In a world full of true-to-life sports video games, developer Next Level Games aimed to scratch the itch with its sequel to Mario Strikers and the timing could not have been more perfect. Mario Strikers: Battle League takes the idea of simplified soccer and enhances it with features that would be impossible on a real field. Nintendo and Next Level Games give us another instalment to their Mushroom Kingdom sports series, and it has more power-ups than ever!



There isn’t much of a story to go by in Mario Strikers: Battle League. Your goal as the player is to win every cup in each of the tournaments to get more unlockables, which further enhances your team in the next game. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? But there’s more than meets the eye with Mario Strikers: Battle League, and taking the time to understand the game can completely change your perspective. What may seem like a barebones game on the surface, is actually a refreshing addition to Nintendo’s impressive roster of first-party titles.

Battle League is rather simple to understand. Passing, shooting, dashing, and using power-ups are all simple to use. Tackles and switching teammates, however, can be a little trickier. Tackles require precision aim and execution, which took some time to get used to. It didn’t help that the nature of the game is fast-paced action, and there is a lot to take in during matches.



Tackles become easier when opponents take time to set up a shot or try to initiate a game-changing Hyper Strike. What makes it more difficult is the risk versus reward element of tackling. Missing a tackle means you have one less player to cover the field and that can cost you dearly. Timing your tackles correctly, however, can completely change the momentum of the game and determine the difference between a win or loss. The power-ups can be boiled down to Mario Kart-levels of distractions in order to edge the win over your opponent.

My initial play-through left me making more mistakes. It was a brutal series of matches in the beginning.

Much like a well-tuned fighting game, Battle League has a flurry of mechanics that can be used for exceptional spectacles in matches. Perfect passes, perfect shots, perfect dodges, and perfect tackles will be at home for Strikers enthusiasts. They’re easy to understand, but difficult to master. My initial play-through left me making more mistakes. It was a brutal series of matches in the beginning, as I gained familiarity with the controls and understood the timing better. However, this was not helped by the clunky switching mechanics. Setting them to automatic puts you at the mercy of the AI, which could throw you off during intense matches. Putting it on manual causes you to cycle past the player you most likely needed.



That being said, it doesn’t take long before you’re one with the chaos of Mario Strikers: Battle League. Getting past the goalkeeper feels more like luck than skill, but mastering the art of throwing caution to the wind and moving your players through the field can be rewarding as you find your rhythm. Hyper Strikes are gorgeous to just look at as they are overpowered. The animation is phenomenal and each character feels like they’re putting a bit of their own personality into their respective Hyper Strikes. Each Hyper Strike can have its own effects on the enemy team, but all of them feel a little overpowering at times. They’re not always guaranteed goals (especially if the inputs are less than perfect), but Hyper Strikes can easily turn the tide of a match at any given point.

Just like a traditional brawler, there is a learning curve that you would naturally need to overcome to truly start appreciating Battle League. There is a mental battle when it comes to realising there is no referee to call offsides or give you a red card for drop-kicking your opponent into an electrical fence, but that’s a part of Battle League’s charm. A lot of the rules that hold soccer to its boots-on-the-ground approach are thrown out of the window. The ball is merely a means to an end and this is more a fighting game than it is a FIFA competitor.



Mario Strikers: Battle League’s biggest addition comes in the form of its new gear system. The gear essentially allows players to customise their favourite character’s attributes individually. This adds a layer of tactical thinking before entering a match. The gear isn’t just there at face value either. Changing a helmet or boots can significantly alter the attributes of characters, and can come in handy in more competitive matches. This is great for players who have a particular style of play in mind, and the gear system can help you get closer to your ideal team. This also helped Battle League from feeling tedious. Matchups against different teams making use of gear created a new host of opportunities and challenges.

The gear essentially allows players to customise their favourite character’s attributes individually.

Visually, Nintendo continues to amaze with just how much the company can push out of its hybrid console. Mario Strikers: Battle League is another allstar in Nintendo’s roster, thanks to its crisp art styles and smooth animations. This lends heavily to the atmosphere Battle League creates from the second the game is launched. Next Level Games added just the right amount of grit to the way the characters look, allowing for the sequel to breathe new life into the series while paying homage to the look and feel that longstanding fans have come to love over the years. In my play-through, I had little-to-no bugs or frame drops and battery life in handheld mode was more than enough to get me between the pesky load-shedding schedule.



While Battle League is largely a fun game, there is a lot left to be desired for solo enthusiasts of Mario Strikers. It’s not hard to see that a large focus of Battle League has been catered towards its online gameplay. In comparison, the solo game modes feel like an add-on to the multiplayer. There is a lot more to explore in terms of game modes, as well as a lot more customisation options to be unlocked. There is such a vast difference that it makes the single-player content seem a bit barebones in comparison. For people looking for more online content from their Switch, Battle League is the game for you. There is a lot to explore in its online offerings and matches are tense, fast-paced, and packed full of action. Matches felt smooth during my playtime, but your experiences may differ.

While the single-player content serves to teach you about the new additions in Battle League, the multiplayer serves as the true core of the game. You get a layer of strategy with the gear, and online matches really show the difference in every character. While the lack of single-player content and tiny roster will leave enthusiasts of the franchise longing for more, there is no doubt that the online matches will extend the life of this game. This was a smart move from Nintendo, but I do wish they gave us a little more to work with in terms of offline content.



Mario Strikers: Battle League is more than just the Mario Kart equivalent of a soccer game. Next Level Games has showcased its talent through its amazing attention to detail and giving us a worthy sequel to its beloved franchise. The gear system is intuitive as it is easy to understand, while the fast-paced action can keep you coming back for more. The clunky player switching needs to be worked on, and a larger roster will greatly boost the longevity of this game. These may be things that could be fixed in a future update, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Mario Strikers: Battle League is taking home the cup.

*Review code provided by Nintendo