay experience. Talents are capable of changing the way Heroes play while Perks are capable of augmenting their stats and abilities. Each Hero has three Talents like in Mortal Kombat X and a handful of Perks while they can be equipped with one Talent and five Perks. Unlike Talents, Perks can have up to five levels and they are gained by earning Perk XP in game. Each Hero has three Perks by default, but new Perks are unlocked using currency that unlocks Perks.
Currency:
Every online game use currency and it's the most important thing we need to buy stuff. However, it won't be one, but four currency types that I'll go over now.
Perk Currency - Used to unlock in-game Perks and earned through events, Battle Pass, Account Mastery or Hero Mastery.
Hero Fragments - Used to unlock Heroes and earned through events, Battle Pass, Account Mastery or Hero Mastery.
Legendary Shards - Used to unlock exclusive Prestige cosmetics and earned through acquiring cosmetics.
Arena Coins - Used to unlock cosmetics, emotes, Battle Pass and more and earned through events, Battle Pass or direct purchase on the Nintendo eShop.
Founder's Packs:
I mentioned Founder's Packs on the point when I mention development phases and Heroes, so I am gonna give you what benefits each of the three Founder's Packs comes with.
Mushroom Pack - Offers full game access, exclusive avatar and title and an Epic skin for Mario. - $29.99
Flower Pack - Offers all benefits of the Mushroom Pack, 500 Arena Coins, exclusive emotes for the first 10 Heroes during Alpha and an Epic skin for Peach. - $59.99
Star Pack - Offers all benefits of the Mushroom and Flower Packs, exclusive banner and pedestal, exclusive emotes for the first 14 Heroes during Alpha and a Legendary skin for Bowser. - $99.99
These Founder's Packs will be available on the eShop during the course of the Alpha.
Maps:
There will be maps across the Mario universe, from the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond. I'll list the objectives each map will have.
Coins - They are scattered across each map, dealing damage to enemy Heroes knocks them off and they are needed to donate to their team bank. You can carry up to 120 coins.
Power Stars - Like coins, they are also scattered across each map and they can activate Powerup Stations. You can carry up to 15 Power Stars.
Team Banks - Each map has two team banks and they can convert coins into points.
Buff Points - They are capable of buffing the ally team's scoring on each map. They start out gray, but capturing them changes their color to blue or red. Capturing it gives the ally team a 25% buff and it comes with ratios of 1:3, 2:2 and 4:0 captured Buff Points. If your team manages to capture all four Buff Points, you and your allies will receive a Team Buff Frenzy, which grants total boosting to scoring intervals and coins are given every three seconds. When the team buff is expired, you have to wait until the Buff Points are available to capture again.
Stations - They are capable of causing map-specific events and each map has three Stations below.
Powerup Stations: They yield powerups to any Hero that deposits 5 Power Stars. Activating them yields a map-specific powerup to any hero.
Normal Obstacle Stations - They favor the ally team that deposits 10 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Activating them activates obstacles on the ally team's favor. They come in two stations.
Super Obstacle Stations - They favor the ally team that deposits 30 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Activating them activates game-changing obstacles on the ally team's favor.
These are the objectives each map will have. Two new maps are added every Season.
Gameplay:
The gameplay of Super Mario Team Arena is this. Each of the Mario characters are divided into two teams of five, like in every MOBA, but this is not a MOBA. The object of the game is that this is a combination of Crash Team Rumble, SMITE's Domination and Paladins' Onslaught. The first team that reaches 5,000 points wins the match. To earn points, Heroes must get kills and donate coins to their team's bank. Each kill earns you 100 points while donating coins to your team's bank converts them into points based on the amount of coins you donated.
When I said the gameplay is a combination of Crash Team Rumble, SMITE's Domination and Paladins' Onslaught, the following is below.
Part Crash Team Rumble - The first team to score 5,000 points wins. Coins and Power Stars are scattered across each map. Each map has two team banks, three stations consisting of one Powerup Station that requires 5 Power Stars and gives any Hero their powerup, one Normal Obstacle Stations that favors the ally team that deposits 10 Power Stars before the enemy team does and a Super Obstacle Station that favors the ally team that deposits 30 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Capturing a Buff Station buffs the ally team's scoring and donating converts coins into points based on the amount of coins you have. Dealing damage to the enemy knocks coins out.
