A criminally underrated Nintendo series is being revived on June 10 with the release of Mario Strikers: Battle League. In the Mario Strikers games, iconic Nintendo characters like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi and Waluigi go head-to-head playing a ramped-up version of soccer. The last game in the series came out 15 years ago, so of course there are lots of improvements and modern features coming to the new game that will make it a must-play during your next games night.
Mario Strikers: Battle League will let you customise your players’ gear and equipment to alter their stats — it’s a similar system to customising your vehicle in Mario Kart. But instead of changing your speed, acceleration, weight, handling and traction like in Mario Kart, customising your gear in Battle League will change a character’s strength, speed, shooting, passing and technique stats. A higher strength stat will let a player resist being tackled on the field, for instance, while a higher shooting stat will make it harder for your opponents to block a goal.
Also like Mario Kart, you’ll be able to collect power-ups to keep the other team on their toes (and add a chaotic degree of slightly infuriating randomness). By picking up items as they appear on the field, you’ll be able to shoot red and green shells towards your opponents, leave slippery bananas in your wake and become invincible to tackles thanks to the gold star.
Another addition to Battle League is the Hyper Strike. Each character has their own Hyper Striker that’s essentially a super-charged goal worth two points. You’ll also be able to tackle your teammates from behind to bump them forward at speed — either to get the ball off an opponent or to kick a goal.
Mario Strikers: Battle League will support eight-player local multiplayer on a single Switch, plus 4v4 online multiplayer where you and a friend can team up to compete against other duos. There’s also a ranked mode that’s tied in with Strikers Clubs — players can form or join a Strikers Club and compete against other clubs to increase their ranking or earn promotions. Clubs can even create their own custom uniforms and set a policy like “Just having fun” or “Playing to improve”.
It’s shaping up to be a great addition to the Mario sports collection! We’ve rounded up the cheapest copies of Mario Strikers: Battle League so you can play on release day without paying full price.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Cheapest Copies in Australia
Nintendo Online Store (digital): $79.95
EB Games (with pre-order bonus character card set): $79.95
The Gamesmen (with pre-order bonus character card set): $68
JB Hi-Fi (with pre–order bonus character card set): $69
eBay (with pre-order bonus character card set): $74.95
