Nintendo surprised its owners and strangers by announcing tonight on Nintendo Direct the game we needed but didn’t expect: Mario Strikers: Battle League.
It is an arcade soccer video game featuring Mario and his friends. The original Super Mario Strikers (known as Mario Smash Football in Europe) was released on GameCube in 2005 and has become a cult classic. A few years later, in 2007, a Nintendo Wii sequel, Mario Strikers Charged, was released.
And now, five years later, we will finally have the third installment. Mario Strikers: Battle League will repeat the formula of 5v5 soccer matches with power ups and special attacks. Think of it as a kind of Mario Tennis or Mario Golf, but football.
Although many details are not revealed, we do know that Battle League will have customizable gear (which affects not only the appearance, but also speed, power and pass accuracy stats), an online mode and 4v4 local multiplayer.
There’s also a Club mode where twenty players can come together as a team to work together by scoring and battling to reach the top positions on a leaderboard.
Mario Strikers: Battle League will release exclusively for Nintendo Switch the following day, June 10. You can then watch its first trailer, with some gameplay footage:
