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Posted on January 3rd, 2006 - 5021 Reads

Rated Everyone Super Mario Strikers GameCube Review Bronze Award

-- Written by Justin Joseph



 Mario is without a doubt the hardest working game character that ever existed. He's saved the damsel in distress, golfed, hit homeruns, drove karts and partied more times than some of us can count. Well, Mario once again chooses to take on another sport, and rather one of the most grueling in the world. This happens to be soccer, as Mario and Co. bring a whole new feeling of attitude and grit to the GameCube. If you ever thought Mario and his buddies couldn't be more mature, you were wrong. Prepare yourself, as Super Mario Strikers shows you a side of Mario that we've never seen before. Oh and don't worry, it's fun stuff.

Strikers features several characters from the Mario universe bringing grit and playing dirty on the soccer field. They include Mario (obviously), Luigi, Waluigi, Daisy and others. Each character is a playable captain, as you choose one of them along with one of four possible sidekicks. They include Koopas, Hammer Bros, Toadstools/Toadettes and Birdo. Each captain has specific strengths, as some focus on offense, others on playmaking and the rest as plain balanced players. The sidekicks don't matter, they are just there for support, they don't increase or reduce anything.

The game also takes places among a nice number of different fields. There are three available at the beginning and you must unlock the rest. Some fields include The Palace, The Underground, and The Crater. The problem that lies here is the view of the designs. Each field has a very distinct look when you're going through them in the menu, but the camera usually focuses on the field. You never really get to see much of the good stuff on the outside until you score a goal or see the beginning and end of the game. Plus the design of each stadium isn't exactly stellar, and that affects the viewing fans as well. Soccer is a huge atmosphere sport, but the fans look like pieces of paper rather than actual characters so that's a little disappointing. However, the fields themselves look superb and truly authentic. You can't exactly see each blade of grass, but the field looks like it and that's a good thing. The nets are also unique to each stadium, as for instance the posts in the Konga stadium are made entirely from wood.

Thankfully the lack of elaborate design in the stadiums is made up for with great looking characters. Each member included from the Mario universe looks great, and this helps their "attitude" get across to players. There may not be much if any spoken dialogue in the game, so it's the actions of the characters that do the talking. It's rather humorous and sometimes even odd to see some gestures and expressions from them. Let's just say something Waluigi does is virtually identical to what members of D-Generation X from the WWF did as their "sign". It depends on your tastes for Mario games, some will find this material funny, others may be turned away by it.

The animation in the game is also extremely well-done and really drives home the arcade style of play. The characters dribbling the soccer ball looks perfect as well as when they kick it. When you go for more powerful kicks, you will always see some sort of glow to the ball that adds for a nice effect. When a character nails a glowing ball, you see a neat looking stream of light trailing behind it wherever it may be going. The game also isn't called Super Mario Strikers for no reason, as the game prides itself upon the captains' "Super Strikes". These also look incredible when you see them at first, but once you've done them a dozen times, you begin wishing you could skip the animation. Super Strikes are more or less soccer ball kicks that have a chance of being unblockable. Each character has unique coloring and moving in each one, but they do get old after a while.

Thankfully playing the game is where Strikers shines a great deal. It's also great how simple it is to control. Passing and one-timers are done with A and all shooting is done with B. You run with turbo holding R, and you can actually do it as much as you please. You obviously hold B to do a charge shot and if you're controlling your captain, you can do a Super Strike. Holding down the button long enough will cause a meter to appear below him or her and you must hit the button two more times, trying to stop the moving line in the green areas. If you're successful with either a regular Super Strike or Perfect Strike, you net your team two goals. This can be very pivotal too, as they have the chance of really turning the tide in a game.

When you're not doing Super Strikes, you can do regular kicks and one-timers. One-timers look extremely cool, and many times the result will be pleasing as well. Making a regular pass has the receiver do the one-timer on the ground. But doing a chip pass by holding L will pass the ball to a teammate in the air allowing you to watch a cool animation of them jumping and turning upside-down to kick the ball. Doing that is generally more effective as you can put the ball near the top of the net easier. It's a good thing too, because the goalies (Kremlings) in the game can at times seem a little too good. Their intelligence isn't always balanced either, as sometimes they won't jump at a chip shot (ball kicked high in the air) and will let it drop easily in the net behind them. Other times they will seem like a brick wall, which obviously benefits whoever team it's on. The best thing to do though to generate quick single goals is stunning them. This can be done with very powerful charge shots or failed Super Strikes. Each will daze the goalies, allowing you almost an open net opportunity for goals every time.

