Mario & company play soccer, baseball, tennis, golf, and... horse racing, in the 3DS title...
Mario Sports SuperstarsLike the earlier Square Enix developed Wii game
Mario Sports Mix, this is an assortment of sports titles developed by a third party. This time around, it's Bandai Namco and Camelot developing, and we have horse racing, a first for the Mario series. The horse racing component involves not just racing, but a whole horse stable and care component, allowing you to decorate your horse with accessories and develop a bond.
Camelot developed the Golf and Tennis portions, which makes sense given their history with the Mario Tennis and Golf series. Bandai Namco is responsible for Horse Racing, Soccer, and Baseball (having previously developed
Mario Superstar Baseball and
Mario Super Sluggers).
The game features support for its own series of 90 different amiibo character cards. Scanning a character's cards provides new gear or stat boosts, and the cards can also be used in the special bonus mode "Road to Superstar." In this mode, players arrange cards onto a pinball/Arkanoid/Breakout/Alleyway-style playfield and smash bricks and items; beating the mode confers more bonuses. If buying 90 different amiibo cards through randomly sorted packs isn't enough for you, the game also features more than 300 digital cards you can collect -- luckily, the digital cards can be purchased with in-game coins, as opposed to cash.
The amiibo cards haven't been used in any other title.