The long-awaited third installment of Nintendo's brawl-filled soccer series is on the way with Mario Strikers: Battle League, and a new overview trailer has confirmed which of the Mushroom Kingdom's iconic characters will be stepping onto the pitch. When Battle League releases it will have been 15 years since Mario Strikers Charged landed on the Wii, but the basic premise remains the same - two teams of five duking out in a no-holds-barred, power-up-filled contest. Now, just over a month from release in Nintendo's packed 2022 launch schedule, an initial roster of only 10 characters has been revealed for Battle League.
When building a team, Mario Strikers: Battle League lets players choose four out of the 10 available characters, with the goalie being a Boom Boom Koopa. The 10 playable characters in Mario Strikers: Battle League are Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach, Rosalina, Toad, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Waluigi. Each has slightly different base stats, but different pieces of gear can be equipped to fine tune each member of the team.
These confirmed characters come by way of Nintendo's Mario Strikers: Battle League introductory trailer, which has so far only been posted to YouTube in Japanese. The same characters were shown in the game's announcement trailer, which was revealed during Nintendo's February 2022 Direct, but this new video seemingly confirms the line up. The team structure is quite an evolution from previous Mario Strikers games, where a captain was chosen from a similar roster, but the rest of the team was filled with generic Mushroom Kingdom denizens like Koopa Troopas or Shy Guys.
Can Battle League's Variety Make Up For The Small Roster?
Including only 10 characters in Mario Strikers: Battle League feels rather restrictive, especially since eight will be on the field at one time. Daisy's omission is the most obvious, but there are plenty of other Mario characters missing who are frequently included, or have even just recently began their stint as playable, like Pauline of Donkey Kong and Super Mario Odyssey fame. If Battle League follows the example of other recent Mario sports titles - Mario Tennis Aces and Mario Golf: Super Rush - then the roster will likely expand. Super Rush was missing some crucial characters, for example, some of which made it into the game via free content updates.
While the relatively small line up is disappointing, it may end up being a non-issue when it comes to gameplay. The gear system will let each team member have different equipment on their head, arms, body, and legs. Each will have an effect on that player's strength, speed, shooting, passing, and technique stats. With multiple items for each of the 10 characters' body parts, there may be an exceptionally high number of unique team compositions. Mario Strikers: Battle League has been a long time coming, and its roster is initially disappointingly small, but it has the potential to take the series' gameplay to new depths.
Source: Nintendo/YouTube