There isn’t anything quite like the Mario Strikers series.
There’s just something about seeing your favorite childhood heroes being bowled over,
blown up, and body-slammed into electrified fences that just never gets old.
And now, 15 years since the last game in the series, Mario Strikers Battle League is switching
things up more than ever before on Nintendo Switch, including an increased focus on online
play.
But can it live up to the series’ legacy?
Well...Let’s find out in GameXplain’s review of Mario Strikers: Battle League!
So when you boil it down, the Mario Strikers series consists of two core elements: Waluigi
& Daisy.
SO WHERE IS DAISY THIS TIME NINTENDO?!
Okay, I’m actually talking about the Intense arcade-style action and ridiculously over
the top presentation.
And when it comes to the presentation, Battle League is mostly on-point.
Although it does back away from the gritty, run-down look of the previous two games, it
still retains most of the charm the series is famous for, full of pissed off looking
characters and ridiculous reactions--You’re going to give yourself a headache, Toad!
Now sure, it doesn’t quite go as balls-to-the-wall extreme as the previous games--rest in peace
Waluigi’s crotch chop--but there are still some absolutely wonderful character moments,
such as Peach having to calm herself down after being scored on.
The game even takes things to the Next Level, so to speak, by extending the personality
to the field beyond what we’ve seen before, such as having bespoke kickoff animations,
like how Rosalina slowly floats the ball to the ground, or Waluigi lies after a goal.
Hell, every character even has a unique pose for each of the 4 starting positions--which
is a fantastic level of detail.
Unfortunately, you’ll probably never see them because EVERYONE SKIPS THE OPENING CUTSCENE
online!
STOP DOING THAT EVERYONE.
Unfortunately, all the extra animations do come at the expense of the amount of goal
celebrations, which each character only having 2 instead of the 4-6 from previous games.
So it won’t take long at all before you start seeing repeats, which is exacerbated
by the fact that there are only 10 characters at launch, which is even fewer than the first
game and half that of Charged.
And I can’t stress this enough: where the heck is Daisy?!
Now sure, Nintendo has already confirmed more content will be added to the game--which means
it’s probably only a matter of time until she’s here, but it just feels wrong not
having her around at the launch of a new game in the series that arguably put her on the
map.
But hey, at least Waluigi is still a god among men...and even gods.
In a fun twist, every arena is actually two separate halves conjoined together, ensuring
neither team gets a home-field advantage.
It’s a cute idea, but with only 5 themes so far all of which have zero impact on gameplay--the
novelty wears off quickly.
Battle League takes a back to basics approach when it comes to the overall gameplay.
Gone are the unique character abilities, stage hazards, and insane 7-point goals introduced
in Charged, and in their place is a renewed focus on the core soccer action...for the
most part.
And as a huge fan of the original game, I actually appreciate this simpler approach,
as it mostly avoids the gimmicky goal-fest that Charged could devolve into.
But for better or worse, Battle League is more technical than ever before, and it has
a much steeper learning curve as a result.
In addition to shooting, passing, tackling, dekeing, you can now charge tackles--which
is crucial for heavier players--tackle teammates which is neat but I’m so bad at it, along
with perfectly timing passes and shots, all of which demand precise positioning on the
field for maximum effectiveness--especially when you a field as small as the one here.
Even as a Strikers veteran, I found myself getting confused with the controls, as my
muscle memory did not translate at all here.
Although splitting normal passes & lob-passes into two buttons certainly didn’t help.
Even now, after tons of hours with the game, using the “A-button” to kick just feels
wrong, and the game sadly doesn’t allow you to customize the controls at all.
The overall pace feels very different to past games, especially with how tackles and Kicks
basically need to be charged now, and how spriting is discouraged by giving you far
less control, making the entire game feel a bit less snappy as a result.
It’s not inherently bad, though it definitely feels off from what I’m used to
And then there’s the hyperstrikes...ooh, the hyperstrikes.
So these basically work similarly Super & Mega Strikes from past games, only now you have
to collect a Hyper Orb first, and any player on the team can pull it off.
Once you have the orb, you have a limited amount of time in which you can charge up
an uber-powerful shot for a chance to score up to 2 points.
But anything less than perfect timing gives your opponent’s goalie a chance to block
it by mashing the A button.
On paper, Hyper Strikes seem like a good idea, creating a 2nd focal point beyond the ball,
but in practice, I found that them kind of annoying as they detract fron the action.
The random timing & placement means it’s mostly luck of the draw which team gets to
it first--especially when it spawns directly on one of the players.
But even when it doesn’t, collecting it can be a total pain, as swapping characters
always puts you in control of those near the ball instead of the orb--which often leaves
it up to the computer-controlled team mates to collect it, who often act as if they’re
allergic to the thing and run the opposite direction.
And then there’s the fact that it encourages your opponent to play keep-away with the ball,
until your Hyper Shot power-up disappears.
It all feels needlessly complicated and if the goal was to reduce the amount of hyper
strikes in general, I think there are better alternatives, like say a rechargeable special
meter.
