Mario Strikers: Battle League

Mario Strikers: Battle League
For alternate box art, see the game's gallery.
Developer	Next Level Games
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch
Release date	Template:Release[?]
Language(s)	English (United Kingdom) English (United States) French (France) French (Canada) German Spanish (Spain) Spanish (Latin America) Italian Dutch Portuguese (Portugal) Portuguese (Brazil) Russian Japanese Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese Korean
Genre	Soccer
Rating(s)	ESRB: - Everyone 10+ PEGI: - Seven years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: - Parental Guidance USK: - Six years and older ClassInd: - General audience SMECCV: - Twelve years and older RARS: - Six years and older GRAC: - All ages GSRR: - All ages FPB: - Parental guidance Gmedia: - Seven years and older NMC: - Seven years and older
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Input	Nintendo Switch: Joy-Con Joy-Con (horizontal) Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
Serial code(s)	Template:Serials

“So much fun, it hurts.”

—Advertisement slogan for Mario Strikers: Battle League

Mario Strikers: Battle League (known in European languages as Mario Strikers: Battle League Football) is a game for the Nintendo Switch. It is the third game in the Mario Strikers series and the first one since Mario Strikers Charged over 15 years prior, featuring new gear, items, and moves. Up to eight players can play the game in multiplayer. The game also features an online Strikers Club mode where players can host clubs with up to 20 players and compete against other clubs to earn points and increase their rankings. The game released worldwide on June 10, 2022 and received three free post-launch updates before the end of 2022 that included new playable characters, stadiums, and gear sets.

Opening cutscene

The game's opening begins with the Mushroom Hill and Lava Castle stages combining to one field in space. The camera moves across the soccer field to then show two portals appearing, one for Bowser's team (consisting of Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Rosalina) and one for Mario's (consisting of Luigi, Toad, and Peach), both briefly transitioning to a cel-shaded style. Once both teams land, Mario and Bowser stare at each other. The former manages to get the soccer ball first, and the game begins.

Mario passes the ball to Luigi, where the latter soon dodges a tackle from Yoshi. Rosalina walks in sight, stares at Luigi, and then tackles him into an electric fence with a dash, causing him to lose the ball. The ball bounces as Bowser and Peach try to get it, with the Peach throwing a Bob-omb right to Bowser before he could get the ball and has him flying off the stadium. Peach dribbles the ball out of the explosion and gets to the Lava Castle part of the field, passing the ball to Toad, which he then shoots. Bowser's Boom Boom goalie blocks the ball, and the camera moves to him getting upset and roaring in frustration, breathing fire in the process.

The fire makes a transition to Luigi passing the ball to Toad, but Bowser does a Team Tackle with Donkey Kong, launching and punching Mario and Toad out and throwing the ball to Yoshi, who exerts a few moves before passing it to Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong performs his Hyper Strike, knocking out Mario and Peach, but the team's Boom Boom goalie manages to block the soccer ball from scoring. The ball then reaches Bowser, who breathes fire toward the ball and then tries to throw it, but Luigi slides and tackles him, losing the ball in the process. The ball goes back to the ground as the fire burns out and Luigi passes it to Mario. He then executes his Hyper Strike, and while preparing to kick it, gets flames in his eyes. Mario then kicks the ball as Bowser's goalie prepares to block it, and the ball circles across the air towards the goal, leading to the title screen.

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to that of previous Mario Strikers games, where two teams of five (four players and a goalie) compete for points by getting the ball into the opposing team's net. Following the rules of street soccer, there are no penalties like fouls, meaning that players are able to tackle their opponents around the field. Like previous games, items and special moves are used to the turn the tide of gameplay. When playing offensively, players focus on getting the ball to the goal by passing or lobbing it to their teammates, and performing combos with their teammates to make powerful shots. When playing defensively, players will use various techniques to get the ball back, including items as well as tackling them. Some moves, such as free passes, charged shots, and tackling, have meters that indicate when they are most powerful, making timing necessary to have the best in-game performance. There is also the ability to dodge, which will allow players to quickly evade an approaching attacker. Perfectly timing a dodge from a tackle will reward the player with a slight speed boost.

A new technique introduced in this game is called the Team Tackle. If a player tackles their own teammate, they send the teammate quickly across the stage. This can be used both defensively, by using Team Tackle at an opponent and stealing the ball from them, or offensively, by getting the teammate close to the goal.

Similar to the Super Strike from Super Mario Strikers and Mega Strike from Mario Strikers Charged, the new Hyper Strike acts as the game's special move, and is activated in a similar manner as the latter. Unlike those moves, however, Hyper Strikes must first be obtained by collecting a Strike Orb that occasionally appears on the field. Additionally, rather than just having aesthetic differences, each character's Hyper Strike has different gameplay-related properties, making them similar to that of the Special Shots from Mario Sports Mix. If perfectly timed, Hyper Strikes are able to bypass goalies, making a goal guaranteed.