On defense there's even more mayhem to enjoy. You can slide attack to steal the ball with B, do a nasty body hit with Y and utilize your power-ups with X. Body hits are very useful and many players will end up using them a lot during games. They are more or less making who you're controlling (change with A) to lunge towards an opponent with their body trying to smack them. This is an easy way to knock them off the ball, away from the ball, or tasting electric fence. The outside of the soccer is literally lined with an electric fence, and players will experience some humorous shocking if knocked into it. There are also various power-ups in the game, and each are used on the soccer field as you please. This can range from a set of three bananas to chain chomps that will literally chase down your whole opponent team and stun them. Each have their uses, but it's best to use them only when you really need to so you avoid wasting them when you may need them.

One power-up though that no one ever has access to is Bowser himself. At random times during a game, and sometimes never, he will show up on the field with a thundering presence. During this time he literally tips the field like a seesaw and starts breathing fire at anyone who may be caught in his unfortunate path. He can be both a very useful tool or a huge annoyance depending on your position and the time of the game. It's rather difficult to see around him, let alone play around him, so don't expect to be able to take his presence lightly. He's there for a reason, and that's of course to create extra mayhem.

The game itself is set up very simply as well. You have Grudge Matches which allow you to take on a friend or computer opponent in an exhibition match. Then you have Cup Battles. Cup battles obviously have you go through a tournament to prove who's the best Strikers player. The beginning cup isn't exactly long but others like the final one in the last Super Cup Battle can be as long as 16 games. Most of the cups are enjoyable to play, and they are the only way to unlock most of the games' goodies. This includes new stadiums and cheats to turn on or off in the options menu. There really is no story driving the concept of winning the cups, just the sheer grit and sweat of beating your opponents to a pulp. It is satisfying to win the Cup of a tournament though, as sometimes computer opponents prove to be very challenging. First place in a game nets you three points, a Sudden Death loss is worth one and losses obviously leave you hanging. The only frustrating aspect of these tournaments is even if you have enough points to never lose first place and you still have two games left to play, you can't just be deemed the winner automatically. The biggest issue of the Cup Battles lies in repetitiveness, but generally they are fun to play so it shouldn't be too bad for most.

Strikers also has a nice bit of music and sounds. The music isn't exactly a huge focus in the game, as you will really only hear the main stuff while in the game's menus. During a game, there really isn't any exciting music in the background, which can leave some disappointed. But playing the game is fun enough that most shouldn't really notice. The sounds are well-done though, and there's plenty of them. You actually hear players kicking the ball as you're heading from one end of the field to the other. The sound effects from the Super Strike animations are cool as well, but again not seeing anything different can make it seem repetitive. When you score a goal though, you will hear the soccer trademark yell "GGGGGOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!!" as whoever got it will do their personal celebration. The captains have a few different ones, and the sidekicks have a couple. Then when the game resumes you will hear a somewhat muffled announcer in the background say "Goal!" If you did it with your captain, he will say the name of him or her.

The strongest aspect of Strikers is most definitely the replay value. Strikers was meant to be a multiplayer game, hands down. If you have any friends and play this game with them, you will more than likely not be disappointed. Matches with your friends can get incredibly dramatic and intense, as each player truly has an equal chance of winning. All players are different too, so you should never expect to see the same style of play when you face different people. The computer is fun to play when you do, so don't get the impression that is isn't. But Strikers was definitely meant for two or more actual people to play together, and the experience is really something awesome. Playing the game like that can truly suck up the hours if you're not careful, it's just that fun.

Super Mario Strikers is a very worthy Mario sports title, despite its number of shortcomings. Sure the actual presentation isn't stellar and the music and sounds could've certainly been better. But the game is just plain fun, and that's truly what matters. If you play the computer, you'll have fun. If you play friends, family members or total strangers, you'll have fun. There's just that much entertainment to be seen and had, and this game will not disappoint you in that matter. If you like Mario sports titles and have friends to play them with, by all means pick up Strikers. If not, it can still be a worthy single player experience, but probably more geared for a rent. But friends or no friends, Super Mario Strikers has what it takes to bring people together and just have fun.

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