Part SMITE's Domination - Capturing a Buff Point grants the ally team a boost to their scoring intervals. Capturing all four Buff Points grants Team Buff Frenzy to give the ally team coins per second and grants a total boost to their scoring intervals.
Part Paladins' Onslaught - The first team to score 5,000 points wins and each kill earns you 100 points.
Controls:
The default controls for Super Mario Team Arena are obvious below.
Jump: A
Primary Attack: B
Secondary Attack: X
Ultimate Ability: Y
Ping: R
Emote Wheel: ZR
Classes:
As said above, each Hero is divided into three classes that I will explain now.
Donator: Heroes of this class excel at collecting and donating coins to their team's bank.
Blocker: Heroes of this class excel at knocking coins and killing enemy Heroes.
Buffer: Heroes of this class excel at capturing Buff Stations to buff allies' scoring and depositing Power Stars to Stations.
As a mental note, your team must have at least one Donator, one Blocker and one Buffer to have a good team composition. A great team composition has one Donator, two Blockers and one Buffer. All Heroes can break containers donate coins, knock coins off the enemy Heroes, kill enemy Heroes, capture Buff Stations and activate Powerup Stations, but a Donator breaks containers and donates coins to their team bank, a Blocker knocks coins and kills the enemy Hero and a Buffer captures Buff Stations and activates Powerup Stations to charge their Ultimate ability faster. I listed the Starting Heroes, so I'll do it again, but this time, they will be divided into classes.
Starting Donators:
Mario
Luigi
Yoshi
Starting Blockers:
Bowser
Donkey Kong
Wario
Starting Buffers:
Peach
Daisy
Waluigi
Birdo
Development Phases:
Some free-to-play games use four development phases and an idea of a team-based Mario game will have that. Here are the four phases.
Pre-Alpha - Work is being done on the game, but not yet ready for public release.
Alpha - The game is publicly available and starts out with ten starting Heroes; three Donators, three Blockers and four Boosters, but to get it, players must either enter their email and choose which Nintendo console to play on the website or purchase one of the Founder's Packs. Once the time when the game gets into Alpha, codes get sent out and they can redeem it on the Nintendo eShop.
Beta - After the Alpha phase is complete, the game enters its Beta phase with 14 Heroes and is available for everyone to download on the eShop, but needs a lot of tuning before official launch.
Official Launch - The game is fully tuned and launched with all of the bells and whistles, changes across all aspects and 18 Heroes.
During the pre-release phases, bugs will occur and some functions may not work properly like it should. New Heroes and maps will be added during the phases above. Consequently, after the Beta phase, the game's online servers may be taken down to pause updates in a way to prepare for official launch while they have a clearer view on what they need to focus working on. Particularly the content cadence of new Heroes, new maps and new game modes, as well as a smoother experience no matter how high the ping is and significant improvements to matchmaking.
Cosmetics:
Every online multiplayer game use cosmetics, so like any others, there will be cosmetics, consisting of Hero skins, including the ones on Mario Kart Tour and on Mario sports games, emotes, donate effects, death cards with a quip that shows on your perspective when you got killed by another player, avatars, banners, titles, team bank skins and pedestals on the pre-match lobby screen.
Hero Mastery:
Each Hero will have Mastery Levels. Certain levels grant you rewards and they require the same amount of Hero EXP to go up a level to make things faster.
Battle Pass:
Every new Season, there is a new Battle Pass. Battle Passes have a ton of rewards, like banners, avatars, donate effects, titles, pedestals, Hero skins, weapons, death cards, team banks and currency rewards. Each Battle Pass will come in two tracks instead of one to have up to 50 levels. The Premium track, which requires 400 Arena Coins, has all rewards while the Free track has some rewards. Each level requires the same amount of Battle Pass EXP so that you can gain levels faster. And since I mentioned pre-release phases, there will be a preseason Battle Pass that will last during the Alpha and Beta phases.
Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom:
Similar to Paladins' Trials of the Realm, Super Mario Team Arena's Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom has a ton of rewards, consisting of currency, EXP and emotes. Every new Season, there is a new Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom and the first two trials are available at the start of each Season, but more trials unlock every week throughout the Season. Each trial has three challenges. Example: if you're playing as Bowser and if you kill Mario and Luigi with him, you'll earn rewards on that match. But the Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom won't be until the game's official launch.
