Mario Strikers: Battle League (Switch) Review

I know what you are thinking, how can the beautiful game of football get any better?

Well first of all get rid of the current implementation of VAR. Yes I am still salty about the loss to Costa Rica and I am going to be mad for the next 4 years.  But not looking at officiating, how can the sport itself get any better?  Well, Nintendo has had a solid crack by Mario-fying the sport and… Yea it’s pretty damn good.

Mario Strikers: Battle League is football, but not as you know it. Obviously players can pass the ball to each other, shoot and score their way to victory, like a football game right?

Well how about an electric fence around the sideline? How about Hyper Strike kicks that are worth 2 points? How about tackling your own player so they smash into an opponent’s player?

Are you interested yet?

First things first.
Mario sports games tend to be relatively easy to pick up and play, and this one is no exception. If you have played a FIFA game recently and struggled with the complexity, Mario Strikers: Battle League will be appealing. Blasting through the tutorial makes clear how simple it is to get started. Passing, shooting, and other actions come down to pressing a button, or holding it to aim and fire in a specific direction. That simplicity is a big part of why the game is fun.

Then there are the classic Mario tweaks. Being able to tackle your own player and then slamming into an opponent with the ball is fun as hell to do once you master the execution. Mario slamming Bowser into Donkey Kong in a game of football is a series of words I never thought I would write.

Then there are the Hyper Strikes.
If you manage to get an orb that drops on the field, you power up. Grab the ball, do a powered up strike, and a bar pops up on screen. That bar moves back and forth, so you need to hit the button once on the way out, then again as it swings back.

The closer you get to hitting those, the harder it is for the goalie to defend. Hit it perfectly and it is guaranteed to beat the keeper. On top of this, the goal is worth 2 points, so it can be a real game changer.

The good news is it is pretty hard to hit it perfectly, and if one of these goals is hit against you, you have to mash a button to block it.

So yea, this makes the game a little more arcadey and Mario-like, but that aint all.

It isn’t a Mario game without question mark boxes right?

Well they drop on the field and give you power ups like shells to throw at other players, mushrooms to make you super fast etc.  Some drop for your team, some drop for the opponents and some for anyone. Nabbing your opponents one doesn’t give you a power up, but it stops them getting it.
What works here is the balance between silly chaos and a solid gameplay base underneath. Hitting passes and goals is easy enough to learn that you can smash the tutorials, build up confidence, and jump straight into a cup challenge. That’s where my ego hit the ground. I got my ass kicked so badly in the cup on my first go. You get 2 losses before you’re knocked out, so my campaign lasted… 2 matches.

Getting schooled on my first crack was great, because the second time around I scraped into the final, which I just managed to win 1 all. It’s a classic easy to learn, difficult to master setup. You feel pretty good within minutes, but actually getting good takes ages. To be fair, I am still far from that.

With sports games, Mario titles have had some mixed results for campaign modes. This game hasn’t even bothered, it just instead offers online modes, and offline quick matches or cups. As someone who likes offline modes I spent most of my time in the cups, which as mentioned earlier gives you 2 loses before you get knocked out.  It’s simple, fun and a great way to play the game offline.

Mario Strikers: Battle League is a great game.

The mechanics make the game fun, the aesthetic keeps it super light hearted, and it’s just the right balance of stressful and relaxing. Another banger on the Switch.