Mario Strikers Battle League: Complete Controls Guide for Switch and Gameplay Tips for Beginners

The latest installment of the popular Mario soccer game is now out with Mario Strikers: Battle League. The over-the-top sports series is back in all of its glory with unique shots and a thorough lack of rules beyond “score goals.” You can also compete against others locally or online, including the Strikers Club.

Below, you will find complete controls for Mario Strikers: Battle League on Nintendo Switch. Following the controls will be gameplay tips geared toward beginners of the series and game.

Mario Strikers Battle League handheld controls

• Move: LS
• Dash: ZR
• Dodge: RS, R, or Shake
• Pass: B (hold for charged pass)
• Lob Pass: Y (hold for charged pass)
• Free Pass: ZL+B (hold for charged pass)
• Free Lob Pass: ZL+B (hold for charged pass)
• Shoot: A (hold for charged shot)
• Aim Shot: LS (while shooting and charging shot)
• Use Item: X (aim with LS for applicable items)
• Tackle: Y (hold for charged tackle)
• Switch Character: ZL or L
• Pause Menu: +

Mario Strikes Battle League dual controller controls

• Move: LS
• Dash: ZR
• Dodge: RS, R, or Shake
• Pass: B (hold for charged pass)
• Lob Pass: Y (hold for charged pass)
• Free Pass: ZL+B (hold for charged pass)
• Free Lob Pass: ZL+B (hold for charged pass)
• Shoot: A (hold for charged shot)
• Aim Shot: LS (while shooting and charging shot)
• Use Item: X (aim with LS for applicable items)
• Tackle: Y (hold for charged tackle)
• Switch Character: ZL or L
• Pause Menu: +

Mario Strikers Battle League pro controller controls

• Move: LS
• Dash: ZR
• Dodge: RS, R, or Shake
• Pass: B (hold for charged pass)
• Lob Pass: Y (hold for charged pass)
• Free Pass: ZL+B (hold for charged pass)
• Free Lob Pass: ZL+B (hold for charged pass)
• Shoot: A (hold for charged shot)
• Aim Shot: LS (while shooting and charging shot)
• Use Item: X (aim with LS for applicable items)
• Tackle: Y (hold for charged tackle)
• Switch Character: ZL or L
• Pause Menu: +

Mario Strikers Battle League solo controller controls

• Move: LS
• Dash: SR
• Dodge: Shake
• Pass: D-Pad↓ (hold for charged pass)
• Lob Pass: D-Pad← (hold for charged pass)
• Free Pass: SL+D-Pad↓ (hold for charged pass)
• Free Lob Pass: SL+D-Pad← (hold for charged pass)
• Shoot: D-Pad→ (hold for charged shot)
• Aim Shot: LS (while shooting and charging shot)
• Use Item: D-Pad↑ (aim with LS for applicable items)
• Tackle: D-Pad← (hold for charged tackle)
• Switch Character: SL

Note that the left and right analog sticks are denoted as LS and RS, respectively.

Below you will find gameplay tips for beginners. However, the tips may still be worth a reminder for veterans of the series.

1. Play through training

Mario Strikers: Battle League has a thorough training mode that you will be prompted to play once you begin (you can decline). It is recommended to go through each training module. For every training until the module-ending training match, you won’t be able to advance until you complete the required tasks. The training match at the end of each module does not have to be won to continue.

However, win the actual training match at the end of training. The reason is simple: you’ll be rewarded with 800 coins! That’s going to help with upgrading your preferred characters (more below).

Beyond the coins, the training will give you a helpful understanding of the controls, so its worth it even if you played other games in the series.

2. Refer to the tips in the Game Guide

Mario Strikers: Battle League includes a handy game guide which can be accessed by hitting + (plus) from a menu screen. There are many options to explore in the game guide including a characters, arenas, but maybe most importantly, a Tips & Tricks section.

The Tips & Tricks section gives a lot of advanced tips that should help you in your quest to improve. If you’re struggling on defense – particularly with switching characters – then read through those tips. If you can’t seem to get anything but a straight shot, read the tips on scoring. These tips will be a little more detailed than what was given in training.

Whatever it may be, the Tips & Tricks section is sure to give you more nuanced guidance,

3. Upgrade the gear of your preferred characters

By equipping gear, you can adjust the attributes of each playable character in Mario Strikers Battle League. The types of gear you can equip are head, arms, body, and legs. Each item will generally raise one attribute while lowering another as a tradeoff.

The five attributes that can be affected are strength, speed, shooting, passing, and technique. Each has a cap of 25. Strength affects your ability to successfully tackle and brush off tackles. Speed affects how swiftly you move around the pitch. Shooting affects how well and accurately you shoot as well as shot power. Passing affects your ability to make successful passes. Technique affects your ability to alter shots and most importantly, the size of the perfect meter when attempting Hyper Strikes.

Each piece of gear costs coins. Luckily, you have that 800 from completing the training match – you do have that 800, correct? Well, even if you don’t there’s some good news: you’ll gain 400 coins the first time you access Gear Settings from the main menu! It’s a little gift to help in purchasing equipment.

1,200 coins to spend on gear before you even jump into a real match is a nice little boon.

4. Look to land perfect passes, shots, and tackles

In Mario Strikers: Battle League, you can achieve perfect passes, shots, and tackles. The benefit to these is that their accuracy and power will be increased. Perfect tackles can also help a lower strength character win the ball from a higher strength character like Bowser or Donkey Kong.

Perfect passes can be achieved through two ways. First, you can hold down B and release right when the meter fills. The other is to hit B just as you receive the pass to immediately pass to a teammate. Perfect shots can be achieved the same way with the only difference being that you can charge the shot before receiving the pass for extra power, but still releasing when the meter fills. Perfect tackles can be achieved by holding Y and releasing when the meter fills.

Perfect techniques will be crucial to achieving success in Mario Strikers: Battle League.

5. Use items and Hyper Strikes to turn the tide

Throughout a match, items will be thrown onto the field. Like the NFL Draft, if you do worse, you receive more chances at items, or at least more will be thrown on your side of the pitch. These will be question mark blocks and rainbow colored ones can be obtained by anyone. However, there are also team-specific item boxes that will be colored based on team. As you might expect, only players on that team can nab those items.

Items will be placed at the top near the scoreboard. You can hold two items at a time. To use an item, hit X. You will receive mushrooms (increases speed for a few seconds), bananas (makes players slip), green shells (goes in a straight line), red shells (hones in on closest opponent), bob-ombs (walks a few paces and explodes), and stars (makes you invulnerable and tackles opponents you contact). It’s best not to hoard them in what are usually short matches, especially since you’re limited to two.

Next, and the quickest way to turn things in your favor, is the Hyper Strike. You’ll see distinct orbs thrown onto the pitch. These enable the ability to land a Hyper Strike. However, it’s limited: you only have 20 seconds to shoot a Hyper Strike!

To shoot a Hyper Strike, you have to fully charge a shot uninterrupted by your opponents. Then, a bar will appear as pictured. On either side will be a two-colored area (blue sandwiched between orange), first with the left. Your goal is to land the bar in the blue part of the meter on either side for a perfect-perfect Hyper Strike (pictured). A perfect Hyper Strike has a high likelihood of scoring. You may still score if it isn’t perfect, but it’s best to hit the blue areas.

The best part is that scoring a Hyper Strike nets you two goals! This can turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 advantage in a hurry.

Now you have your complete controls for Mario Strikers: Battle League. Follow the tips for an easier time, namely the coins from training and from entering the gear menu. Which characters will make up your select squad for Mario Strikers: Battle League?