Mario Strikers: Battle League

It's fine. People are exaggerating when they say it's bad. Sure it isn't snappy like the first two, and it's nowhere near the explosion fest that was Strikers Charged's opening, and it lacks the transitions to other stadiums and characters, but it's not terrible? It's probably the most forgettable one but it's really hard topping Strikers Charged at least.
 
It's just middling.

It's not good, it's not bad. Just meh.

Though I don't think it's over the lack of effort since the animations are still crisp, I think it mainly flops in editing.
 
i found the animation itself somewhat more floaty than it was on the wii. a particularly bad example of this is bowser's goofy jog before he gets blown off by the bomb.

the editing is also an issue, yeah. the direction for the wii cinematic wouldn't have allowed for slow, focused shots like the one where rosalina fixes her sight on luigi.
 
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There's no scene of Peach killing Wario so it's automatically worse in that regard.
 
Some people are commenting on how this game is under 2 GB of data, which is smaller than Mario Tennis Ace's nsp size (without the update files; the update files add around 570MB which is still like 2.5 GB of data so still smaller and roughly the same as Mario Party Superstars). However I'm sure a large chunk of Tennis Aces's size went to the files for the story mode of the game (after all the biggest folder is the "model" folder, and the "court" folder which alone is ~900 MB or a just 100 MB short of 1 GB, nearly half of the game's size, and a lot of these are story-mode exclusive stuff like the different sand courts since you are playing tennis inside the temples and whatnot; character folder which includes all playable AND nonplayable character AND DLC AND costumes is 200MB), which we know Strikers Battle League most likely won't have.

Again, it's not like the first two Strikers had *much* to do, nor does it have large detailed environments like Mario Kart Wii (which also has an fmv video that does pad out the size of that one). Now, I'm saying, don't expect much more than the reveals from these trailers, and do expect content updates after release, and I probably don't advise getting this game at launch especially since it's pretty expected it'll be sold for 60. However I don't advise getting games at launch in general these days, be smart and let other schmucks be 60 dollars lighter being your guinea pigs
 
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I like Kremlings but I think Boom-Booms are really starting to grow on me as the new goalies from their artwork alone.

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Look at how much he strains to withstand that unrelenting football! (I wonder if Masanori Sato was commissioned to do the promo artwork for this game like he was with the previous Mario Strikers games.)

Personally, I would have liked to see Chargin' Chuck as a playable character more than anyone, because if Super Mario World and Mario Golf are anything to go by, he's been shown to be quite versatile in sports. That, and it would've have seemed like an interesting twist of fate to see him play association football.
 
I'm still gonna get the game, I've been wanting to play a striker game on switch and thankfully they didn't axe my favorite character from the roster.
 
Not Pom Pom, Boom Boom.
 
They're both Boom Boom in the trailer and that's not likely to change in the final product.
 
opening cinematic dropped on youtube


I was practically so disappointed seeing this 2 days ago LOL. Just where did all that edgy and frantic energy from the last 2 intros went?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!!??!!?!

Honestly though, rewatching the intro again and again, I honestly really dig it. As said here already it's certainly not as frantic as the last 2 intros were(Which I don't even know how the hell you can try to beat Charge's intro), but I really like what was shown. Looking past Mario and Bowser jumping out of the portals(Which I do find funny), I love the utilization of squash and stretch and it generally looks smooth, like the actual game itself. It honestly looks the best out of all the intros, which makes sense given the year this is made in, and is overall animated well. I know some people feel it's too floaty and slow which I fully understand and agree to an extent, but I think it also does add some weight into the characters. Like with Bowser's walk run before he gets hit by the bomb, you could feel how heavy he is with his steps. Another thing I really love is that everyone actually does get tocshine a bit here,

- Mario starting things out and ending with the mega strike
- Luigi initially getting tackled on, but eventually steals the ball from Bowser by the end and passes it to his bro
- Peach using a Bomb Omb at Bowser
- Toad kicking the ball around Rosalina
- Bowser unfortunately gets the shorter end of the stick here, but he does kick Donkey Kong which leads to getting the ball again. He also tries to do a mega strike before Luigi steals the ball
- Rosalina having a decision moment, and then tackles Luigi to the electric fence
- Yoshi doing some dribble moves and then passes it to Donkey Kong
- Donkey Kong tackling Mario and Toad as well as doing a megastrike

It really feels like everyone doesn't go to waste here in some form. I know the previous intros did do this, but there were times I felt they could've done a bit more(Daisy didn't even do anything in the Charged intro besides the montage at the end LOL). I guess this is what happens when you have less characters to focus on, which is a bummer since I was looking forward to how Wario and Waluigi act in this. I also really liked the music found here, with a remix of the Strikers Charged leitmotif and an original leitmotif to boot. It gets me pumped to experience the game, which isn't even out yet.

I think the main issues with the intro is just how slow it feels then what it is expected with it being smoother than the previous intros, and it only takes place during one match rather than multiple matches, which once again causes the pacing issue. Overall though, I still like the intro and while it will definitely NEVER beat Strikers Charged or even the first game's intro, it's still certainly a win in my book.
 
New Mario Strikers trailer has Spongebob-like music at the beginning
 
Waluigi has by far the best one:
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Look at my man just dancing so passionately. I know there are people who prefer Charged's Mega Strikes which I understsnd, but I don't know these Hyper Strikers showcase a lot more personality within the characters in my opinion. In Charged all Waluigi did was grab a whip and then hitted the ball, which looked cool especially for the game's gritty style, but doesn't really show personality in my opinion. These Hyper Strikes really show the amount of passion Next Level Games put into their animations.

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Like look at this frame in Luigi's! The squash and stretch, the bounce and weight, it's just all so good. Speaking of Luigi though:
forget the custom animation at the beginning luigi's lil dance at the end is sO CUTE BRO 😭
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I seriously love how they managed to combine Luigi's angry and confident personality from the first 2 Strikers games along with his goofy one from Luigi's Mansion 2 and 3. It's like the best of both worlds.
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Also someone pointed this out, but it looks like Diva Peach still exists somewhere:
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Post-launch updates confirmed

Why has this become the norm for Nintendo? Sell incomplete game at launch for full price ($60 USD, plus tax) and then add content that should've been in the base game via updates or DLC. Anyways, this game is looking to be the Ultra Smash of the Mario Strikers series just like how Mario Golf: Super Rush was the Ultra Trash of the Mario Golf series (no, I don't think that game's updates saved it from mediocrity).

Also, darn...Daisy is more than likely going to be one of the characters added in updates and I was having a good laugh over her being excluded from a spinoff title.
 
How is the game "incomplete"? You're getting what's promised on the cover, right? Why complain about "post launch updates" when this has been the norm for a few years now?
 
I mean it's either they release it early and get free updates or they release it later and people complain about the lack of games.
 
I don't mind post launch updates. Just think of it like I do. We get 10 free dlc characters, and since they are going to take longer they could have even cooler animations. We already have some incredible characters, imagine what could come next! Daisy, Koopa, Pauline. heck they could go and give us a character no one knew they wanted like with Petey Piranha in charged, or super team in the first game. Yea it sucks that we're not getting them immediately, but NLG seems to be passionate about this game, so if they have to wait to add these characters then so be it.

Thanks for reading, and I hope all you BLJs happen first try.
 
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