he gameplay of Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is centered on basketball games, structured into tournaments that the player must win to progress. The tournament ladder is made with graphics based on the original Super Mario Bros. Each tournament consists of three games with two halves of two and a half minutes each. The one exception is an extra game with the Final Fantasy team at the end of the final tournament. The player can win a tournament by winning the three games on its ladder.[1] Upon winning, the player is awarded either a gold cup, a silver cup, or a bronze cup. These cups correspond with winning by more than 200 points cumulatively across the three matches, 100 points, or simply winning all three games.
The matches feature three players on each side, with characters drawn primarily from Mario and other Nintendo games, as well as characters from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series. During matches, the Nintendo DS touch control is used for all actions except for movement, which can be handled by the directional pad. The player can also control directly via the touch screen. The top screen of the DS shows the game in 3D, while the bottom screen shows an overhead view of the whole court.[1] Dribbling is performed automatically, but slower if the touch screen is not used actively to dribble.
The player can perform multiple moves, such as stealing the ball and passing, by using gestures on the touchpad. The player shoots by drawing a line forward on the touchscreen. Depending on where the character is and how he/she is moving, the shot will either be a normal shot, a special shot, or a slam dunk; these shots give the team different numbers of points. The basketball court contains multiple coin pads, which give the player coins when dribbled on up to a maximum value; when the player makes a shot, their coins are added to their total point score. Some items appear on the court; when used they grant the player special moves.[1]
There are two game modes: normal and hard. Hard mode is unlocked after the game is beaten on normal. In addition to the regular tournament game, there is an exhibition mode. In this mode, the player can customize the rules such as the amount of playing time, the number of periods played and turning items on or off. Multiplayer is limited to local games, and each player must own their own copy of the game.[1] The game does not have online multiplayer, and the "game sharing" option (playing multiplayer across only one copy of the game) only allows for the playing of select minigames, not full basketball games.
