Fun arcade soccer that fails to thrill
After playing Mario Power Tennis I was amazed at how fun the game was with all the different options it had beyond standard tennis play with the various Gimmick Courts, Ring Shot mode, and several Special Games that can all be played alone or with friends. I was hoping that Next Level Games would follow suit and take Super Mario Strikers beyond being a arcade soccer game and make it something truly special.
What we end up with is a arcade soccer game that is fun to play but it not as fun as it had the potential to be. There are several Cups that you can participate in that will allow you to unlock new stadiums, cups, a bonus team, and various cheats. The stadiums have different themes but they do not really feel that different from each other beyond having a different paint job. It should also be noted that the gameplay in the Bowser Stadium is not very good as the frame rate goes down drastically when playing on this field to the point where I do not play on it.
There are eight captains available for play at the beginning with four different sidekicks. There are four different playing styles that the captains could have with two sharing each style so you may need to find the style that best suits your own playing style.
Playing the actual games are a lot of fun as it is simple to play but it takes some time to master everything to the point where you can easily run over the competition. The most important things to learn are the super strikes that when performed correctly are impossible to stop and count for 2 points, the lob pass which is useful for completing quick goals and the big hit which is important for a good defense. Once you learn these things you wont stop using them and will rely on them heavily in order to win matches.
The main shortcoming with Super Mario Strikers is that it feels like they could have gone in so many other directions with this game by adding some mini-games that would add some more Nintendo charm as well as replay value to the game. Hopefully with future entries in this series they will try to be more creative and make a better overall game.