Now I’m not going to lie--pulling off a Hyperstrike still feels pretty great--especially
as the animations are absolutely BANANAS!
But since every one takes about 15 seconds--or upwards of 30 if your opponents forces you
to watch the victory celebration--they severely impact the pacing of the game.
So on top of being random, encouraging bad sportsmanship, they also takie annoyingly
long.
Thankfully, Hyperstrikes can be turned off for Private matches, although you’ll be
stuck with them for online match-making.
Items work a bit differently too now, as you now have to collect them from item boxes that
are randomly dropped to the field, some of which are team exclusive.
It’s yet another thing you have to keep track of and make sure you grab, as using
items such as shells or bob-ombs are often the only way to ensure you’ll be able to
create the space to pull off a Hyper Strike.
If that all sounds like a lot...well, it’s because it is.
Between the sheer amount of players, items being fired, item boxes dropping onto the
field, and orbs sudden appearing--all in a teeny tiny little field, it’s a constant
battle just to comprehend what is even happening.
I often *struggled* to keep track of my player AND the ball--especially when Toad’s dumb
head looks way too similar...oh SCREW you game.
(8 toads).
And it’s all compounded when playing with 2 to 3 other players on the same team, as
the player icons all share the exact same color--which is a problem the original game
avoided 20 years ago by giving each player their own.
So when everyone converges on one spot, well, good luck keeping track of who you are.
The visual clutter makes playing the game more frustrating than fun at times.
And in case the game wasn't complicated enough, Battle League also introduces a new gear system,
where you can unlock new equipment to wear that changes your character’s stats, such
like tackle strength, running speed, shot power, and more.
And some of it is pretty funny looking.
But I’m going to be honest--The last thing I want to do in an Arcade-Sports game is compare
stats on a menu--I just want to play the game!
And luckily, you can pretty much ignore the gear entirely if you want--although your online
opponents might not which could put you at a disadvantage.
Speaking of online, I’m happy to say that we’ve come a long ways since the days of
Mario Strikers Charged, which could turn into an unplayable slideshow at times, Thankfully,
Battle League almost always runs without a hitch, although there can be significant input
delay at times, which seemed to happen more frequently with 3 or more players.
And that can be a major problem for a game that often relies on exact timing for perfect
passes, shots, and hyper strikes--plus it just doesn’t feel super responsive when
it happens
If you’re playing online by yourself, you can choose to partake in one on one battles
where you each control an entire time--which is generally my preferred way of playing both
online and off--or you can choose to be paired up with a random partner to take on another
team of two.
But even better, the game supports 8 players total for the first time in series history--both
online and off.
The catch is that, in order to play with 8 players online, you have to pair up with a
friend on the same system to be matched up with 3 other teams of two, Bummer.
Finally, as the Battle Leage title suggests, you can even create your own online club that
up to 20 people can join in total, where you then go and take on other clubs to compete
for the most points over the course of a season.
Regrettably, there weren’t enough people playing during the review period to test this
out, but it seems like it has the potential to be neat.
If you’re more the offline type, there is a campaign of sorts that you can play through
either by yourself, or with 3 other local buddies, as you take on different teams in
a double elimination tournament.
I rarely find it fun to take on the computer alone, but I had a decent time when paired
up with a friend.
Okay, let’s get real for a second--I feel a little weird reviewing a game that a lot
of you have already played quite extensively, as the First Kick online play test offered
a shockingly great look at the final game, with access to almost everything outside of
gear, offline play, and a few other options.
So however you felt during the demo is a good indicator of how you might feel with the full
game.
Which in my case, was often confused and frustrated.
The more technical controls combined with the visual mess that is the playing field
just left me feeling annoyed.
And once the glow of the game’s wonderful presentation wore off, I couldn’t ignore
the fact that I just wasn’t having all that much fun.
Which became even more obvious after returning to the first two games, as they just *feel*
better, with simpler gameplay, snappier controls, and more impactful hits.
But--and stay with me here--after sinking quite a few more hours into the game, it’s
started growing on me.
I’m getting better at reading the cluttered field--and I’m adjusting more to the game’s
pace and moveset now that I’ve gotten over that it’s not aiming to replicate the same
experience I grew up with.
So at this point, I’m left feeling Mixed about Mario Strikers; Battle League, I’ve
definitely had fun, but mostly after a lot of frustration--but I’m hopeful that it’ll
continue to warm up to it and that I may even eventually even like it.
But is that worth the amount of time and frustration I felt before reaching that point?
Heck, I don’t know if I would have even invested that much time if I didn’t have
to review it.
Ultimately, Mario Strikers: Battle League is a chaotic mess--but one that can be fun
if you put in the time--especially if you turn off Hyper Orbs.
And with that, thanks so much for watching our review of Mario Strikers; Battle League
and of course stay tuned to GameXplain for more on Battle :League on everything Nintendo
Switch.
We’ll catch you later Bye Bye.