Another new concept introduced in this game is customization. In addition to aesthetic customization options, like team color, gear can be purchased from the in-game shop with Coins, which allow the player to adjust various attributes such as their movement speed, curve shots, resistance to getting the ball stolen from them, and more. When selecting characters, the player can choose whether to equip their character with gear or not.

Controls

General

Action	/	File:Joy-Con horizontal L-R hybrid.png
	Move
Dash
Switch character	/
Use item	/
Dodge	/ / Shake	Shake

Offensive

Action	/	File:Joy-Con horizontal L-R hybrid.png
	Basic shot	/
Charged shot	Hold / then release
Aimed shot	Tilt and tap	Tilt and tap
	Hold , tilt , then release	Hold , tilt and tap
Pass	/
Lob pass	/
Combo pass	/// as soon as a pass is received
Combo shot	/ as soon as a pass is received
Charge up Hyper Strike	Hold / (after collecting Strike Orb)
Stop Hyper Strike needle	/ (when charging Hyper Meter)
Free pass	Hold /, then press ///	Hold /, then press /
Charged free pass	Hold /, then hold /// and release	Hold , then hold / and release
Cancel charged shot	/ while charging shot	while charging shot

Defensive

Action	/	File:Joy-Con horizontal L-R hybrid.png
	Basic tackle	/
Charged tackle	Hold / then release
Cancel charged tackle	/
Team tackle	/ (towards a teammate)

Items

Items return from previous games, though this time, they are obtained from ? Blocks thrown from the audience stands like in other Super Mario spinoff games. There are both ? Blocks that can be collected by anyone, and ? Blocks that can only be collected by a certain team. Each team can hold up to two items.

Items
? Block
Provides an item when touched. Spectators can throw two kinds of ? Blocks onto the field: - Rainbow-colored ? Blocks can be used by either team. Exciting plays and dangerous tackles make these appear more often. - Team-colored ? Blocks can be used only by the team matching its color. When a player who does not have the ball is tackled, regardless of which team they're on, their team will receive a team-colored ? Block.
Mushroom	Bob-omb	Banana
Greatly increases your speed for a short time when used.	Explodes when thrown, knocking away players on your opponent's team.	Causes any players who come in contact with it to fall over.
Red Shell	Green Shell	Star
Chases after a nearby opponent when thrown, hitting them and causing them to fall over.	Travels in a straight line when thrown and will bounce off of fences. Players hit by one will fall over.	Makes you invincible for a short amount of time and boosts all of your character's attributes. If you touch an opponent while it's active, you will knock them down.

Game modes

Like with the previous games, Mario Strikers: Battle League has a large emphasis of multiplayer content, though there is some single-player content present.

Cup Battles

Returning from the first game, up to four players can be compete on a tournament bracket as a team in six cups, the first five cups of which are named after different gear sets available, and the last one (the Championship Cup) can only be unlocked once the other five are beaten. The tournament is double elimination, meaning that if a team loses their initial match, they are sent to the loser's bracket where they have one last chance to survive and make it to the finals, but losing again will cause them to be eliminated. The player then will be offered a choice for a rematch, but would have to spend coins on doing so, and the amount of coins to spend will increase for every rematch. Once all six cups are beaten, the Galactic Mode is unlocked, which is the same as the normal cups but harder and grant higher rewards. Each normal cup rewards the player with 400 coins for beating it the first time and 50 coins for every subsequent time, while beating each of the Galactic Cups rewards 1000 coins for the first time.

Normal Cups

Cannon Cup	Chain Cup	Turbo Cup
See if you can beat teams who focus on shooting!	Test yourself against teams that focus on passing!	Fight it out against teams focused on speed and movement.
Muscle Cup	Trick Cup	Championship Cup
Go up against teams focused on strength!	Take on teams focused on technique!	Here it is! It's time to go up against the all-around best teams!

Galactic Cups

Cannon Cup	Chain Cup	Turbo Cup
Duel the experts of shooting!	Match wits with the pros of passing!	Chase down the aces in speed and movement.
Muscle Cup	Trick Cup	Championship Cup
Try to overpower the giants of strength!	Challenge the wizards of technique!	Enter battle against teams who have mastered everything. It's the ultimate challenge!

Quick Match

The player creates two teams with up to eight players along with picking an outfit and field of their choice to play in either offline, local play, or online matches. When playing offline, the player can configure the match length, CPU difficulty, enabling or disabling items and Hyper Strikes, and the time of day the match takes place. When playing online, players can either do matches with another person or compete by themselves.

Strikers Club

The newest mode included in the series, which has players creating or joining a club with up to 20 members to improve their division ranking across seasons by winning matches and gaining points for their club. Clubs can be named and customized with many options including team outfits, gear, and field designs to take online against other clubs. Seasons happen every other week that may sometimes feature custom rule sets, and clubs can gain special currency for more field designs. If certain conditions are done, then individual club members will be awarded with achievements which gives them more coins.