Game Modes:
Let's not forget the core part for Super Mario Team Arena, game modes. Choosing certain game modes get you in a matchmaking state that involves a timer that goes up. I'll list the game modes below that you expect to see during the Alpha and Beta phases.
Casual - All matches of this game mode will not affect your rank. This queue is for fun purposes and you don't have to worry about your ranking. If you quit in the middle of the match on this mode, you will be penalized, so don't do it until you finish your matches. Mirror matches are allowed in this game mode.
Ranked - All matches of this game mode will affect your rank. You'll start out at the Rookie rank. Subsequent ranks won't use colors. Instead, subsequent ranks will be Mushroom, Flower, Shell, Star and Boomerang. If you're at a Rookie, Mushroom or Flower rank, you don't have to worry about losing points and getting demoted when you lose a match or quit in the middle of a match until you're at the Shell rank. You will get penalized if you quit in the middle of a ranked match. Mirror matches are banned in this game mode.
Co-op vs. AI - This is a game mode that Crash Team Rumble totally needs when it comes to practicing. This one will have it. Rewards will be earned after each match. There is no penalty for quitting in the middle of a match in this game mode where you and your team of real players go up against bots on the enemy team, so you can quit anytime. If you're not quite ready to go against the real players on the enemy team yet, this game mode is the way. Mirror matches are allowed in this game mode.
Custom Game - Each online only multiplayer game allows you to create your own game or join a game with the desired set parameters. It's also something Crash Team Rumble definetely needs for when it comes to esports. You can also add bots and set their difficulty to your lobby. Spectator slots will also be available to go to so that you can spectate matches to analyze what the Heroes are doing.
Practice Range - All Heroes are unlocked on this game mode and this is where you can try out Heroes and their abilities.
Tutorial - This teaches you the basics on how to play the game.
Content from the Sonic the Hedgehog Universe:
Crash Team Rumble has content from the Spyro the Dragon universe, so I thought it would be awesome if Super Mario Team Arena has content from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe in a Season if they get SEGA's permission. Imagine Sonic as the Donator, Dr. Robotnik as the Blocker and Sally Acorn as the Buffer. Each map of the Sonic universe will use rings instead of coins. Cosmetics will be involved. That includes a banner of chibi dolls of Mario, Peach, Sonic and Sally, a banner of Mario holding a coin and Sonic holding a ring, Mario and Sonic facing Bowser and Dr. Robotnik, an avatar of a ring and so on. But this event will not be until official launch.
In-Game Accolades:
Doing certain actions earns you accolades during gameplay and they give you Hero and Battle Pass EXP. I'll list the core accolades.
Core Accolades:
Donator - Donate coins to your team's bank.
Top Donator - Donate the most coins.
Blocker - Knock coins from the enemy Heroes.
Top Blocker - Knock the most coins.
Buffer - Capture Buff Points.
Top Buffer - Capture Buff Stations the most times.
First Blood - Be the first to kill an enemy Hero.
Double Kill - Kill two enemy Heroes within five seconds.
Triple Kill - Kill three enemy Heroes within five seconds.
Quadra Kill - Kill four enemy Heroes within five seconds.
Hunter - Kill enemy Heroes without getting killed.
Revenge - Kill the enemy Hero that previously killed you.
Breaker - Kill the enemy Hero that has a kill streak.
Sneaky - Donate coins while an enemy Hero stands on your bank.
Pave the Way - Kill an enemy Hero standing on your team's bank.
Bank Dive - Kill an enemy Hero standing on the enemy team's bank.
Brawler - Deal damage to the enemy Hero.
Saint - Heal allies.
-Powerup Station name- - Activate a Powerup Station
-Normal Obstacle Station name- - Activate a Normal Obstacle Station
-Super Obstacle Station name- - Activate a Super Obstacle Station
Power Star Assist - Assist in depositing Power Stars.
Kill Assist - Assist in killing enemy Heroes.
And this is an idea of wanting Super Mario Team Arena, a desired 4v4 online Mario game I want. The reason why I am making a blog post about this is because I watched the Super Mario Bros. Movie at my local movie theater and the franchise didn't have a team-based online multiplayer game yet. I hope you like it. And Nintendo, if you're reading this, please make this happen and get SEGA's permission to add Sonic characters and maps to my Mario game idea.
UPDATE:
After some long thought, I have decided to bump the idea of a team based online Mario game down to 4v4 to make it on par with other 4v4 online multiplayer games.
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