Mario Strikers Charged (Hands On) (Wii) Preview

By Adam Riley 22.09.2006

Mario has been through his fair share of sports titles, most of which are now infamous thanks to the involvement of Camelot with the Mario Golf and Mario Tennis titles that have been spread across the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Colour, GameCube and Game Boy Advance over the past seven or so years. The portly plumber has also been seen riding karts, wielding baseball bats and even donning his dancing shoes for a little bit of funky action. But soccer, good old English football? Surely not...

The thing is, Nintendo firmly believed that the Mario Universe could indeed be wedged into the confines of five-a-side football, with a modicum of help from an outside partner. This turned out to be none other than Next Level Games, the team that created arguable one of the craziest GameCube arcade experiences in the form of Sega Soccer Slam. Super Mario Strikers (or Mario Smash Football as it was called here in Europe) took the world by storm, playing basically like the Sega game, but having all the familiar Mario crew included. Despite the GameCube in its last throes of life, the game managed to be one of the biggest Nintendo hits of 2005.

Screenshot for Mario Strikers Charged (Hands On) on Wii

But what was a fun and frantic game for the current generation is not always guaranteed to translate perfectly well over to a new format. With games like this, the old adage that involves lightning, striking and two smooth, pert bottoms...erm...*stops thinking of DoAX2 Volleyball trailer*...Anyway, my point is, I had doubts about whether Mario Strikers Charged could easily recapture the thrills and spills of its d

Screenshot for Mario Strikers Charged (Hands On) on Wii

Basically this does indeed play just like the first one did, and probably is a perfect example of a case where Shigeru Miyamoto stated old GameCube games can be revamped easily for the Wii. Next Level has given the graphics and nice lick of polish to make them look amazingly vibrant, with crazy, face-blistering speedy action that never seems to let up. The control system barely uses the new technology, with the only action shown to us by the demonstrator being the way to tackle

Screenshot for Mario Strikers Charged (Hands On) on Wii

And here comes another piece of Wii-exclusivity

Screenshot for Mario Strikers Charged (Hands On) on Wii

Final Thoughts

I really had such a great laugh playing Mario Strikers Charged, but unfortunately still have my reservations due to it being so similar to its predecessor. If more depth is included in the final release then this will be a hoot, but if not, a lot will rely on how sturdy its online features are (or how many friends you can get over on a regular basis!). Keep a close eye on this one...

Mario Strikers Charged Football (Wii)

Developer

Next Level

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

Sport

Players

C3 Score

8/10

Reader Score

9/10 (53 Votes)

Out now

Out now

Out now

Out now

Comments

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JoshSL 22.09.2006#1

What will the UK name be I wonder?

Mario Smash Football: Charged? Sounds too long....

Possibly Mario Football Charged...

( Edited 29.12.2012 11:23 by Guest )

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jb 22.09.2006#2

Not bad, sounds awesome Smilie

( Edited 29.12.2012 11:23 by Guest )

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jesusraz 22.09.2006#3

I feel like this was a more 'complete' version of what the team originally set out to achieve on the GameCube. Really looking forward to the final product :- Smilie

( Edited 29.12.2012 11:23 by Guest )

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

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The Croft 22.09.2006#4

Online Mario Football what more can i ask for... well maybe a pro evo online oh i am just being a slut.

looks great and i can seeing it being a success makes sense making a football game as Wii sports covers 5 sports one not being football and let's hope SE make Mario Hoops Wii.

( Edited 29.12.2012 11:23 by Guest )

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jesusraz 22.09.2006#5

It'll come...we're getting free online PES for the DS in mid-October, and the build being shown at TGS right now is apparently very impressive indeed!

Mario Charged Football (maybe?) will be a heck of a laugh if it supports four-player online...but hey, I'd still settle for two-player fun.

There was the rumour of a Mario Basket being made for GameCube, so perhaps Square Enix IS indeed working on a Wii version now...fingers crossed 8- Smilie

( Edited 29.12.2012 11:23 by Guest )

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

UNITE714: Weekly Prayers | Bible Verses

tiamat1990 23.09.2006#6

Sounds gay

jesusraz 23.09.2006#7

Have you played the original and thought the same about that, or are you saying that because of the Wii-mote additions?

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

UNITE714: Weekly Prayers | Bible Verses

The Croft 24.09.2006#8

Sounds Gay?

What?

Yeah i heard about a GameCube version form SE hope it has been given Wii treatment, personally i love Mario Sports games hopefully Nintendo give Baseball to a better developer than Namco, maybe CAPCOM could take on the responsbility

jesusraz 26.09.2006#9

Konami should have been given the baseball title, since it does so many games in that genre. Sega should be given a shot at Mario Tennis...Camelot is suited to golf due to its roots being in that sport (the breakaway team now work on Hot Shots Golf for Sony).