Super Mario Strikers Preview

Boy, you’d think with all these sports Mario has been taking up lately that he’d be losing a little weight don’t you? Well regardless of his weight or total body mass, Mario is one heck of an athlete, and constantly proving that he’s got the talent! But one has to imagine what’s next for him though, testing his aerodynamics by having his own hang glider racing game? Nah, let’s not even try to imagine that. But nevertheless, soccer is most definitely the most endurance testing sport out there, so Mario is bound to get a heavy dose of exercise in this game! Super Mario Strikers takes the traditional rules of soccer with obviously adding them to the crazy cast of the Mushroom Kingdom. But of course this wouldn’t be a Mario sports title without the adding of out of this world elements to make it more entertaining now would it? Don’t expect any kind of FIFA here folks, this is Mario’s world!

People should definitely take first note that Strikers is still very much early in development and that in the most recent demo, only one mode was playable. However, based on that one mode, it seems pretty clear where Nintendo is taking Mario’s latest sports iteration. Just like in other notable Mario sports titles such as Power Tennis and the upcoming Superstar Baseball, Strikers takes on the quirky atmosphere that Mario always brings to them along with the realistic features that still maintain the traditional atmosphere of the sport!

The demo of this game featured such modes as Grudge Match, Battle Mode, Super Battle Mode, Custom Battle and Spoils. But of all those, only Grudge Match was able to be played. Grudge Match seems to take on all the regular aspects of the game of soccer, while of course taking on those “unique” elements of the Mario franchise. Be prepared to see the likes of various Koopa shells, Koopa characters and an electric fence gracing the field!

As for how the game will play, it seems pretty straightforward. The B button will seemingly control all ball kicking, slide attacks and “loose” ball shots. Slide attacks are generally utilized to “tackle” an opposing player while taking the ball away. Loose ball shots are shots executed without having initial control over the ball. The A button appears to control regular passing, player switching and loose ball passing. Like loose ball shooting, loose ball passing has your controlled player pass a ball without having initial control over it. The X button will handle all activation of the game’s various power ups. Then the Y button will tackle player deking and actual physical hitting. No, intentional hitting isn’t allowed in real soccer, but this is Mario’s world remember? Then finally utilizing the shoulder buttons, R will be your speed boost and the L button shall assist the use of volley and chips shots. However, to do those shots, you have to use L in conjunction with A and B.

Now as for how the power ups work, it’s somewhat similar to the Mario Kart franchise. Power ups in Strikers are gained through a character’s strength and the number of tackles he does to opposing players. All power ups will be denoted by three separate icons by whoever you’re using. Whenever you happen to choose to activate a power up, it will generally affect just about everyone on the opposing team. The red shell power up will take off in all directions while the available Chain Chomp will simply wreck havoc on the whole field! To make things even more interesting (and somewhat taking from Mario Tennis), each character can individually power up their own kick shots!

So how does the kick shot charging work? Well just like Tennis does it in a very similar fashion, when you hold the B button, a series of red rings begins to encircle your controlled character. But you have to be careful though, since soccer is an open-ended sport, charging up your shots leaves you very much vulnerable to opposing player attacks. However, if you do manage to succeed with it and put the ball in the net, the camera will shift to a nice sequence to offer a nice dramatic effect to your goal! With lots of nice special effects goodies: smoke, fire and light will fill up the screen! The same situation pertains to when each character actually graces the field with their presence. Each have their own unique entrance complimented with various eye opening goodies!

So as is obviously seen from this preview, Strikers doesn’t have a whole lot of information out about it right now. But it’s indeed shaping up to be yet another entertaining Mario sports title. So come this November, all you gaming enthusiasts who enjoy taking to the large field of grass to kick the ol’ white and black ball around, Strikers is coming for you!