Mario Strikers: Battle League is set to release on Nintendo Switch later this year, offering the next evolution in the soccer series. From what Nintendo has shown of the game thus far, it seems to be mostly in keeping with what we’ve seen from the series since it first debuted on the Nintendo GameCube. However, it seems that the original game nearly went in a much different direction! In an interview with GameXplain, Super Mario Strikers director Mike Inglehart revealed that the team at Next Level Games was originally planning to make the game a platformer that incorporated soccer elements!
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“Funny enough when we went through the initial prototype, we ended upmaking a platforming style of soccer game, so we actually tried to makesomething that instinctually fit the eastern market, and that’snot what they wanted. So they said, ‘Scrap that, start again’, and Ithink we just focused too narrow and tried to make again something thatthey wanted. They didn’t give us too many clues. They just said ‘Mariosoccer’ to see where we would go. We went in the wrong area,” laughed Inglehart.
“It’s really hard to describe since it was such a strange experience, butthere were two goals that were kind of, if I remember correctly, nestledinside of castles. You could kind of… to dribble the ball Mario andLuigi would get up on the ball – like a circus animal – and kind of rollit under their feet. It didn’t resemble soccer at all. Soccer was maybe themeans to the end, but it was just a weird concoction of trying to fit inwhat we thought they were looking for on top of a sport, and we had to flipthat upside down when we actually got the feedback and put soccer firstand lair Mario on second.”
The first Super Mario Strikers released in 2005, so Inglehart’s memories of the first build are understandably foggy. However, the director went on to explain that players would have to kick the ball at Goombas. After taking them all out, the castle doors would open up, allowing players to kick the ball inside.
It’s really interesting to think about what could have been! Clearly, things worked out for the best, and Next Level Games was able to deliver an experience that struck a chord with players. Hopefully, the developer will find similar success with Mario Strikers: Battle League when it releases on Nintendo Switch on June 10th!
Are you excited for Mario Strikers: Battle League? Were you a fan of the first game? Let us know in the commentsor share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all things gaming!
[H/T: Nintendo Everything]