Striker Rankings

Added in the version 1.2.0 update, players can compete in a leaderboard and climb the ranks, with a rotation starting every off season and ending on the final day of a season. To qualify for the rankings, players would have to play at least five matches online in either Quick Battle or Strikers Club, which, depending on the win-lose ratio, will earn them a skill score to start out with. They will then be able to move up or down the ranks depending on their performance in matches.

Characters

This section is under construction. Therefore, please excuse its informal appearance while it is being worked on. We hope to have it completed as soon as possible.

The character select screen, with all post-launch characters available.

There are 16 playable characters available in the game. Of those characters, Rosalina and Pauline are playable for the first time in the Mario Strikers series, while Toad, Shy Guy, and Birdo are now selectable as team captains after previously being sidekicks. Unlike in previous games, rather than having one captain and three generic sidekicks as teammates, teams in this game (apart from the goalie) are comprised entirely of main playable characters, though the player does have the option to include multiple Toads, Yoshis, or Shy Guys on a team, in a similar vein to sidekicks. Because of this, any character on a team can perform their Hyper Strike during a match, as opposed to previous games, where only the captain could perform special moves. Themes for each character when they shoot a goal make a return from Mario Strikers Charged, but unlike that game, they are all rock-and-roll-themed. Boom Booms are seen as goalies, taking over the role from Kritters in previous games. The game launched with 10 characters; the other 6 were included through 3 updates of 2 characters each, the first of which was released on July 21, 2022, the second on September 21, 2022, and the third on December 13, 2022.

Every character has five different attributes:

Icon	Attribute	Description
	Strength	This attribute determines the power of a character's tackle and their resistance to being tackled.
	Speed	This attribute determines a character's running speed.
	Shooting	This attribute determines the power of a shot and its speed.
	Passing	This attribute determines the speed of a pass, as well as the range of a free pass.
	Technique	This attribute determines a character's shot accuracy and curve, and it affects how the character dribbles the ball. It also affects the meter for the Hyper Strike and the timing of perfect moves, making both easier to execute if the attribute is high.

Playable

The stats in the following table are the characters' default stats, without any gear applied.

Mario		Luigi		Bowser		Peach
Mario's high technique and shooting attributes make him a great choice for those seeking a balanced, capable character.		Luigi is a well-rounded team player who excels at setting up shots with his high passing attribute.		Bowser's powerful offense dominates the field with incredible shots and brutal tackles.		Quick and capable, Peach's high movement and technique attributes help her confuse and evade opponents.
Type	Technique	Type	Technique	Type	Physical	Type	Speed
Default color	Red	Default color	Green	Default color	Dark gray	Default color	Pink
Team number	1	Team number	2	Team number	66	Team number	10
Hyper Strike	Fire Cyclone	Hyper Strike	Spin Tornado	Hyper Strike	Flame Cannon	Hyper Strike	Dance of Hearts
Strength	11/25	Strength	11/25	Strength	17/25	Strength	9/25
Speed	12/25	Speed	11/25	Speed	9/25	Speed	17/25
Shooting	14/25	Shooting	10/25	Shooting	17/25	Shooting	9/25
Passing	10/25	Passing	14/25	Passing	11/25	Passing	13/25
Technique	16/25	Technique	17/25	Technique	9/25	Technique	15/25
Rosalina (new)		Toad		Yoshi		Donkey Kong
A powerhouse on offense, Rosalina's mighty shooting ability will put any goalie to the test.		Toad’s high speed and passing attributes are perfect for any team looking to quickly set up a potent offense. In Quick Battle and Cup Battles, you can have more than one Toad on a team.		Yoshi is always ready to help out his team with excellent passing and strong shooting. In Quick Battle and Cup Battles, you can have more than one Yoshi on a team.		With his crushing tackle and skillful passing, Donkey Kong is a defensive barrier few can surmount.
Type	Offense	Type	Speed	Type	Offense	Type	Defense
Default color	Cyan	Default color	Red	Default color	Green	Default color	Yellow
Team number	11	Team number	12	Team number	8	Team number	55
Hyper Strike	Orbital Burst	Hyper Strike	Drill Smash	Hyper Strike	Egg Stomp	Hyper Strike	Banana Blast
Strength	14/25	Strength	9/25	Strength	10/25	Strength	16/25
Speed	9/25	Speed	17/25	Speed	10/25	Speed	9/25
Shooting	17/25	Shooting	11/25	Shooting	17/25	Shooting	13/25
Passing	10/25	Passing	15/25	Passing	17/25	Passing	16/25
Technique	13/25	Technique	11/25	Technique	9/25	Technique	9/25
Wario		Waluigi		Shy Guy (version 1.1.0)		Daisy (version 1.1.0)
Boasting high strength and fierce shooting power, Wario eagerly tackles his way to the front lines to take his shot.		A nimble defender, Waluigi uses his high speed and technique to rush over and knock opponents down with a punishing tackle.		An evenly-balanced player, Shy Guy is always eager to take the field, no matter the position. In Quick Battle and Cup Battles, you can have more than one Shy Guy on a team.		Whether on offense or defense, Daisy’s high technique and passing skills will keep opponents guessing.
Type	Physical	Type	Defense	Type	All-Rounder	Type	Technique
Default color	Yellow	Default color	Purple	Default color	Red	Default color	Orange
Team number	00	Team number	0	Team number	3	Team number	9
Hyper Strike	Electric Ricochet	Hyper Strike	Thorn Barrier	Hyper Strike	Propeller Dive	Hyper Strike	Flower Spiral
Strength	17/25	Strength	15/25	Strength	13/25	Strength	13/25
Speed	9/25	Speed	16/25	Speed	12/25	Speed	9/25
Shooting	15/25	Shooting	9/25	Shooting	13/25	Shooting	10/25
Passing	13/25	Passing	9/25	Passing	13/25	Passing	13/25
Technique	9/25	Technique	14/25	Technique	12/25	Technique	18/25
Pauline (new, version 1.2.0)		Diddy Kong (version 1.2.0)		Bowser Jr. (version 1.3.0)		Birdo (version 1.3.0)
Ready to roughhouse, Pauline's powerful strength and speed attributes mean opponents are never safe from her tackles.		Diddy Kong's balanced combo of speed, passing, and technique attributes makes him a dominant midfielder.		Bowser Jr. is a balanced type known for precise passes and invaluable assists.		Birdo is an offensive powerhouse whose powerful shots make scoring easy.
Type	Physical	Type	Speed	Type	All-Rounder	Type	Offense
Default color	Red	Default color	Red	Default color	Orange	Default color	Pink
Team number	7	Team number	5	Team number	6	Team number	4
Hyper Strike	Swing Solo	Hyper Strike	Barrel Boom	Hyper Strike	Twisting Knuckleball	Hyper Strike	Jewel Dance
Strength	20/25	Strength	9/25	Strength	13/25	Strength	9/25
Speed	16/25	Speed	16/25	Speed	13/25	Speed	10/25
Shooting	9/25	Shooting	9/25	Shooting	11/25	Shooting	18/25
Passing	9/25	Passing	16/25	Passing	17/25	Passing	9/25
Technique	9/25	Technique	13/25	Technique	9/25	Technique	17/25

