Here is a video from the "First Kick" demo of Mario Strikers Battle League! This is the latest entry in the Mario Strikers game, a soccer/football Super Mario subseries that's gained a reputation for odd intensity and the occasional suggestive themes. I think this is the third one in the series, after Super Mario Strikers on the Gamecube and Super Mario Strikers Charged on the Wii. This one introduces the Hyper Strikes, superpowered shoots to the goal that, if successful, scores 2 points instead of just one. But its main addition is the presence of leagues, in which you and a bunch of other people can form a football club, of sorts, and play against other organized groups online to be ranked against each other.

I normally do not like to put up videos with a lead time of less than 24 hours, since it leaves me relatively little time to write the description, which can sometimes be time-consuming and require several revisions until I'm satisfied. But what am I going to do here? The game is out a week from now, I already have something for Sunday, and I have Pokémon Sword and Shield scheduled this coming Monday to Friday.

In any case, the controls are simple, but there's a lot to take in. When you have the ball, A either lobs the ball (when on the far half of the field from the goal) or shoots toward the goal (when on the same half as the goal), B is a ground pass to a teammate, and Y is a lob pass to a teammate. The ball can be intercepted during a pass. When you don't have the ball, Y does a tackle and X uses an item. In both states, X uses an item, and ZR dashes but consumes stamina. Shots and tackles can be charged for greater effect. Items are acquired by running over Item Boxes, and Hyper Strikes are performed by any team member getting a Strike Orb and performing a fully charged strike. Boom Boom, the goalkeeper, may or may not be able to block it. Of course, give me too many moves, and I'll forget most of them when I actually play (provided it isn't turn-based), requiring a lot of practice to slowly remember to use them one by one.

There are many more things to keep in mind, but that's the room I have in the description.

Match #1
Rockets
Puppycorn (Yoshi and Waluigi)
wwwwwwwwww (C) (Mario and Wario)
vs.
Bolts
Elytra (C) (Donkey Kong and Mario)
vega (Rosalina and Toad)
Stadium: Lava Castle and Spooky Mansion (Night)
I did read the tutorials and played them, but it was a week ago and I had Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune immediate before this so I couldn't review it. Instead, I went by what I could remember. They're pretty long, so I don't blame wwwwwwwwww for not having read them. On the other hand, my partner here, as you'll see, waits to time out all of their selections instead of confirming them. I hear there are some mobile games built this way, where you cannot confirm a selection, and instead you must pick it and wait for the timer to run out. It's led to some bad habits on some people over these past several years.

Match #2
Bolts
Puppycorn (Yoshi and Mario)
Alexander (C) (Luigi and Rosalina)
vs.
Warriors
Enrique (C) (Peach and Yoshi)
Soriano (Bowser and Wario)
Stadium: Spooky Mansion and Mushroom Hill (Night)
This was actually the first match I played. The previous one, I kept because it has the full intro, so I felt it better suited for the beginning. With only one hour to play, I can see why people feel rushed to skip intros.

Match #3
Comets
Puppycorn (C) (Wario and Peach)
SpecialK (Yoshi and Bowser)
vs.
Cyclones
フッ (C) (Donkey Kong and Peach)
Prosperous (Waluigi and Rosalina)
Stadium: Royal Castle (Day)
This was the only match where I was the captain and the only one set in the day. Clearly, my opponents learned and remembered all of the techniques whereas I didn't, so they gave incredible pressure on us. What a blowout! (That Japanese-looking name is nonsense, for the record, but may be the first two characters of フットボル "football.")


Match #4
Magicians
Puppycorn (Peach and Bowser)
wwwwwwwwww (C) (Mario and Luigi)
vs.
Bolts
Anthony (C) (Luigi and Peach)
alexispks (Mario and Toad)
Stadium: Lava Castle
This is the same partner as the first match, but now this was the last match played during the session. I think it's fitting.

To be honest, right now I'm not sure if I want to get this game or not. It's one week away from release as of the time I put this up. I'm leaning towards "no" because I'm budgeting for other games to be released not long from now (though "not long from now" for me means the next couple of months) and there are other games I've acquired that I'm still going through (Mad Rat Dead was something in my collection for several months before I started on it, for instance). Ultimately though, at this point, it's not certain. But if you don't see any further Mario Strikers Battle League videos from me in June 2022, that pretty much means I've passed on it.

Hence, I've put it in the "Odds and Ends in General" playlist.

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