Mario Strikers: Battle League will attempt to revive Strike - the Mushroom Kingdom's analog to five-a-side soccer - 15 years after its Wii era predecessor. Screen Rant attended a hands-off preview in which an overview of Battle League's features was given, gameplay of full, local multiplayer matches was shown, and the depth of the game's customization was illuminated. While this entry will be more than familiar to those who have played the previous two Mario Strikers games, the customization is what sets it apart, and has the potential to drive a deep, competitive meta-game.
The series began with 2005's Super Mario Strikers on the GameCube, which was quickly followed by Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii two years later. Much like Nintendo's Mario baseball games, Strikers appeared to be on indefinite hiatus until Battle League was announced in February this year. The game of Strike hasn't changed much itself; each team fields five players, including one goalie, in a no-holds-barred game similar to soccer. Rather than players selecting one Mario franchise A-lister to be the team captain alongside teammates such as Shy Guys and Koopa Troopas like in previous Strikers titles, all four field players are selected from Battle League's roster.
The preview of Mario Strikers: Battle League provided an overview of the three game modes with which players can play Strike - Quick Battle, Cup Battles, and Strikers Club. Jumping into a match will be simplest through Quick Battle, where 1 to 8 players choose from Mario Strikers: Battle League's characters, put them in a uniform, and select their side of the arena. Cup Battles will provide a series of challenges in which players face opposing teams outfitted with certain gear archetypes. Online multiplayer appears to be a major emphasis for Battle League, where the Strikers Club game mode hopes to curate a competitive scene. All of these game modes will be given additional depth by Battle League's customization mechanics, but Strikers Club seems to be an attempt at giving the title some longevity by introducing ranked competition amidst the variable gameplay made possible by the many gear combinations.
The final major selection on the main menu is Gear Settings, where players can outfit each character with equipment for their head, arms, body, and legs before entering one of the Battle League gameplay modes. Here is where the rationale behind abandoning the team composition from the first two Mario Strikers games is evident. With squads of four field players chosen from a line-up of 10 characters with varying base stats, all able to have those stats (strength, speed, shooting, passing, and technique) fine tuned by different combinations of gear, team building has the potential to become a major aspect of strategy in Battle League.
Player skill will likely still be paramount in deciding the victor, though, especially with the new team tackle ability and Hyper Strikes scoring only two points (down from the 3 to 6 points scored by Mario Strikers Charged's Mega Strikes). Local and online multiplayer, when played with more than one person on each team, will rely heavily on team synergy, but it will be interesting to see how gear affects the Mario Kart styled chaos of Battle League's soccer. It's not difficult to imagine some teams prioritizing speed and shooting, while others opt for a bully ball approach and pad their strength stats.
Although a verdict on gameplay itself will have to wait until Mario Strikers: Battle League actually releases, these changes to team composition, the addition of customizable gear, and the introduction of ranked competition in Strikers Club seem to have the game poised for an attempt at post-launch success. The most recent Mario sports game, Mario Golf: Super Rush, had a ranked playlist tacked on in a free update that provided no true competition. Battle League is similarly set to receive free content updates, which will bring additional characters (hopefully Battle League's most notable omission, Daisy), but the groundwork for engaging online play appears to already be laid. The long dormant series looks to be returning in familiar form, but Mario Strikers: Battle League has brought some evolutions that may provide unprecedented depth in Strike's larger strategy.
Mario Strikers: Battle League will be released for Nintendo Switch on June 10, 2022. Screen Rant attended a preview event for the purpose of this article.