Goalie

Boom Boom
Boom Boom is the goal keeper. He moves automatically and cannot be controlled by the player. Don't worry; he knows what he's doing.
Type	Keeper

Non-playable

• Fútbot
• Toads
• Yoshis
• Shy Guys
• Koopa Troopas
• Fly Guy (version 1.1.0)

Team customization

Quick Match and Cup Battles

In Quick Match, there are ten team names players can choose from, five on each side, depending on the side the player chooses. Each team has its own uniform design and color, as well as logo. When playing as Yoshi, Toad, or Shy Guy, the team colors will also change their overall color as well (though some colors are shared between each other). Additionally, when players dash, they leave behind trails matching their team color, except those in the purple/lavender and gray teams, who leave behind indigo and purple trails respectively.

In Cup Battles, the player is only able to choose from the left field teams, while the right field teams are used by the CPU opponents, along with original teams solely for the mode.

Left field teams
Rockets	Magicians	Comets	Warriors	Charms
Right field teams
Crowns	Bolts	Spikes	Scramblers	Cyclones

Strikers Club

In Strikers Club, the club owner is able to customize their Striker's appearance based on their uniform design, their color (some of which are not usable in offline modes), and logo (some of which are used by CPU opponents in Cup Battles but cannot be used by the player offline). They are able to name their team whatever they want it to be. When playing online, the player can choose to either use a default team or use their club team design instead.

Pattern

There are 5 different patterns a club owner can make their team wear.

Patterns

Color

There are 12 different uniform colors the club owner can make their team, including lime green and white, which are exclusive to Strikers Club. Players select two different uniform colors, the first being for the left field team and the second being for the right field team.

First uniform
Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Lime	Green
Second uniform
Dark gray	Light gray	Blue	Purple	Lavender	Cyan

Logo

The club owner is also able to select a logo for their team, they choose a base and a mark for their logo. There are a couple of marks that are only used by opponents in Cup Battles, that can be used for team logos in Strikers Club.

Bases

Marks
Buzz Saws	Blizzards	Pipes	Hearts	Raiders
Super Mushrooms	Barbarians	Maestros	Wings	Fliers

Stadiums

Unlike previous Mario Strikers games, the soccer fields now consist of two individual halves, each with a different theme, which can be combined into one stadium from either different or the same halves. This also changes what music is playing during the matches, with the same field halves playing one of two distinct songs (some of which are rearrangements of previous Super Mario songs), or entirely original music if the two halves are different. Like in Super Mario Strikers, aside from the electric fences that can shock players present around the perimeter of the field, the different fields designs are only aesthetic, rather than each one having any distinct hazards.

