It wouldn’t be a Nintendo console without Mario’s sporting holidays, and on the Switch we’ve already seen plenty. Golf, tennis, and the Olympics might be the famous plumber’
It wouldn’t be a Nintendo console without Mario’s sporting holidays, and on the Switch we’ve already seen plenty. Golf, tennis, and the Olympics might be the famous plumber’s usual choices, but every so often, we find him on less familiar turf. It’s been 15 years since he last took to the football field but finally, Nintendo’s returned to the beautiful game once more with Mario Strikers: Battle League Football. Bringing back the original developers, Next Level Games, Battle League is a familiar pleasure. It comes with a few changes, though. Some of those come down to numbers – there are fewer playable characters and you can’t score six goals at once anymore, a minor travesty. Crucially though, what we’ve got feels more refined and more skillful, and it’s a ton of fun with friends. First up: forget about formation tactics. This is 5v5, so you’ll instead be taking note of each character’s unique stats. For example, Bowser packs powerful strikes and hard-hitting tackles, Toad is speedy and great for passing, and Luigi’s your classic ‘all-rounder’. It’s worth assessing your picks, and you can choose everyone in your team except the goalkeeper, Boom Boom. You try arguing about positions with a personified red shell. Battle League comes with three different modes, starting with a ‘quick battle’ option. From here, you can go online or fight the CPU, though if you fancy some local multiplayer, the game supports a maximum of eight people. So, get ready to split up those Joy-Cons. Once you’re ready, each character can shoot, pass, lob the ball, tackle, and throw items at the opposing team – all the classic moves, plus the ones FIFA players wish they could get away with. If you’re dribbling and there’s no one to pass to, you’ve now got a quick dodge, accessed by flicking the right joystick – a handy addition.
