Mario Strikers: Battle League is coming out on June 10, 2022, meaning Nintendo fans will get their hands on the newest Mario sports game soon. Leading up to that release, Nintendo provided a gameplay preview that also showed off some of the characters coming to Mario Strikers: Battle League.
One of the things people have been wondering since Battle League was announced is which Nintendo characters will be in the game. Nintendo has finally shared an official first look at the roster, answering this once and for all.
Which Nintendo characters are in Mario Strikers: Battle League?
Mario fans may be initially disappointed with the roster, which only has 10 characters. This is a much smaller roster than the one featured in Mario Strikers: Charged, which came out on the Wii. Here are the 10 characters you can have on your four-man squad:
- Mario
- Luigi
- Bowser
- Peach
- Rosalina
- Toad
- Yoshi
- Donkey Kong
- Wario
- Waluigi
The reason for the smaller roster is most likely how the game plays compared to Mario Strikers: Charged. In the original game, there were team captains and sidekicks. All 12 captains had a Super Ability, meaning the strategy was a bit different depending on who you selected to lead the charge. Alongside these 12 were eight other characters that could be on a team as “sidekicks.”
Why are there fewer characters in Mario Strikers: Battle League?
As mentioned previously, Battle League’s team setup and gameplay are a bit different from the previous game, which most likely explains the smaller roster. While Charged has captains and sidekicks, Battle League’s teams just have four equal party members.
While there are still captains, every character has a special ability. Each character can also be customized a lot more than in previous games, including gear to boost their stats. This allows players to make characters faster or have more powerful shots.
Will there be unlockable characters in Mario Strikers: Battle League?
This is very possible. There were three unlockable captains to unlock in Mario Strikers: Charged with Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, and Petey Piranha. These characters were unlocked by beating them in the single-player campaign mode.
While Mario Strikers: Battle League starts with a very small roster, it’s not out of the question that there are surprise characters that can be unlocked further down the line. Nintendo may also have Mario Strikers DLC, meaning you can opt to pay for additional characters.
Nintendo hasn’t confirmed any unlockable or DLC characters just yet, so fans will have to await the launch on June 10 to see what’s in store beyond the demo.