In Strikers Club, the player has the ability to visually upgrade the stage's appearance, adding more scenery around it, using tokens earned from season matches. There are four levels of upgrades the player can give the stage, with the first three costing 100,000 tokens and the fourth costing 2,500,000. In addition to the stage itself, there are also options customize the stage's turf, goal line, electric fence, and goal designs. However, none of these affect the stadiums' appearance in offline play.

• 

  Lava Castle

• 

  Spooky Mansion

• 

  Jungle Retreat

• 

  Mushroom Hill

• 

  Royal Castle

• 

  Desert Ruin (version 1.1.0)

• 

  Planetoid (version 1.2.0)

• 

  Urban Rooftop (version 1.3.0)

Gear

It has been requested that more images be uploaded for this article. Remove this notice only after the additional images have been added. Specific(s): Icons of different gear

It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information. Reason: Find names and stats for the rest of the Shellfish Gear set

A new feature to the Mario Strikers series is gear, allowing players to buy different outfits to change the characters' stats. Each piece of gear, when applied, will increase a particular stat by a certain amount while also decreasing another stat by a certain amount. There are seven sets of gear, with each increasing a particular stat. The Bushido set can only be unlocked after completing the normal Championship Cup. Each gear set contains four pieces, including a head, arms, body, and legs piece, which cost 100 coins per piece per character and 300 per Bushido, Knight, and Barrel piece.

Set	Head gear	Arms gear	Body gear	Legs gear
Muscle Gear Set When equipped, this gear increases the strength attribute at the cost of another attribute.	Muscle Helmet	Muscle Gauntlets	Muscle Chest	Muscle Boots
	Strength +2
	Technique -2	Passing -2	Shooting -2	Speed -2
Turbo Gear Set When equipped, this gear increases the speed attribute at the cost of another attribute.	Turbo Helmet	Turbo Gloves	Turbo Pad	Turbo Boots
	Speed +2
	Technique -2	Strength -2	Passing -2	Shooting -2
Cannon Gear Set When equipped, this gear increases the shooting attribute at the cost of another attribute.	Cannon Visor	Cannon Gloves	Cannon Plate	Cannon Boots
	Shooting +2
	Technique -2	Speed -2	Strength -2	Passing -2
Chain Gear Set When equipped, this gear increases the passing attribute at the cost of another attribute.	Chain Helmet	Chain Gauntlets	Chain Plate	Chain Boots
	Passing +2
	Speed -2	Shooting -2	Technique -2	Strength -2
Trick Gear Set When equipped, this gear increases the technique attribute at the cost of another attribute.	Trick Helmet	Trick Gloves	Trick Pad	Trick Boots
	Technique +2
	Passing -2	Speed -2	Strength -2	Shooting -2
Bushido Gear Set When equipped, this gear increases one attribute at the cost of the other four.	Bushido Helmet	Bushido Gloves	Bushido Pad	Bushido Boots
	Passing +4	Technique +4	Strength +4	Speed +4
	All other attributes -1
Knight Gear Set (version 1.1.0) When equipped, this gear mainly increases the strength and shooting attributes while the speed, passing, and technique attributes slightly increase or decrease.	Knight Helmet	Knight Gauntlets	Knight Plate	Knight Boots
	Strength +2, Shooting +1, Passing +1	Strength +2, Shooting +1, Speed +1	Strength +2, Shooting +1, Technique +1	Strength +2, Shooting +2
	Speed -2, Technique -2	Passing -2, Technique -2	Speed -2, Passing -2	Passing -1, Technique -1, Speed -2
Barrel Gear Set (version 1.2.0) When equipped, this gear mainly increases the passing and shooting attributes while the speed, strength, and technique attributes slightly increase or decrease.	Barrel Helmet	Barrel Gloves	Barrel Pad	Barrel Boots
	Shooting +2, Passing +1, Speed +1	Shooting +2, Passing +1, Technique +1	Shooting +2, Passing +2	Shooting +2, Passing +1, Strength +1
	Strength -2, Technique -2	Strength -2, Speed -2	Strength -1, Speed -1, Technique -2	Speed -2, Technique -2
Shellfish Gear Set (version 1.3.0) When equipped, this gear mainly increases the speed and technique attributes while the strength, passing, and shooting attributes slightly increase or decrease.	Shellfish Helmet	Shellfish Gauntlets	Shellfish Armor	Shellfish Boots
	Speed +2, Technique +2	Speed +2, Strength +1, Technique +1	Speed +2, Shooting +1, Technique +1	Speed +2, Passing +1, Technique +1
	Strength -2, Shooting -1, Passing -1	Shooting -2, Passing -2	Strength -2, Passing -2	Strength -2, Shooting -2

Promotion

For video advertisements, see Mario Strikers: Battle League § External links.

On April 13, 2022, the Nintendo UK Twitter account announced that any pre-orders of the game made through the My Nintendo Store will receive a bonus Fan Scarf. If a pre-order is made through Walmart, an exclusive decal sheet featuring the game's artwork is included.

