Mario Strikers: Battle League

What to Know

Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 35

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Despite Daisy’s absence, Mario Strikers: Battle League is a good Mario sports game. But stingy single-player modes mean its only worthwhile for those wanting to dive into online multiplayer.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 35

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 35

Despite Daisy's absence, Mario Strikers: Battle League is a good Mario sports game. But stingy single-player modes mean its only worthwhile for those wanting to dive into online multiplayer.

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Critic Reviews for Mario Strikers: Battle League

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

35

Reviews

Average Score

100

Ranges

8/10

Travis Northup (IGN)

Mario Strikers: Battle League is an over-the-top soccer game that’s wildly fun, even though it does very little new.

June 8, 2022 |

Full Review

Though occasionally likable and basically inoffensive, Mario Strikers: Battle League struggles to build on its ideas and ends up feeling pretty undercooked as an experience.

June 8, 2022 |

Full Review

2.5/5 stars

Joel Franey (GamesRadar+)

7/10

Steve Watts (GameSpot)

Mario Strikers: Battle League has all the makings of a great sports game, but there’s not much there right now.

June 8, 2022 |

Full Review

Travis Northup (IGN)

8/10 - (Read Review)

Mario Strikers: Battle League is an over-the-top soccer game that’s wildly fun, even though it does very little new.

Joel Franey (GamesRadar+)

2.5/5 stars - (Read Review)

Though occasionally likable and basically inoffensive, Mario Strikers: Battle League struggles to build on its ideas and ends up feeling pretty undercooked as an experience.

Steve Watts (GameSpot)

7/10 - (Read Review)

Mario Strikers: Battle League has all the makings of a great sports game, but there’s not much there right now.

