Throughout history, the Super Mario Bros. sports titles have always had their charm. I have a soft spot for the golf games. The recent Mario Tennis titles, I consider underwhelming, still retain the spirit of a Mario game in there (they're thin on features). Super Mario Strikers ended up feeling like a good sports game that's lacking in personality.

Developed by Next Level Games (who Nintendo would eventually purchase in 2021) and released exclusively for the GameCube in 2005, Super Mario Strikers is a fast-paced arcade style soccer game that pits a character from the Mario universe of games against another in 5-on-5 matches. With Next Level Games' previous work on 2003's NHL Hitz (practically NBA Jam, but with hockey) the action gets very hectic, and the game is user friendly when it comes to picking up and playing, so in some ways, it ends up being a stand-out multiplayer GameCube title. My biggest problem; very little of the game's atmosphere gives you the feeling that this is taking place in the Mushroom Kingdom. Sure, there are familiar elements like Koopa Shells and banana peels, but you could swap out the cast and copy/paste Crash Bandicoot instead, and very little would change. 

The teams are structured by selecting a captain, a Mario mainstay (teh Bros, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Waluigi, Wario, and Donkey Kong), the sidekicks (Toads, Hammer Bros., and Birdo, and Koopa Troopas), and a Kritter as a goaltender. There are no differences or variables in how each of them play, so no real thought goes into team composition. In some ways, that's fine, it keeps the process streamlined, so jumping in and out of games can be a snap.

It does end up feeling a touch empty when it comes to strategy; parity among the roster means there's really only one way to play the game, and once I figured out how to get my charged shots timed perfectly, it got pretty easy to destroy the CPU. A good chance, human players most likely get bored with the lack of meta.

Strikers does control really well, the straightforward control scheme compliments the smash-mouth rugby style of play. You have your Turbo button, a "steal" or "check", and your item button (you can stock up to two). The goaltender is fully A.I., so you're left at the mercy of how good they can be against players who knows the ins and outs and sweet spots to shoot from. They can be lights out or completely moronic, depending.

Visually, the game is a mixed bag. I think the graphics are great for the time, it moves at a buttery 60 frames per second. The character models look smooth and they burst with a decent amount of animation. Yet, somehow, the game is pretty boring to look at after a while for me. The arenas don't really seem to stand out, and the Mario themes for them are aesthetically minimal when it comes to presentation. I mentioned swapping out the cast for a completely different intellectual property, the FINAL opponents in the game are the Omega Robots, called the Super team, adversaries that feel like they were creations of Dr. Robotnik. Why in the hell is Mario battling ROBOTS!? It's so out of left field, this took me out of the single player tournament campaign. Yeah, the franchise is thin on villains and their rivals are more likely to play board games with Mario and pals, but canned opponents like faceless robots comes off like stand-in opponents until a better idea came up.

It has some shortcomings, but regardless, Super Mario Strikers is actually a hell of a game to kill an hour or so. The gameplay may not be very deep, but it's a stimulating, fleeting experience that is best enjoyed with pals. Single player, the computer can be a total cheeseball, but multiplayer can be a riot. In terms of some other shortcomings, there aren't really much in the way of unlockables, and the music is pretty ordinary. The sequels build on something the original lays a foundation with, so the potential was tapped into. OG Strikers may be bare bones, but it's fun enough where it counts.