On May 16, 2022, Nintendo's German YouTube channel uploaded a gameplay video of a Mario Strikers: Battle League match commented by German sports announcer Frank Buschmann.

On May 25, 2022, Nintendo of Japan revealed that Switch icons for the game that can be purchased with My Nintendo Platinum Points will be released on the Nintendo Switch Online app on June 10, the same day as the game's release.

Demos

It has been requested that more images be uploaded for this section. Remove this notice only after the additional images have been added. Specific(s): Main menu

Title screen

Promotional image for the later demo

A free, limited time demo titled Mario Strikers: Battle League First Kick (known in European languages as Mario Strikers: Battle League Football First Kick), or simply Mario Strikers First Kick, was released prior to the game's full launch. The demo allowed online play via the Versus Everyone and Join Friends modes at set periods from June 3 through June 5, 2022 (Pacific Time), with single-player gameplay available at any time only through the Training mode. A Nintendo Switch Online membership was required to play online matches. The Strikers Club mode, Gear, and Strikers Rankings are not available.

The following was the schedule for the demo's active online sessions:

• Friday, June 3 - 8:00–9:00 p.m. PT
• Saturday, June 4 - 4:00–5:00 a.m. PT
• Saturday, June 4 - 12:00–1:00 p.m. PT
• Saturday, June 4 - 8:00–9:00 p.m. PT
• Sunday, June 5 - 4:00–5:00 a.m. PT
• Sunday, June 5 - 12:00–1:00 p.m. PT

Five months after the game's initial release, a new, free demo available to be downloaded at any time was released for the game. The demo allows players to play the game with a limited amount of characters (Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach, Toad, and Yoshi), with only the Quick Battle and Cup Battles modes available. Quick Battle can be played for a total of seven times, while only the Cannon Cup is available in Cup Battles and can be played once.

Staff

Main article: List of Mario Strikers: Battle League staff

As with the previous two games in the Mario Strikers series, Mario Strikers: Battle League was developed by Next Level Games, though this is the company's first game since its full acquisition by Nintendo. The game was directed by Devon Blanchet, who previously served as a design director for Luigi's Mansion 3, while the music was composed by Chad York and Darren Radtke, who composed for every Super Mario game by Next Level Games since Mario Strikers Charged. This was the final new game in the Super Mario franchise to feature Charles Martinet as the voice of Wario and Waluigi before he stepped down from voice acting in the franchise and became the Mario Ambassador in August of 2023, and also the final game to feature Deanna Mustard as the voice of Daisy.

Update history

Ver. 1.1.0 (released July 21, 2022)

• Additional Content
  • Added “Daisy” as a playable character.
  • Added “Shy Guy” as a playable character.
  • Added the “Desert Ruin” stadium.
  • Added the “Knight” gear set.
• Added Features
  • Increased how many items can be displayed in the Notifications ticker in Strikers Club.
  • When choosing "Random" on the Character Selection screen, the geared version of the Character will be selected (if one exists).
• General
  • Reduced the probability of scoring on a weak shot from far away.
  • Reduced the probability of Stars appearing when you are losing by a 1 or 2 point difference.
  • Revised the CPU behavior and opposing team composition in Cup Battles.
  • Added visible trail to the ball when it’s not in active possession, making it easier to see.
  • Made player numbers easier to see when playing online.
  • Fixed an issue when playing as Waluigi and using a hyper strike in which the ball could hit a goal post and not go in.
  • Made several other adjustments to game balance and fixed several other issues to improve the gameplay experience.

Ver. 1.1.1 (released August 15, 2022)

• Issues Fixed
  • Fixed an issue where the goal keeper would sometimes fail to react to a free lob pass from certain positions, which would result in a goal being scored.

Ver. 1.2.0 (released September 21, 2022)

• Additional Content
  • Added “Pauline” as a playable character.
  • Added “Diddy Kong” as a playable character.
  • Added the “Planetoid” stadium.
  • Added the “Barrel” gear set.
• Added Features
  • Added “Striker Rankings” to the Main Menu. Compete by comparing your individual ability over a fixed period of time with “Skill Score”, which varies with your performance in online matches (excluding Battle Friends).
  • Added the following content to “Strikers Club”.
    • You can now customize supporters in the stadium. Access this by going to “Club Management” → “Stadium” → “Supporters”.
    • You can now use Coins to view fireworks and confetti when you score a goal or when you win a match. Access this by going to “Club Management” → “Match Celebration”.
• General
  • Adjusted the behavior so that CPU teammates mark opponents more quickly.
  • Adjusted the order of characters when you switch characters.
  • Adjusted the charge time of Perfect Free Passes and Perfect Free Lob Passes.
  • Increased the amount of Coins and tokens you earn depending on the results of a match.
  • Changed the period of time for a rule in Strikers Club, which states that a Club will not be allowed to join a season if no member of a Club has been online within a certain amount of time, from 90 days to 30 days.
  • Changed the number of ? Blocks that are thrown to the losing team at kickoff from 2 to 1 when the difference in score is 2 points.
  • Adjusted the match-making system in online matches.
  • Made several other adjustments to game balance and fixed several other issues to improve the gameplay experience.

