Mario Strikers: Battle League Release Date, Trailers, Gameplay, And More
The Mario Strikers: Battle League release date is set for this year, meaning fans of the Mario Strikers series will soon get to take to the field once again. For the first time since Mario Strikers Charged came out on the Nintendo Wii over 15 years ago, another iteration is coming to the Mario universe’s take on the game of football. Here’s everything there is to know about Mario Strikers: Battle League, including its release date, trailers, gameplay, and more.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Release Date
Mario Strikers: Battle League was announced during a February 2022 Nintendo Direct with a confirmed late spring release date. Specifically, the game will launch on June 10, 2022. Pre-orders for the game have been available since it was announced in February.
The first two games in the series, Super Mario Strikers and Mario Strikers Charged, both launched in Europe before they became available in other regions. Conversely, Mario Strikers: Battle League will have the same release date for every region throughout the world.
As soon as the game launches in June, players will get a chance to try out the competitive side of Mario Strikers: Battle League thanks to esports commentator Cameron “Skiff” Skiffington. After the game was announced, Skiff said that he intends to start a recurring Mario Strikers: Battle League tournament series and that he even hopes to attract sponsors for the series.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Trailers
So far, the only gameplay Nintendo has shown and everything we know about Mario Strikers: Battle League has come from the game’s announcement trailer. The trailer showcases the new level design, with fields being split into two halves with unique themes that are presumably based on the two teams’ captains.
In addition, players will find the stands filled with cheering Yoshis, Toads, Koopa Troopas, and Shy Guys any time they load up a match in Mario Strikers: Battle League.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Gameplay And Characters
Click to enlargeLike the previous two games, Mario Strikers: Battle League is developed by Next Level Games. As a result, Mario Strikers: Battle League will feature five-versus-five matches with a familiar gameplay core of passing and shooting the ball.
Players will also be able to tackle opponents into the electric fence surrounding the field in order to gain possession of the ball or disrupt their opponents’ movement with items like Red Shells, Green Shells, Banana Peels, Mushrooms, and Bob-ombs. Every character has a chargeable special shot known as a Hyper Strike that they can activate by collecting an Orb on the field. Hyper Strikes provide unique gameplay mechanics based on the character using them. In addition, Hyper Strikes appear to bypass goalies and are worth two points.
A new mechanic coming to this game is the addition of equippable Gear. By changing Gear, players will not only change their character’s aesthetic appearance, but they will also alter the character’s Strength, Speed, Shooting, Passing, and Technique stats. Players will be able to purchase Gear for characters’ heads, arms, bodies, and legs from an in-game shop using Coins.
Although it was not specifically mentioned in the announcement trailer, it appears that Mario Strikers: Battle League will include an advanced technique from previous Mario Strikers games known as chipping. A chip is an unaimed pass that players can use in order to set up trickshots.
The trailer also hints at other mechanics, like the ability to dodge out of the way of tackling opponents and the ability to tackle your teammate in order to give them a boost. However, fans may have to wait until the game launches to get more details about these gameplay elements in Mario Strikers: Battle League.
Up to eight players will be able compete together in local matches, with each team featuring four players and a computer-controlled goalie. Meanwhile, players will also be able to join online clubs with up to 20 players. Clubs will then be able to compete against each other and gain higher standing in the online rankings. Online play will be restricted to players with a Nintendo Account and a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership.
Unlike previous games in the series, which featured generic side characters competing alongside each team captain, Mario Strikers: Battle League will feature teams entirely composed of main characters. So far, there are 10 confirmed playable characters:
- Mario
- Luigi
- Peach
- Toad
- Bowser
- Donkey Kong
- Yoshi
- Rosalina
- Wario
- Waluigi
In addition, Boom Booms have seemingly replaced Kritters as the goalies for every team in Mario Strikers: Battle League.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Platforms
Click to enlargeUnsurprisingly, Mario Strikers: Battle League is slated to launch exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. As is typical for Nintendo-owned intellectual properties, this Super Mario game won’t make an appearance on any non-Nintendo consoles.
While waiting for the Mario Strikers: Battle League release date, fans may be able to scratch their Mario Strikers itch in a unique way thanks to a Rocket League mod that allows users to play as the Super Mario 64 version of Mario. In the meantime, anyone who enjoys the Mario sports spin-offs in general can look forward to more downloadable content coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe throughout 2022 and 2023.