**Read all 35 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (35 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
AusGamers	Kosta Andreadis	7 / 10	06-08-2022	It remains to be seen how exactly the online create-a-club stuff pans out in terms of competition, but as a same-room couch jam Mario Strikers: Battle League Football gets better and better the more you play. A surprisingly deep, chaotic bit of Mario Sports action.	Read review
Cerealkillerz	Steve Brieller	7.6 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Luke Mitchell	7 / 10	06-08-2022	The core gameplay of Mario Strikers: Battle League is fast and frenetic, keeping your palms sweaty as you battle with your Nintendo favourites in an intense game of soccer. It’s flashy and well animated in all the best ways, with that trademark personality and charm carrying it a long way. It’s also a wonderful example of “easy to learn, difficult to master”, that starts simple but has some reasonable depth, even within the confines of its short matches. It’s a shame then that there just isn’t much more meat on the bone; with offline modes extremely limited with only quick play and tournaments, you’re going to have to truly love the mechanics to justify spending a lot of your time in competitive multiplayer. For those with a lot of mates to kick around with, that might be enough, but for everybody else, it’s a yellow card.	Read review
COGconnected	James Paley	75 / 100	06-08-2022	Once I got past those first matches, Battle League was a lot more fun. Every match is tense, fast-paced, and packed with action. You’ve got a layer of strategy with the gear, and every character plays differently. If you’re looking for some Mario-style soccer, this game delivers. On the other hand, it’s a thin offering for solo players. Online matches will greatly extend the life of this game, if you’re looking for more challenges. I wish the teammate switching system wasn’t so clunky. I’d also love a larger roster to choose from. But if you’ve got enough opponents, Mario Strikers: Battle League is a pretty great time.	Read review
Daily Star	Tom Hutchison	5 / 5 stars	06-08-2022	Either way, this is a wonderful addition to the Switch catalogue and well worth the £50 fee. It’ll last you all summer and beyond.	Read review
Destructoid	Chris Carter	8 / 10	06-08-2022	I was shocked that Battle League had this much going on under the surface, and the gameplay itself is enough to carry me through for quite some time.	Read review
Digital Trends	Giovanni Colantonio	3 / 5 stars	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League delivers the deepest Mario sports experience yet, with surprisingly nuanced soccer gameplay. There’s just not much to do once you’ve mastered those skills.	Read review
Eurogamer	Tom Phillips	Not Recommended	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers returns with a stripped back entry for Switch that’s ultimately less fun to tackle.	Read review
Game Informer	Alex Stadnik	7.5 / 10	06-08-2022	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.	Read review
Gameblog	Tiny_Ellie	7 / 10	06-08-2022	With a fiendishly fun formula, a production with the greatest of care, and more technical matches, Mario Strikers Battle League is the perfect game for intense parties with friends. Fun times, and mocking around between friends are guaranteed.	Read review
GameSpot	Steve Watts	7 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League has all the makings of a great sports game, but there’s not much there right now.	Read review
GamesRadar+	Joel Franey	2.5 / 5 stars	06-08-2022	Though occasionally likable and basically inoffensive, Mario Strikers: Battle League struggles to build on its ideas and ends up feeling pretty undercooked as an experience.	Read review
GameXplain	Andre Segers	Not Recommended	06-08-2022	Video Review	Read review
Geek Culture	Jake Su	6.8 / 10	06-08-2022	While the core gameplay is solid and the game looks awesome, everything else surrounding it seems to need more work. Whether Nintendo and Next Level Games will do so remains a burning question, and it would be a waste to see the potential of Strikers Club be, well, wasted.	Read review
God is a Geek	Chris White	8 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League Football is great with others and offers plenty of opportunities to shoot, pass, and play the beautiful game despite there being few modes to choose from.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Javier Escribano	87 / 100	06-08-2022	The best Mario sports game, despite Daisy’s absence. It has one of the most fun multiplayer experiences that you can have on Nintendo Switch, both locally and online, that will deliver lots of healthy competition, despite losing some of the charm of the originals and having very few characters, stadiums and single player game modes.	Read review
IGN	Travis Northup	8 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League is an over-the-top soccer game that’s wildly fun, even though it does very little new.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	Adam Starkey	7 / 10	06-08-2022	The best and most balanced Mario Strikers title yet, undercut by limited modes and a lacklustre sense of progression.	Read review
Nintendo Life	Alex Olney	9 / 10	06-08-2022	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.	Read review
PCMag	Jordan Minor	4 / 5 stars	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League makes its long-awaited return as a deliriously fun and accessible soccer game that’s packed with character customization and online modes.	Read review
Polygon	Ana Diaz	Recommended	06-08-2022	The chaotic game breathes new life into franchise characters	Read review
Press Start	Shannon Grixti	7.5 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League is a fun time that is easy enough for anybody to pickup and play but still without depth to mean it should keep an audience engaged for a long period of time. It’s a little lacking in the single player department, but it’s doing some interesting things in the online space to make up for it.	Read review
Screen Rant	Cody Gravelle	3.5 / 5 stars	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League is a fun and colorful game that lacks some of the depth players might expect, and strays pretty far from soccer.	Read review
SECTOR.sk	Matúš Štrba	8 / 10	06-08-2022	After a long wait, we got a new Mario Strikers game and it’s a lot of fun. Action gameplay and variable character abilities will keep you entertained, local multiplayer for up to 8 players is really great. But the game critically lacks content.	Read review
Shacknews	Ozzie Mejia	7 / 10	06-08-2022	As it is, Mario Strikers: Battle League isn’t the World Cup of Nintendo soccer that fans were probably hoping for. Instead, it’s merely an average Sunday game that’s playing on Univision: good for a few hours of entertainment and little more than that.	Read review
SpazioGames	Valentino Cinefra	8 / 10	06-08-2022	With such solid and explosive gameplay, Mario Strikers: Battle League Football represents a decisive step forward for the franchise.	Read review
Stevivor	Ben Salter	7.5 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers Battle League is a lot of fun, but unless you commit to online play, it’s here for a good — but brief — time.	Read review
The Games Machine	Daniele Cucchiarelli	8.9 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers is back. Like Smash Bros. Ultimate this is an “easy to play, hard to master” game in which you’ll find different levels of engagement and entertainment: from fast and furious rapid matches to seasonal multiplayer challenges… and that’s only the tip of the iceberg of things to come.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Steve C	Recommended	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers Battle League is a worthy entry in an excellent series that takes the best aspects of the previous games and hones them to multiplayer perfection. It is more difficult to recommend for solo players – although the core game is still fun – but hopefully the online mode will enable everyone to play the game at its best. Check back soon for the definitive verdict once we’ve had a chance to give it a try	Read review
TrustedReviews	Ryan Jones	3.5 / 5 stars	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League Football is a thrilling take on the football genre, with more end-to-end thrills than FIFA could ever hope for, as well as the chaotic energy that the classic Super Mario items provide. But a stingy offering of single-player modes mean that this is only really worthwhile for those wanting to dive into online multiplayer.	Read review
Twinfinite	Omar Banat	3.5 / 5 stars	06-08-2022	Overall, Mario: Strikers Battle League is a good game that needs more to do. It may be a much better game a year from now, but right now, it is noticeably lacking content.	Read review
VG247	Alex Donaldson	Recommended	06-08-2022	Put simply, I love it all. It’s a worthy successor to the GameCube game in particular, which I still rate as a real classic.	Read review
Video Chums	A.J. Maciejewski	7.9 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League strikes an excellent gameplay balance to make every match exciting and action-packed. It may not take many risks when it comes to supplementary content but what’s here is one solid soccer game nonetheless.	Read review
Wccftech	Nathan Birch	7 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League delivers the frantic fun the franchise is known for, but it feels like it’s only fielding half a team.	Read review
WellPlayed	Kieron Verbrugge	7 / 10	06-08-2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League Football excels on the field, but it struggles to make a compelling offer for solo players or anyone not willing to invest time in forming and maintaining a Strikers Club. It’s just pick-up-and-play enough to work as a party game with mates and it’s compelling to watch in action, but the lack of embellishments is sure to hurt its long-term appeal.	Read review

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About Mario Strikers: Battle League

Game Description / Storyline:

Introducing Mario Strikers: Battle League, a 5-on-5, soccer-like sport with no rules – do whatever it takes to win! Get gritty and try to score the most goals by tackling enemies, using items, and pulling off score-boosting special shots. Super Mario series mainstays like Peach, Toad, and Yoshi put their cleats (and stats) to the pitch and will stop at nothing to score. Customize your characters with gear that can augment their stats and appearance. Take the carnage online or pass the ball to players locally – just look out for the electric fence.

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