Mario Hoops 3 on 3 sounds like a basketball game featuring a famed fatheaded plumber, but it's better described as classic Nintendo whimsy that just happens to take place on a basketball court.

Using DS' directional pad to control movement, as you'd expect, the game's real innovation is in its stylus-sensitive lower screen, which you actually tap to dribble and scrawl on with a deliberate stroke to pass or shoot.

It features the gambit of classic Nintendo characters who each sport a specialty or two (ball steal skills, super speediness, etc.).

Ultimately, you're shooting hoops in 3 on 3 game or in skills challenges, but you and your opponents are also grabbing power-ups for temporary skill enhancements. Likewise, goofball weapons are picked up and thrown down on each other ad nauseam. Scoring doesn't just net 2 points, it nets coins--sometime tons of them. And it's not played on a court so much as tricked-out arenas that happens to sport shiny hardwood flooring.

Basically, Mario Hoops 3 on 3 is typical Nintendo; a natural extension of having multi-talented characters in need of something new to do. Why not basketball? And while it often feels like a mini-game or bonus feature gleaned from any number of Nintendo super/party titles, Mario Hoops has enough meat to warrant its own fun but frivolous cartridge. Complete with mushrooms.

• TIP: Beating the first two dribble races in Mario Hoops 3 on 3, that is Peach Castle in 45seconds and Sunshine Road in 55 seconds, will unlock a third dribble race, Rainbow Road.