Mario Strikers: Battle League Review - Lacking Match Fitness
Mario Strikers has always felt like the cool kid of the plumber’s sporting spin-offs. Faster and less mainstream than Golf, edgier than Tennis or the Olympics, and far more confident in its swagger than Sluggers or Hoops. In Mario Strikers: Battle League, that pace, edge, and swagger is back, but it comes with very little else.
And by ‘very little’, I mean ‘nothing’. Actually playing a match is fun - though not without its problems, as we’ll get into - but the rest of the offerings are as thin as Pep’s hairline. You can play an exhibition match against the CPU or another player, or can do a tournament against the CPU. These tournaments are just three exhibition matches against teams who either specialise in Speed, Shooting, or one of the other six stats.
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These tournaments are very lifeless, with nothing to distinguish them from exhibition matches barring a small trophy animation at the end. There are also online options, which are a standard exhibition against friends or random opponents (I tried three times during the review period and could not find a match), and Strikers League, the only interesting thing included at all. However, much like Chelsea playing Christian Pulisic at wingback, it’s interesting but terribly executed.
Strikers League is basically Be A Pro from FIFA, which would be neat if you could play a drop-in match, but unfortunately it seems you have to form or join a club and then play with fixed teammates, which means many people won’t get to experience it fully, or even at all. I criticised Nintendo Switch Sports for lacking content, and while my enjoyment was eventually saved by the online component, I’m not sure Mario Strikers’ will be.
This lack of
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