Ver. 1.3.0 (released December 13, 2022)

• Additional Content
  • Added “Bowser Jr.” as a playable character.
  • Added “Birdo” as a playable character.
  • Added the “Urban Rooftop” stadium.
  • Added the “Shellfish” gear set.
• Added Features
  • Added “Quick Chat” feature to online gameplay. You can now select from four preset messages during each of the onscreen phases to communicate with all players in the match.
• General
  • Added a rule to “Match Settings” that limits ? Blocks that appear during a match to only Team-Colored ? Blocks.
  • Made other adjustments to game balance and fixed other issues to improve the gameplay experience.

Ver. 1.3.1 (released January 24, 2023)

• Issues Fixed
  • Fixed an issue in which Rainbow-colored ? Blocks would not appear during Strikers Club Season Matches.

Ver. 1.3.2 (released March 8, 2023)

• Issues Fixed
  • Fixed an issue in which certain combinations of Stadium Themes and characters could cause the game to crash.
  • Fixed several other issues to improve the gameplay experience.

Reception

Mario Strikers: Battle League generally received mixed to positive reception from critics, for similar reasons as the first two games. The gameplay, presentation, and visuals were very well received; much praise was directed towards the level of depth added to the core mechanics while still being accessible to casual players, but the lack of characters, stadiums (most of which were considered generic), game modes and single-player content received criticism.

Reviews
Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Alex Olney, Nintendo Life	9/10	"Mario Strikers: Battle League is a masterclass in competitive game design. What it lacks in options is more than made up by just how much fun the game is, and it’s absolutely gorgeous to boot. As it stands it already feels like a complete product, but the promise of future updates down the line gives us even more to get excited about. If arcade sport action isn’t your bag, it’ll likely do nothing to sway your opinion, but if you have even a passing interest in this kind of caper, Mario Strikers: Battle League is the best sports game on Switch right now."
Travis Northup, IGN	8/10	"Mario Strikers: Battle League is part skillful soccer game, part ruthless brawler, and almost always a complete blast to play. If you’ve played any games in the series before, there won’t be many surprises in store for you and the small roster of characters and game modes is definitely disappointing, but what’s there is incredibly fun and replayable. I’m impressed by the online mode in the time I’ve had with it so far too, as it sets the stage for a ranked playlist that I look forward to grinding my way to the top of."
Steve Watts, GameSpot	7/10	"Mario Strikers: Battle League is a thin package, without very much variety in terms of game modes and options. But it is a more technically complex game than many of the Mario sports titles, which may give it legs for dedicated players. Sports are all about proving your skill in head-to-head match-ups, and that will have to be enough, because there isn't much else to it."
Alex Stadnik, Game Informer	7.5/10	"Mario Strikers: Battle League may not be the ultimate version of the world's most popular sport, but its strategic matches, fun online modes, and energetic animations make for an enjoyable experience. While the single-player crowd may find the game a bit lacking, Nintendo's return to the pitch is bound to create the same triumphant highs, and friendship-ending lows the company's suite of other party titles is known for."
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
Metacritic		73

Sales

In the UK, Battle League took the #1 spot in weekly physical software sales in its first week on the market, and in under 3 weeks, became the best selling physical game in June in Europe, beating Mario Golf: Super Rush's lifetime sales in the continent. As of September 30, 2022, it has sold 2.17 million copies worldwide, surpassing Super Mario Strikers' lifetime sales and having the best launch out of any Super Mario sports game to date. By December 31, 2022, the game had sold 2.47 million copies.

Pre-release and unused content

• In the initial reveal trailer, the lighting and character models were much more simplified than in the final game.
• In the overview trailer for the game, Purple Yoshi could be seen as part of a purple-colored team. Purple Yoshi did not return in either the First Kick demo or the final game, as Blue Yoshi replaces Purple Yoshi.

Gallery

• 

  Early character models

• 

  Purple Yoshi on the field

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Strikers: Battle League.

