Mario Strikers: Battle League Review
Nintendo has been making Mario sports games for decades, some of which have proven quite popular. Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64 garnered widespread critical acclaim at the time of its release, as did Mario Golf. Reactions to Mario sports games have been lukewarm in recent years for a variety of reasons, with the recently released Mario Strikers: Battle League being another example of a sports game by Mario that failed to live up to the high bar set by its predecessors. Mario Strikers: Battle League is Nintendo’s third attempt at a Mario soccer game, following the GameCube’s Super Mario Strikers and the Wii’s Mario Strikers Charged. Mario Strikers: Battle League brings the series to the Nintendo Switch, and while the core gameplay can be a lot of fun, there isn’t nearly enough content to keep fans engaged in the game for the long term. Mario Strikers: Battle League features 10 characters from the Super Mario franchise and pits them against each other on the soccer pitch. Like other Mario sports games, Mushroom Kingdom’s version of soccer isn’t as simple as the real-world sport. Mario Strikers characters can use items to fight off opponents like Mario Kart, and they can also unleash powerful Hyper Strike shots that come with over-the-top animations and an almost guaranteed goal worth of two points.
Any given match in Mario Strikers: Battle League features two teams of four, though the small number of playable characters means that there will usually be some of the same characters on both teams. Mario Strikers: Battle League’s small roster is a big letdown, though it should be noted that there are actually more playable characters in this game than previous entries. It’s still not enough, but this is one area where Mario Strikers: Battle League is an improvement over its predecessors. A small part of the roster, Mario Strikers: Battle League’s core gameplay is fun. The controls are easy to understand and if anyone is having trouble, there are plenty of helpful tutorials to guide them. There’s a lot of skill and strategy involved in the game for those who take the time to master its mechanics, but it’s not overwhelming. Mario Strikers: Battle League is more entertaining when playing with a group of friends, with players having multiple multiplayer options to choose from. Impressively, Mario Strikers: Battle League supports up to eight players on one console, making it another solid addition to the Switch’s lineup of local multiplayer and party games. It also has online multiplayer support, of course, with two players on one console able to team up to battle others online.
As with most Nintendo Switch games, mileage will vary when it comes to Mario Strikers: Battle League online multiplayer. Matches can often be laggy on a wireless connection, though things improve noticeably when playing with a hardwired Switch. The downside is that standard Switch consoles don’t have an easy way for players to connect them directly to the Internet, so only those with a Switch OLED console or Switch Ethernet adapter can get the most out of the game’s online multiplayer. Once players have had their fill of Mario Strikers: Battle League against friends and online players, they can check out the tournament cups. Truly equivalent to the game’s career mode, Mario Strikers: Battle League cups task players with winning tournaments against AI-controlled teams, with different cups offering different kinds of play styles for players to deal with. These tournaments can be played in co-op, which is a nice touch, and while the AI rarely poses as much of a challenge as real players, the matches can still be exciting, especially up close. at the end of any particular contest. Players can choose which Mario Strikers: Battle League stadium they want to play in every time they start a new tournament or match. All five stadiums in Mario Strikers: Battle League look great, and players can customize their appearance if they want. The problem is that the stadiums are completely irrelevant during gameplay. The camera maintains a top-down view that focuses mostly on the field, meaning it’s impossible to see the stadium’s impressively detailed decorations. The only time players can really check out the stadiums is during replays, but most will likely skip those anyway. Properly displaying the stadiums while simultaneously keeping focus on the action will be tricky, but as it stands they’re pretty wasted.
While playing Mario Strikers: Battle League tournaments and other game modes, players earn coins that they can spend on gear. Mario Strikers: Battle League’s gear system allows players to outfit different members of the roster with new helmets, gloves, armor, and boots to tweak their stats. Those who really want to take a deep dive and micromanage their characters can have fun with it, but it can be safely ignored without putting oneself at any great disadvantage. Beyond getting coins to buy new gear, Mario Strikers: Battle League doesn’t have much going for it, so it’s hard to see how the game will keep players engaged for long. The single-player experience is especially lacking, as there are very few tournament cups and nothing worth unlocking aside from harder difficulties. The actual gameplay of Mario Strikers: The over-the-top soccer Battle League is a lot of fun, especially with a group of friends, but the lack of worthwhile progression or unlockable content is seriously hurting its longevity. Those hungry for a new Mario Strikers game will likely get a lot of playtime out of Mario Strikers: Battle League despite its general lack of content, but those who need a little meat on the bone will likely be disappointed. The core gameplay is great, but there isn’t much more to the game beyond that. Mario Strikers: Battle League is out now, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.