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The Mario Football series, also known as the Mario Strikers series in North America and Japan, is a series of Mario soccer games. It is a Nintendo-exclusive series that launched its first game in 2005. The series only contains two games to date: Mario Smash Football and Mario Strikers Charged Football. The game can be played from one to up to four players at one time. Mario Strikers Charged Football also features Wi-Fi capability.

Mario Smash Football
Mario Smash Football, the first game in the series, was released on the Nintendo Gamecube. It featured basic rules of soccer, although having its own playing style as implied in several sport Mario games. One specialized rule was Super Strikes. Only the team captain could execute a Special Strike, and if done so perfectly, the shot would always make the goal, and be worth 2 points. There are a total of eight different playable team captains, four different sidekick players, and two different goalies. A sequel was released in 2007: Mario Strikers Charged Football.

Mario Strikers Charged Football
Mario Strikers Charged Football, the second and most recent installment in the series, was released on the Wii in 2007. Wi-Fi capability was a new addition to the game, allowing players to compete across the world over the internet. The game featured four new team captains: Bowser, Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, and Petey Piranha, as well as four new types of sidekicks (Boos, Dry Bones, Monty Moles, and Shy Guys). The game included new fields to compete, many of them containing certain gimmick that would modify the situation of every match. For this second mainstream, the characters would have special kicks to score, like sidekicks' skillshots or the powerful Mega Strikes of the captains, which Kritter proves his potential to stop the soccer balls, under the control of the user. Also, new power-ups has been added for each team captain, known as Super Abilities.

Game Techniques
Just as in real soccer, in the Mario Football series, characters can use different kinds of moves that allow to the player to master any match.


 * Pass: One of the most basic moves consist of giving the Soccer Ball to the team's player. In Mario Smash Football passing a ball quickly would make the goalkeeper to react slowly for the ball. In Mario Strikers Charged Football, a pass could charge the ball to a higher power, giving more possibilities to make a reliable score.


 * Deke: A deke is evading an opponent's offensive move while the user holds the ball. In Smash Football, a timed evasion will provide a brief speed boost for the user to make distance with the rival. In Strikers Charged Football, a deke could be a defensive or counter-offensive move that serves to control the ball and preserve its current power.


 * Shoot: The main rule of the soocer is to put the ball in the opponent's goal and score, and this can be done by shooting. In both games, the player can create a Charged Shot for a potential goal by keeping pressed the respective button to shoot.
 * Slide Tackle: A slide tackle is an offensive move which the user slides on the ground towards the opponent holding the ball to knock him or her off. A smart slide tackle would serve to gain immediate posession of the ball, making it a ball Steal.


 * Perfect Pass: Only seen in Smash Football, a perfect pass is a special strategy where two or more players perform a pass near to the goalie. Once done a perfect pass, the receptor will make a powerful shot in a way similar to a charged shot.


 * Big Hit: A big hit is a violent tackle given by a player to the rival. The one hit remains motionless for some seconds. Though effective to take down opponents, a big hit is recommended to use against the one that holds the ball. Hitting another member who does not have the ball, will result a foul in favor for the opposite team which they receive an item.


 * Turbo Running/Chipping: The Turbo Running makes a character gain some speed when having the ball. In Smash Football, the turbo running is an advanced move, that makes characters run faster, but losing precision to do other moves if they have ball. In Strikers Charged Football, this move is called Chipping and can be done to quick slightly the ball, charging it as result.


 * Super Strike: Only the captains (and all the members of the Super Team) can perform the most powerful move in Smash Football that is the Super Strike. To do so, the user must charge the ball like a charged shot. A meter appears on screen, so the player must place the moving cursors in the right spot to make a reliable shot that the Goalkepper cannot stop. A Super Strike is worth 2 goals. The opposing team can rock the user's meter to possibly weaken the shot and make it easier for the Goalkeeper to catch.


 * Skillshot: In Striker Sharged Football, sidekicks can perform a special charged shot called Skillshot. The shots that they perform can alter the Goalkepper's state like burning their hands or stunning them for a short period of time so that the player can make an easy goal afterward.


 * Mega Strike: Just present in Strikers Charged Football, this is a mighty move that only captains can do. A Mega Strike can be pulled off by charging the ball. A gauge appears on screen to show the number of goals and the power of the strike. Depending for how long has been charged, the Mega Strike's worth between 3 to 6 goals. Goalkeepers can stop these shots and so reduce the number of goals. As in Smash Football, the opposing team can shake the user's gauge to trick him /her off an avoid to make higher scores.

Characters
In the Mario Football series, characters are classified in three ranks: The leader or Captain, Sidekicks and the Goalkeeper. Additionally, there are four (MSF) to five (MSCF) player classes that a character is in the pitch.


 * Balanced: balanced players have a balanced level on passing the ball, shooting, speed and defense aspects.
 * Playmaker: Characters within this class are masters of passing and agility. However, they sacrifice in shooting and defense.
 * Defensive: Introduced only in Mario Strikers Charged Football, Defensive players are speedy, but lack of excellent passing and shooting. Their defense, however, is on the top.
 * Offensive: Offensive players have the highest level of passing and shooting, while their speed and defenses are the lowest.
 * Power: Also known as Aggressive, power characters boast on shooting and defense despite their poor speed and passing skills.

