Play a round of extreme soccer in Mario Strikers: Battle League!

A new entry in the Mario Strikers series, Mario Strikers: Battle League, has been announced yesterday in the Nintendo Direct. 

In Mario Strikers: Battle League, a team of five players compete against another team in a soccer match to score the most goals. Of course, this being Mario, the game puts a Mario twist on it: players can use items to assist themselves or hinder their opponents. Additionally, you're also free to tackle your foe as much as you want, though missing will leave you open.

Compared to the previous entry's Mega Strikes, this game introduces Hyper Strikes, which are similar in concept, but function differently. During the game, orbs will appear somewhere on field. Collecting one will power your whole team up. Afterwards, if you're on your opponents side of the field, pressing and and holding the kick button will allow you to perform a Hyper Strike! If the ball then manages to get into the net, you'll score two points! But be careful, as trying to use a Hyper Strike leaves you open!

New to this game is gear! By equipping gear on your character's head, body, arms and/or legs, their default stats will be modified. You can make your character move more quickly, make their tackles stronger, or even make them powerfully hit the ball faster and farther.

Speaking of characters, these are the ones who are currently confirmed to be playable in the game:

1. Mario
2. Luigi
3. Peach
4. Toad
   
5. Yoshi
6. Bowser
   
7. Donkey Kong
8. Wario
9. Waluigi
10. Rosalina (New)
    

Of note is that sidekicks appear to have been removed from the game, as Toad has been upgraded to a main playable character, not to mention that the other returning playable characters - who were previously Team Captains - are now able to work together on a team instead of being unable to. (Example from Mario Strikers Charged: if you picked Mario, you could not have Luigi, Peach, Bowser, etc... on his team) Additionally, it appears that Boom Boom replaces Kritter as the goalkeeper for this game.

The game is planned to release on June 10, 2022.