Mario Strikers: Battle League Online Play Could Be a Game Changer

gamerant.com:

This week's Nintendo Direct held a handful of surprises for gamers, but among the most enticing was the announcement of Mario Strikers: Battle League. It's been a decade and a half since the last title, Mario Strikers Charged, was released for the Nintendo Wii, and while the first two entries into the franchise were generally well-received, they ultimately left fans wanting more. Now that the landscape of online gaming has completely transformed over the last 15 years, Mario Strikers: Battle League is set up to succeed in ways its predecessors never could.

The online gameplay, it appears, will be centered around Strikers Club mode, which allows up to 20 players to form together and attempt to climb the ranking ladder. Though there are a handful of new mechanics in Mario Strikers: Battle League, the decision to bake in a competitive angle to the online mode, sticks out as the most important. Though its predecessors failed to keep players engaged long-term, the online aspect of Mario Strikers: Battle League could be a complete game-changer in that regard.

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Nintendo has been involved in the competitive gaming scene for years with the Super Smash Bros. franchise, and with Mario Strikers: Battle League, it has a chance to cement its place yet again, and for all the same reasons. Mario Strikers: Battle League can, and should, take the blueprint laid out by Super Smash Bros. and run with it. In the same way that Super Smash Bros. has been able to draw fans from more traditional fighters, Mario Strikers: Battle League may be able to entice fans that have grown tired of FIFA's FUT game mode.

Even if Mario Strikers: Battle League can't grow to the same level of popularity