Nintendo's newest Mario sports game, DLC for Mario Strikers post-launch, what Nintendo delivered at release is substandard.
Nintendo has lately made a trend of releasing incomplete games and then supplementing missing content with DLC. Mario Golf: Super Rush is another recent example of one that launched without core gameplay features. Essential components like changing U skill levels and an online ranked mode were withheld from the game for months. Due to Nintendo confirming DLC is coming, Mario Strikers: Battle League will undoubtedly follow the same path, but both the lack of available content and the thought of waiting for integral components are large reasons players are agitated with Battle League.
Mario Strikers: Battle League is a beautifully complex game at its core: it's fast-paced, technical, and fun. Battle League includes advanced techniques like Perfect es and Hyper Strikes, which require precise timing and practice. However, beyond the gameplay itself, Battle League is clearly missing key features to keep players engaged. The lack of a story mode or unlockables, a small character roster, and unimpactful stadiums really detract from the overall experience of Battle League. While Nintendo has emphasized competitive play above all else with this title, it needed to add enough content to interest casual fans as well if it intended to sell Battle League as a full game.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Looks Unfinished With No Campaign & Small Roster
Players have come to expect campaigns that build a narrative and challenge them to master these sports games like Mario Strikers: Battle League's mechanics. Even with the criticisms Mario Tennis Aces and Mario Golf: Super Rush received, both included adventure modes that had an overarching goal, unique character interactions, dialogue, and cutscenes. Battle League could have easily included an interesting story centered around the Galactic Strikers Federation and the game's science fiction elements. Players could have composed teams and vied for the championship against intergalactic entities and robots like the tutorial host Fútbot. Instead, it presents players with lackluster Cup Battles, which are generic matches against Us that offer very few rewards other than Mario Strikers: Battle League's Bushido gear and coins.
Though the coming DLC will presumably include more characters, Mario Strikers: Battle League's baseline cast is surprisingly barebones. The Mario universe has only expanded over the years, yet this game offers fewer characters than even the Wii's Mario Strikers: Charged, which contained 12 captains and a slew of Bowser's minions. Staples of the franchise are missing, such as Birdo, Toadette, Diddy Kong, Bowser Jr., and Daisy. There are also only five stadiums available, and none of them have any impact on the gameplay itself, meaning they are purely aesthetic. While the stadiums are varied and detailed when viewed from afar, it's harder to notice their differences from the top-down view during games, and without any interactive elements, the stages tend to blend.
Nintendo seems to have prioritized Mario Strikers: Battle League's competitive multiplayer experience above all else, and perhaps that would excuse its lack of features if the online wasn't missing necessary features as well. In the game's current state, only two Nintendo Switches can connect at a time remotely, meaning players can't form teams of four while playing on separate systems. This inhibits even the potential of the game's multiplayer and defeats the purpose of the d eight-player matches. Players can only hope that Nintendo's promised DLC for Mario Strikers: Battle League will amend most of these issues, but given the largely negative reaction fans have had to this unfinished product, the game's audience may have already lost interest.
