Nintendo’s post-launch plans for the upcoming Mario Strikers: Battle League may have just been leaked thanks to a recent datamine of the game’s character slot numbers. The brand-new Mario-themed soccer game was announced during February’s Nintendo Direct livestream, with Mario Strikers: Battle League looking to build upon the arcade sports action formula established in 2005’s Super Mario Strikers and 2007’s Mario Strikers Charged by having Mario and friends headline their own soccer teams and challenge each other in either single-player or multiplayer games on the Nintendo Switch. In addition to the special attacks and Mario Kart-style power-ups from previous entries in the series, Mario Strikers: Battle League will feature a new “Hyper Strike” shot that will give the player two points for a single goal.
Nintendo and developer Next Level Games have confirmed that Mario Strikers: Battle League will have ten playable characters available at launch, including Mario franchise mainstays like Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Rosalina, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Toad, Wario, Waluigi, and Bowser - all of which can have their base stats and appearances updated with custom gear. While many fans have noticed that Mario Strikers: Battle League's line-up of playable characters is smaller than the rosters of the last two Mario Strikers games, Nintendo recently revealed that there will be free post-launch updates in the style of other Mario sports titles like Mario Golf: Super Rush and Mario Tennis Aces.
A recent tweet by noted Nintendo dataminer Wipeoutjack7 revealed that Mario Strikers: Battle League could have up to 10 additional characters post-release, as reported by Dual Shockers. This will bring the total of playable characters up to 20 after all is said and done, but there is still no word on which classic Mario characters will be added to Mario Strikers: Battle League’s roster or whether or not they will all be offered to players as free DLC. It also hasn’t been confirmed if there will be any additional game modes coming to Mario Strikers: Battle League alongside the new characters, but it seems that Nintendo has plans to support its newest sports title long after its planned launch on June 10.
There are plenty of unconfirmed and popular Mario characters that could fill these leaked Mario Strikers: Battle League DLC slots, including Princess Daisy, Diddy Kong, and Boo. The characters who have already been confirmed to appear in Mario Strikers: Battle League will all have special stats and unique animations, as demonstrated in the Mario Strikers: Battle League trailer that was released earlier this month.
Fans of the previous two Mario Strikers games have been looking forward to a new mascot-centric soccer game for the Nintendo Switch, and their wish is about to be granted with Mario Strikers: Battle League. While the game only has a small roster of ten playable characters at launch, it seems Nintendo will double that amount with post-release DLC - though specifics are still unclear at this time. In any case, players will be able to take to the soccer field with Mario and company when Mario Strikers: Battle League launches on June 10.
Source: Wipeoutjack7/Twitter (via Dual Shockers)