Mario Strikers: Battle League

Mario Strikers: Battle League (known in European languages as Mario Strikers: Battle League Football) is an upcoming game for the Nintendo Switch. It is the third game in the Mario Strikers series and the first one since Mario Strikers Charged over 15 years prior, featuring new gear, items, and moves. Up to eight players can play the game in multiplayer. The game also features an online Strikers Club mode where players can host clubs with up to 20 players and compete against other clubs to earn points and increase their rankings. The game is set to release on June 10, 2022.

Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to that of previous Mario Strikers games, where two teams of five (four players and a goalie) compete for points by getting the ball into the opposing team's net. Following the rules of street soccer, there are no penalties like fouls, meaning that players are able to tackle their opponents around the field. Like previous games, items and special moves are used to the turn the tide of gameplay. Unlike in previous games, rather than having one main captain and three generic sidekicks as teammates, teams in this game (apart from the goalie) are comprised entirely of main playable characters.

A new technique introduced in this game is called the Team Tackle. If a player tackles their own teammate, they send the teammate quickly across the stage. This can be used both defensively, by using Team Tackle at an opponent and stealing the ball from them, or offensively, by getting the teammate close to the goal. Similar to the Super Strike from Super Mario Strikers and Mega Strike from Mario Strikers Charged, the new Hyper Strike acts as the game's special move, and is activated in a similar manner as the latter. Unlike those moves, however, Hyper Strikes must first be obtained by collecting a Strike Orb that occasionally appears on the field. Additionally, rather than just having aesthetic differences, each character's Hyper Strike has different gameplay-related properties, making them similar to that of the Special Shots from Mario Sports Mix. Hyper Strikes are also able to bypass goalies.

Another new concept introduced in this game is customization. In addition to aesthetic customization options, like team color, gear can be purchased from the in-game shop with Coins, which allow the player to adjust various attributes such as their movement speed, curve shots, resistance to getting the ball stolen from them, and more. When selecting characters, the player can choose whether to equip their character with gear or not.

Power-ups
Power-ups return from previous games, though this time, they are obtained from ? Blocks like other Mario spinoff games.

Characters
There are 10 playable characters available in the game. Of those characters, Rosalina and Toad (as a primary character) are playable for the first time in the Mario Strikers series. Although sidekicks do not return in this game, the player has the option to have multiple Toads or Yoshis on a team, in a similar vein to sidekicks. Boom Booms are seen as goalies, taking over the role from Kritters in previous games. It is also confirmed that the game will have post-launch updates, with additional characters being included.

Every character has five different attributes:

The stats in the following table are the characters' default stats, without any gear applied.

Non-playable

 * Fútbot
 * Toads
 * Yoshis
 * Shy Guys
 * Koopa Troopas

Fields
Unlike previous Mario Strikers games, the soccer fields now consist of two individual halves, each with a different theme. Like in Super Mario Strikers, the different fields are only aesthetic, rather than housing any varying gimmicks like in Mario Strikers Charged, aside from the electric fences that can shock players present around the perimeter of the field. However, a new feature in this game is the ability to visually upgrade the stage's appearance, adding more scenery around it, using a new bolt-like currency. There are four levels of upgrades the player can give the stage, with the first three costing 100,000 bolts and the fourth costing 2,500,000 bolts. In addition to the stage itself, the player can also customize the stage's turf, goal line, electric fence, and goal designs.
 * Lava Castle
 * Spooky Mansion
 * Jungle Retreat
 * Mushroom Hill
 * Royal Castle

Gear
A new feature to the Mario Strikers series is gear, allowing players to buy different outfits to change the characters' stats. Each piece of gear, when applied, will increase a particular stat by a certain amount while also decreasing another stat by a certain amount. There are six sets of gear, each involving increasing a particular stat. Each gear set contains four pieces, including a head, arms, body, and legs piece, which cost 100 coins. It is currently unknown if buying gear will only buy it for the character it is bought for or if it will be bought for everyone.

Promotion
On April 13, 2022, the Nintendo UK Twitter account announced that any pre-orders of the game made through the My Nintendo Store will receive a bonus Fan Scarf. If a pre-order is made through, an exclusive decal sheet featuring the game's artwork is included.

On May 16, 2022, Nintendo's German YouTube channel uploaded a gameplay video of a Mario Strikers: Battle League match commented by German sports announcer.

On May 25, 2022, Nintendo of Japan revealed that Switch icons for the game that can be purchased with My Nintendo Platinum Points will be released on the Nintendo Switch Online app on June 10, the same day as the game's release.

Pre-release demo
A free, limited time demo titled Mario Strikers: Battle League First Kick was released prior to the game's full launch. The demo allowed online play via the Versus Everyone and Join Friends modes at set periods from June 3 through June 5, 2022, with single-player gameplay available at any time only through the Training mode. A Nintendo Switch Online membership is required to play online matches.

The following was the schedule for the demo's active online sessions:
 * Friday, June 3 - 8:00–9:00 p.m. PT
 * Saturday, June 4 - 4:00–5:00 a.m. PT
 * Saturday, June 4 - 12:00–1:00 p.m. PT
 * Saturday, June 4 - 8:00–9:00 p.m. PT
 * Sunday, June 5 - 4:00–5:00 a.m. PT
 * Sunday, June 5 - 12:00–1:00 p.m. PT

Staff
As with the previous two games in the Mario Strikers series, Mario Strikers: Battle League was developed by Next Level Games, though this is the company's first game since its full acquisition by Nintendo. This also means that Nintendo EPD were able to assist with the development of the game. The game was directed by Devon Blanchet, who previously served as a design director for Luigi's Mansion 3, while the music was composed by Chad York and Darren Radtke, their previous music works being Mario Strikers Charged and Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon.

References to other games

 * Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3: Wario's dribble animation with him carrying the ball references his ability to do the same towards enemies in the game, along with his Shoulder Bash being used for his animation when tackling.
 * Donkey Kong Country: An arrangement of "DK Island Swing" plays on the Jungle Retreat stage.
 * Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: Yoshi's dash animation references his run cycle in this game.
 * Super Mario 64: Mario does a Triple Jump in his victory animation, and an arrangement of "Inside the Castle Walls" plays on the Peach's Castle stage.
 * Luigi's Mansion: An arrangement of the main theme of this game plays on the Spooky Mansion stage.
 * New Super Mario Bros.: The Mushroom Hill stage is centered around the grass world, and the Ground Theme has been rearranged for the stage.
 * Mario Strikers Charged: The Cup Battles mode features arrangements of both Strikers Cup themes that play in that respective mode, along with the winning cup theme. Yoshi's character theme has also been rearranged, and the Golden Goal plays an arrangement of the Sudden Death theme, this time including the parts from the opening theme in this game. Waluigi's Hyper Strike involving vines going through opponents is taken from his Mega Strike, where he used a vine whip to shoot the ball.
 * Donkey Kong Country Returns: The decorations of the Jungle Retreat court resemble DK's Tree House as seen in this game.
 * Mario Sports Mix: Some voice clips are taken from this game.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: Boom Boom's voice clips are taken from this game.
 * Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: The decorations of the Spooky Mansion court reference the Dark Moon, and the game features an arrangement of Gloomy Manor's music.
 * Mario Kart 8: The majority of the characters' voice clips are taken from this game.