• 

  North American English logo

• 

  Mario performing a slide kick

• 

  Mario and Bowser

• 

  Wario being boosted by Waluigi and knocking out Toad

• 

  Mario performing a Hyper Strike

References to other media

• Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3: Wario's dribble animation with him carrying the ball references his ability to do the same towards enemies in the game, along with his Shoulder Bash being used for his animation when tackling.
• Donkey Kong Country: An arrangement of "DK Island Swing" plays on the Jungle Retreat stage.
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: Yoshi's dash animation references his run cycle in this game.
• Paper Mario: Shy Guy's match victory animation with him floating using three colored balloons is a reference to Sky Guys.
• Luigi's Mansion: An arrangement of the main theme of this game plays on the Spooky Mansion stage.
• Mario Party 6: One of Yoshi and Toad's poses when entering the stadium as a teammate has them assume the poses of their respective renders from this game.
• Super Mario Strikers: Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Waluigi's artwork is based on their respective artwork from this game.
• New Super Mario Bros.: The Mushroom Hill stage is centered around the grass world, and the Main Theme has been rearranged as one of the themes for the stage.
• Mario Strikers Charged: The Cup Battles mode features arrangements of both Road to the Strikers Cup themes that play in that respective mode, along with the cup victory theme. Yoshi and Birdo's themes have also been rearranged, a part of Bowser's theme shows up in the track for Lava Castle, and the Golden Goal plays an arrangement of the Sudden Death theme, this time including the parts from the opening version of the theme. The main leitmotif also plays in the beginning of the opening movie. The Cannon Gear Set is based off of the characters' outfits from this game. Waluigi's Hyper Strike involving vines going through opponents is taken from his Mega Strike, where he uses a vine whip to shoot the ball, and Daisy's Hyper Strike in the freeze-frame has her in a similar position to her artwork, along with the flowers crystalizing, which references her Mega Strike of gathering crystals to punch the ball.
• Mario Party 8: One of Waluigi's poses when he enters the stadium as a teammate mimics that of his artwork from this game.
• Mario Party DS: One of Waluigi's animations in the Cup Battles victory ceremony has him in a pose taken from his render in this game.
• Mario Kart Wii: Birdo and Diddy Kong's voice clips are taken from this game. Rosalina assumes the pose of her render from this game when she enters the stadium.
• Mario Super Sluggers: Some characters' voice clips are recycled from this game.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns: The decorations of the Jungle Retreat court resemble DK's Tree House as seen in this game.
• Mario Sports Mix: Some voice clips are taken from this game.
• Super Mario 3D Land: Boom Boom's voice clips are taken from this game.
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: The decorations of the Spooky Mansion court reference Gloomy Manor and the Dark Moon, and the game features an arrangement of Gloomy Manor's music.
• Super Mario 3D World: Super Bell Hill's theme is arranged as one of the tracks that play on the Mushroom Hill stage. Some voice clips are reused from the game, including Mario's, specifically when he enters the stadium.
• Mario Kart 8: The majority of the characters' voice clips are taken from this game. One of the club decorations for Planetoid has a statue of a Toad in a space suit similar to the ones found in the game's online menu.
• Mario Party: Star Rush: Some of Diddy Kong's voice clips are taken from this game.
• Super Mario Odyssey: Jump Up, Super Star! is arranged for Pauline's theme.
• Mario Tennis Aces: Some of Bowser Jr.'s voice clips are taken from this game.
• Mario Kart Tour: Some of Pauline's voice clips are taken from this game, along with some unused ones.
• One of Waluigi's victory animations when he scores a goal has him strike the same pose as artworkMedia:Waluigi 2021 Nintendo Minute Artwork.png of him that was seen in Nintendo Minute's blue Nintendo Switch Lite unboxing video (albeit with his rose in his mouth, rather than in his hand while sticking his tongue out).

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	マリオストライカーズ: バトルリーグ Mario Sutoraikāzu: Batoru Rīgu	Mario Strikers: Battle League
Chinese (simplified)	马力欧激战前锋 战斗联赛 Mǎlì'ōu Jīzhàn Qiánfēng Zhàndòu Liánsài	Mario Fierce Battle Strikers: Battle League Match
Chinese (traditional)	瑪利歐激戰前鋒 戰鬥聯賽 Mǎlì'ōu Jīzhàn Qiánfēng Zhàndòu Liánsài	Mario Fierce Battle Strikers: Battle League Match
French (NOA)	Mario Strikers: Battle League[?]	Mario Strikers: Battle League
French (NOE)	Mario Strikers: Battle League Football[?]	Mario Strikers: Battle League Football
Korean	마리오 스트라이커즈 배틀 리그[?] Mario Seuteulaikeojeu Baeteul Ligeu	Mario Strikers Battle League

Trivia

It has been requested that this section be rewritten and expanded to include more information. Reason: the second main trivia point needs to be elaborated; for instance, which of Waluigi's in-game animations mimic his past renders?

• This is the first game in the Mario Strikers series where almost all voice lines are reused from other Super Mario games, rather than being newly recorded or reused from Super Mario Strikers.
  • It also does not reuse voice lines from the previous entries, with one exception being when Mario wants the ball to be passed to him, as well as most of Birdo's voice lines.
• Some animations and poses that the characters have resemble various past promotional artwork and renders, particularly with Waluigi, such as Mario Party DS, Mario Party 8, and Mario Kart Wii.

External links

Official websites

• North American game page (English)
• European game page (English)
• Japanese website

Advertisements

• "Hyper Strikes" advertisement
• "So Much Fun It Hurts" advertisement
• "So Much Fun It Hurts" advertisement (unlisted version)
• "Customize With Gear" advertisement
• "Online Play" advertisement
• "Here We Go" launch trailer
• "1st Free Update" trailer