Captains
Captains are the leaders of the team who always hold the soccer ball when a match starts. Captains are unique because they have the most powerful special abilities that would change drastically any match if performed. In Mario Smash Football, they had the ability to make double goals using their Super Strikes. For the Wii game Mario Strikers Charged Football, they were capable to use Mega Strikes to make many goals in a row as well as using their Super Abilities against the opponents.

Sidekicks
Sidekicks are the captain's helpers and make up the rest of the team. Unlike catains, sidekicks don't have many special moves, though in Mario Strikers Charged Football they are masters of special kicks called Skillshots. Using this ability, a sidekick is able to perform a powerful shot that can stun the goalkeeper for a time or pull off a reliable score once upon charged completely the soccer ball.

Goalkeepers
Goalkeepers will prevent that the opponent make goals in his team's field. In field, the goalkeeper is able to hit and knock opponent players going for the ball. In Mario Smash Football and Strikers Charged Football, Kritters take the role of the team's goalkeeper - as for the Super Team it is the Robo-Kritter. Although the goalkeeper is immune at any hit, he can remain momentarily stunned or dizzy by a powerful shot like a charged shot or a Super Strike.

In Strikers Charged Football, goalies learned a new move which allows them to stop incoming shots caused by the captains' Mega strikes. The player itself controls Kritter's hands to block every shot.

Stadiums
Stadiums are the courses where matches take place. In Smash Football, there were seven stadiums available, while in Strikers Charged Football counts with ten more, plus those seen in the first game. Here, the old stadiums are called "Classics" by being the first to appear in the series; and the newer known as "The Arenas". Many of these stadiums, unlike the classics, take place in harsh and intense environments loaded with gimmicks that can turn any match into a tricky game for the players.

Items
Just as in many Mario spin-off games such as the Mario Kart series or other Mario sports, in the Mario Football series, the players count with an arsenal of items or power-ups to crush, blow or freeze opponents in order to take away the ball from their feet. Items can only be obtained if the player shoots the ball to the opponent's goal. Additionally, a team receive an item if a member that doesn't have the ball is hit by the opponent. Normally, the team with less scores will receive more powerfull items that would help them to do a goal.


 * Banana: Players litter the field by dropping many Bananas to slip their opponents and lose control. It can be used as well like a shield to block some homing hazards such as shells. This item can be obtained in packs of one to six.


 * Green Shell: Koopa shells go in straight line, bouncing over walls and tripping everything on its path. Green shells can come in singles or triplets.


 * Red Shell: Koopa shells that home in on a character, making them to trip over. Red shells come in singles or triplets.


 * Blue Shell: A Koopa shell that acts very similar to a green shell, going in straight lines and bouncing over walls. However, blue shells freeze a character for several seconds when they touch. Blue shells can come in singles or triplets.


 * Spiny Shell: A red koopa shell covered with spikes. Once shot, they go in straight lines, bouncing on walls and tripping any character on their path. Unlike other shells, Spiny shells can hit characters many times until disintegrate for last time over a wall or explode.


 * Giant Banana: Giant Bananas appear in Smash Football as Donkey Kong's special power-up as he received normal bananas. In Strikers Charged Football it can be used by all characters. Just like normal bananas, characters let drop a big banana over the ground that trips over any character who steps on it. Here, Giant Bananas only come in singles.


 * Giant Green Shell: A royal-sized variant of the green shell. Once shot, it crushes any character on its path, leaving them motionless during several seconds. Giant green shells only come in singles.


 * Giant Red Shell: A big red shell that homes in on the nearer player's opponent. After hitting its target, it begins to navigate the field in straight lines, bouncing off walls and dispatching any player's head into the ground. The are obtained in singles.


 * Giant Blue Shell: This dangerous giant shell freezes solid any character on its path when shot. Just after bouncing many times over walls, the shell may break itself up or explode, increasing its range to freeze many characters at once.


 * Giant Spiny Shell: Similar to a giant green shell, this item will crush any player on its path after shot. It may break itself up or explode after several rebounds in the field.


 * Bob-omb: An explosive item that is thrown towards the opponent to make them to fly and stun for a short time. Bob-ombs will explode after landing, affecting any player with their blasts. They can come in singles or triplets. In Strikers Charged Football a Bob-omb is one of few items that can affect a goalkeeper. If a player throws one of these explosives towards them, they will fly and end knocked down on the ground for a while, giving to the opponent an advantage to make an easy goal.


 * Giant Bob-omb: Another dangerous giant item. The user throws this explosive to the nearer opponent. Once the Bob-omb lands over its target, creates a massive shockwave that would affect any other player, leaving them stunned for some seconds. This is one of a few items of the series that are almost unavoidable. They only come in singles. Giant Bob-ombs can also hurt a keeper if the user drops one towards him.


 * Mushroom: The mushroom boosts player's speed for a few seconds. This can be used specially when scaping from opponent's attacks or take quickly the ball by a slide attack.


 * Star: The star will increases a member of the team speed as well as immunity against any opponent's attacks for a few seconds.


 * Chain Chomp: This gargantuan monster will appear landing on the field which can be attended by the shadow that appears over the player. Once landed, it will chase all the members of the opposite team to knock them off temporarily. In Mario Smash Football, a Chain Chomp would crush a player, burying his or her head in the ground. However, in Mario Strikers Charged Football, Chain Chomps appear attacking players by ramming into them, capable to make harm as well to the members of the team that called for it.