Mario Strikers: Battle League is crazy soccer where anything goes
- maj
- 19
The first Mario Strikers game in 15 years.
Ever want to play a game of soccer where tackling is encouraged and there aren't any rules? If so, you'll love Mario Strikers: Battle League. Players take control of a member of the Mushroom Kingdom while competing in 5-v-5 games where you're out to score the most points before the time runs out. But you can take advantage of special skills and items to trip up your opponents and come out ahead.
What is Mario Strikers?
Much like Mario Tennis and Mario Golf, Mario Strikers is one of Nintendo's Mario sports games. Strikers is basically super-charged soccer where players compete in 5-v-5 teams, use their characters' special abilities to get the ball, and score the most points in an allotted amount of time. The biggest difference from traditional soccer is that characters can sometimes use their hands, tackling is encouraged, and special items can be used to trip others up.
Super Mario Strikers, the first game in the series, was released in 2005 on GameCube. Then the second game, Mario Strikers Charged, was released in 2007 on the Wii. This means it has been 15 years since the last Strikers game was released, so it's not surprising if you haven't heard of these games before.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Trailer
This is the launch trailer that was first revealed during the February 2022 Nintendo Direct.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Character roster
These are all of the characters we saw by scouring official images and videos. Any unplayable characters are marked with (*).
| Character | Special Shot |
|---|---|
| Boom Boom* | Unknown |
| Bowser | Fire Storm |
| Donkey Kong | Thunder Wham |
| Luigi | Vicious Vortex |
| Mario | Fire Strike |
| Princess Peach | Royal Strike |
| Rosalina | Unknown |
| Toad | Unknown |
| Wario | Belly Blast |
| Waluigi | Drop Rocket |
| Yoshi (various colors) | Egg Roll |
Mario Strikers: Battle League Do characters have different stats?
Yes, each character has different base stats that makes them play a little differently. For instance, Mario is a balanced all-round character, Bowser is slower but packs more power, and Peach is fast with good passing skills. Each character's stats can be changed by giving them new gear.
What do these stats mean?
Each player has a specific stat for Strength, Speed, Shooting, Passing, and Technique. Here's what these categories mean for your character.
| Stat | Description |
|---|---|
| Strength | How resistant you are to an opponent's tackle. |
| Speed | How fast your character moves while dribbling. |
| Shooting | How powerful your shooting ability is. |
| Passing | The higher this is, the better your passing accuracy is. |
| Technique | Your control of the character as they move. |
Mario Strikers: Battle League Gear
As you complete matches, you'll earn Coins, which can be used to purchase gear for your characters in between games. Gear determines your strength, speed, shooting, passing, and technique stats. The better your gear, the better your stats will be. Gear also changes what your character looks like.
Specific gear can be purchased for a character's head, body, arms, and legs. You'll want to mix and match gear to find the perfect balance for your playstyle.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Items
Much like in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, players can acquire helpful items. These are all of the items we saw by scouring official images and trailers. We'll add more as we learn more.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Banana Peel | Players who touch the Banana Peel fall to the ground and disrupt their movement for a short time. |
| Bob-omb | A Bob-omb is shot forward on the field, anyone near its blasting radius when it explodes is stunned momentarily. |
| Green Shell | A projectile to launch at opponents while in close range. When struck, players fall and are stunned for a time. |
| Red Shell | A homing projectile to launch at opponents. When struck, players fall and are stunned for a time. |
Mario Strikers: Battle League Hyper Strike
At certain points while playing, a golden orb might appear on the field. The player who successfully reaches it and then charges it up will be able to do a special move known as a Hyper Strike. Each characters' Hyper Strike move is different. If a player scores while in this state, it can count for two points instead of just one, which could mean the difference between winning and losing.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Team Tackle
In order to encourage players to work together and to give a team a leg up, players can use Team Tackle. This is where one team member gets behind another and then propels them forward. Use this ability to get to the ball faster or to try and intercept an opponent on their way to your goal.
Mario Strikers: Battle League How many players can play at once?
Up to eight players can play at a time from one Nintendo Switch console. You just have to make sure you have enough Joy-Cons to go around. If you don't have that many people to play with, the computer will control the extras. Teams are made up of five characters, but both sides have a non-playable goalie named Boom Boom.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Online multiplayer
If you don't have anyone around to play with you but you have a Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) membership, then you can play with people from around the world in online matches.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Striker's Club
Those with an NSO subscription can also participate in Striker's Clubs. Here you create or join an Striker's Club that can host up to 20 players. Members compete for placement amongst themselves and can see each other's stats. If you work hard, your club might just be the best one in the whole world.
Club Owners' privileges
Those in charge of a club can manage their members and choose the color of their team uniforms. Additionally, Club Owners can change the look of their team's stadium. Whenever two clubs play against each other, half the field will look like your club stadium while the other half will look like your opponent's stadium.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Developer
As with the first two Mario Strikers games, Battle League is being developed by Next Level Games. This is also the developer that brought us the Luigi's Mansion series.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Game file size
Mario Strikers: Battle League is a rather small game taking up only 3GB of space. Still, you'll want to make sure you have plenty of room on your microSD card before playing it.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Release date
Mario Strikers: Battle League releases on June 10, 2022, and sells for $60. It's currently available for pre-order.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Will there be DLC?
There hasn't been any word on DLC yet, but it's very likely that we'll get some since this is a common practice by Nintendo. DLC would more than likely bring additional courses and additional characters. For example, some notable playable characters from previous games are missing like Daisy, Birdo, Bowser Jr., and Diddy Kong.
Mario Strikes again
It's crazy that after 15 years we're finally getting another entry in the Mario Strikers series. It looks like this one will be a doozy and we can't wait to get our hands on it.
Super soccer
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Get ready for crazy soccer
Mario and the other Mushroom Kingdom characters are out to score in 5-v-5 competitions. Use each characters' distinct abilities to aid your team.