The 24 Games Of Christmas! Day #12: Mario Strikers: Battle League

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Love Live Christmas

It’s that time of year, friends! The house is filled with greens and reds, the music channels all start dropping the Wham, Buble and Mariah, the fridge fills up with eggnog and we gorge ourselves on fruit mince pie. It’s such a special time of year!

We love the season at DDNet, and one of the best things about it is that it’s also the perfect time to catch up on some games. When you’re not juggling parties and gatherings, it’s a slower time for work and it’s easier to steal a bit of time on the side to play something new, or finally get through that game that you stalled on.

Each year at DDNet we run a “games of Christmas” list, that works just like an advent calendar. We count down to Christmas by sharing one game recommendation for the season each day. Crank up the Jingle Bells and get into the spirit of the season with these!

(And yes I know we missed one of the countdown yesterday – apologies for that. Technical issues and I was away for the day. We’re back on track now!)

Day #12: Mario Strikers: Battle League (Read our review here)

Mario Strikers Battle League Review

Christmas isn’t Christmas without some Mario-themed multiplayer action. That’s been the way of it for decades now, from those early days of Super Mario Kart marathons, to the controller-destroying antics of Mario Party and the intensity of Smash Bros. bouts.

This year we have something new to play, with Nintendo finally giving us a new entry in its football-themed Mario Strikers series. Now, you might well be over football with the World Cup, but that football doesn’t include super-powered shots at goal, and Toad bodying Bowser to get the ball – no faking a fall for a penalty in this one!  Mario Strikers is pure arcade fun that anyone can pick up and have a blast with. Hours later you’ll still be scrapping for the ball and having a ball while doing so.

Matt S. is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of DDNet. He's been writing about games for over 20 years, including a book, but is perhaps best-known for being the high priest of the Church of Hatsune Miku.

  • Oh man… I have to disagree. I was extremely disappointed in this one. I wanted to love the game badly. The actual football play is excellent, but I couldn’t get over how baron the rest of the game felt. After about 2 hours, I was sort of done with it. Thankfully I was able to return my physical copy to the store. After that experience, I went back to Captain Tsubasa.

    • Yeah, the game doesn’t have much to it, which limits its appeal in single player. But I’ve regularly played it for the local multiplayer game – it’s been on pretty high rotation for me. So I do feel like I got my money’s worth, but I do also totally get where you’re coming from.

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