Why You Can Trust CNET Is Nintendo's Mario Strikers the Summer Sports Game to Get Over Switch Sports?
A long-awaited return to Mario soccer is a faster, more multiplayer affair.
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Five years into the Nintendo Switch's lifespan, a new wave of multiplayer games from Nintendo seems geared toward making the console a family experience again. Nintendo Switch Sports brought back Wii Sports' iconic motion-controlled gaming this spring. But Mario Strikers: Battle League, available June 10, is a controller-focused multiplayer soccer game that hasn't been seen since a Wii version in 2007. The Wii spirit is strong with the Switch lately, it seems.
There are already a number of other Mario sports games on the Switch, such as Mario Tennis and Mario Golf. If you haven't tried Mario sports games before, you can expect a familiar cast of Mario characters playing games with fantasy-style courses and absurd power-ups. Strikers puts the formula into play for four-on-four soccer, plus a goalie on each side. Matches are fast, and focused on quick, arcade-style passing and shooting.
I've been playing Strikers: Battle League for the past week, and it's a far more instant and intense experience than the slower Mario Tennis and Mario Golf games. Those games have storyline-type features that Strikers lacks, though. Strikers: Battle League is clearly made to be played with others, whether that's someone in your home, or online.
The field is fine to look at on the Switch screen, but easier to follow on a big TV.
The game can have up to eight players at once on a single Switch, something a lot of Switch games don't have -- so, for large families or groups of friends, this beats Switch Sports. Switch Sports, however, is more casual and easier to play, and has some exercise-like movement. It also means you need the open play space for your arms to swing. Mario Strikers: Battle League, meanwhile, is a classic sit-down-and-hold-your-controller experience.
Learning to finesse the various moves -- passing, shooting, tackling and the tricky-to-time Hyper Shots that can produce weird effects and earn 2 points -- takes practice. There are training modes that help. A series of tournament cups earn coins, which can be used to buy gear that upgrades characters with extra boosts to speed or shooting or other skills. There's some strategy to picking what players can make a good team.
A Hyper Strike attempt in progress: Powered-up shots are a dice roll, and work best when you time the meter just right.
The part that I think will be Strikers' most lasting feature is the online Battle League, which ranks the progress of a club you create and lets you climb leaderboards. I haven't played that part yet, but I'm excited to try. Being able to have a club that others can join and help you win reminds me of Madden's online franchise mode. Battle League's online system is not nearly as complex as that, but I'm curious to see how good it can be.
At $60 (£50, AU$80), Mario Strikers: Battle League feels extremely expensive. That's the case with many Nintendo games, but Switch Sports is only $40. Maybe wait for a sale. Still, I do think Strikers is a lot of fun, and so far it feels really well designed, but I'm not sure how long I'd want to play it for.
Here's the way I'd break it down: If you've been desperate for an eight-player fast-paced party game besides Super Smash Bros, this might be your pick. But if you're more into slightly active casual family games, Switch Sports is the better bet.