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The best reason to own a Wii right now.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What do you get when you mix fast paced arcade style soccer with all the characters of the mushroom kingdom? You get Mario Strikers Charged. If you're not a fan of soccer, then don't worry...neither am I. But what I am a fan of is this game.

If you've played the original for Gamecube, you'll understand a good deal of basics for Strikers. What Next Level did for the sequel is nothing short of outstanding. They've improved on absolutely every aspect from the original. You can now fully customize your team (unlike the original where you only had 4 different sidekicks to choose from and whichever you picked made of the rest of your team). Not only that, but there are 8 different sidekicks, each with different strengths and weaknesses, adding a great deal of depth where the original lacked. Also what's great is that each sidekick has their own power shot, all awesome and requires different strategies to pull off successfully. Also, the megastrike has been tweaked for team captains. Now, you can send up to 6 balls at once flying towards the goal. However, they aren't as cheap as before. The player now has the opportunity to block the shots via the Wii remote...a cool little feature that makes it a little more balanced than the original.

There are 17 courses total, with all the original courses returning, fully redone graphically, and they all look spectacular. In fact, this is probably the prettiest game on the Wii to date. I gotta tell ya, when you start a match in 'THE VICE' and see a million screaming fans (all mushroom kingdom residents) screaming and cheering, filling the stands that literally stretch 1000 feet above the arena, you'll get goose bumps...it looks absolutely amazing.

Multiplayer is phenomenal (like the original), and really where the game shines. Prepare to put aside several hours if you plan on having people over to play...you'll have to force yourself to stop. Up to 4 players can dish it out at once. You can choose the number of matches played in the series, the time limit, and or goal limit. And then of course there's the online mode....fun fun fun. Now you can play your buddy can play together from the comfort of your own homes, talking trash on AIM after every match. You can also compete on the leader boards against anyone in your respective country and see how well you stack up against everyone else (it's pretty easy to see who has no life...just check the top 20 ranked players).

Now for the bad. Unfortunately, the sever crashes waaaay to much. As more and more people buy the game and start logging on, I can only see it getting worse. I've got disconnected during 4 or so matches (all of which I was winning) which sucks because they won't go on your record. Also, there's no way to communicate with whoever you're playing against (which may be good or bad depending on how much trash talking you do). The lag isn't too bad...I've only found it to be a problem a couple times and it was just for a short while. Luckily, the game lets you know how good the connection is (4 stars being the best). Still, a 4 star connection can see some lag, so make sure you don't settle for anything less.

Still, these are minor shortcomings, and don't detract from the overall experience of the game. It's awesome, fast paced, addicting, fun.

The main reason I got the Wii

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: August 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is so much fun. Like said, solo mode gets old after you beat it but multi player is where it is at. I was just about to sell my Wii before this game came out but am now going to keep it. I have a PS3, love it, and spent most time with it till this game came out. I hope more Mario sport games or more games in general will support N-WiFi.

Way cool!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 11
Date: August 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you're like me and think actually playing soccer is like being a euro-trash wannabe and the traveling, cost, type A loser parents living their life thru their kids and ugly jerseys just get you down, then this is the way to go!

Just kidding, of course, the jerseys are actually kinda cool...

Man is this a nice upgrade to the Mario Soccer series. Not much hopping and jumping around like a lot of Wii games. Although the graphics are great and the sounds are very funny. Better players moves and the Captains Special Kick is...well...don't let your kid figure it out before you do...You can score up to six goals in one shot...

Highly recommended.

Excellent Choice for Wii Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I thought this game was great. The controls were very easy to get adjusted to. I thought gameplay was great. The only thing I didn't like was playing multi-player on the same team. It felt like there was to much going on. When playing in multi-player mode play on seperate teams. The power-ups are great. The skill shots rock. The maps are amazing. The graphics are great for the Wii. The online multi-player goes very smooth. I can say if you're looking for a fun game for the Wii this one is it. Unless, you are looking for something that's more integrated with the numchuck and remote. Remember when playing to deal out as many hits as you can give.

Best Multiplayer Game for the Wii

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Mario Strikers is the first online multi player game for the wii. This created a bit of hype for the previously under appreciated sports game. Upon its release, the game does not disappoint.

This game provides simple to learn controls, but at the same time creates dynamic and complex team setups and game strategy. The arenas further add to the games charm.

I have very few complaints about the game, which is very rare these days. My biggest complaint is about the single player (cup mode). In this mode you go through rounds of preliminary round robin style qualification matches (between 6-10 matches) followed by 1-3 elimination rounds. If you win every single qualifying round and lose in the first elimination round, you have to start from scratch at the start of the cup, which is very frustrating.

Also in cup mode, the level of difficulty dramatically jumps or falls. You can score a 20-0 win one round and then be knocked out 0-3 the next. The difficulty of the game was poorly designed in single player.

That aside, no one really buys these games for the single player anyway. My only complaint about the core of the game is that there a few things unbalanced. Megastrikes in this game are completely unbalanced (one megastrike can score up to 6 goals). Fortunately, there is an easy to unlock cheat that enables "classic mode" where these megastrikes are disabled.

All in All, I HIGHLY recommend this game. It is a much needed breath of fresh air for the Wii, which until now, only had a few good games on release that have now grown stale.

Grading
Controls: A-, comfortable, easy to learn
Graphics: B, acceptable, but nothing to blow your socks off
Sound: B, not annoying like some mario games, but nothing too terribly catchy
Replayablity: A, Single player will grow stale after a while, but nothing beats knocking your friends around in Domination Mode or over WiFi!

Overall: A-
A great title to tide you over till games like Mario Galaxy, Smash Brothers Brawl, and Soul Caliber legends. A must have if you're into multiplayer!

Wii Reviver

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was skeptical at first with this game, I had read reviews and they were certainly mixed. My Wii had been gathering dust for a while since no games that tickled my fancy had come out, so I decided to go out on a limb and buy this. I have to say, I made the right decision. Don't buy this game if you're looking for a realistic soccer sim. Do buy this if you're looking to have a blast with your favorite Nintendo characters.
While the single player is fun, the online play is what makes this game shine. When I boot up this game, I don't even think about playing the single player. I go straight to the online play. The friend codes might be a drag, but I prefer to simply play a ranked match against a random player.
The Wii might have had a dry spell, but this game certainly brought back my admiration for the console, and I don't see myself putting this game down anytime soon.

Another solid Mario game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: August 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Mario Strikers Charged is a vast improvement on its original predesesor with more strategy, better Mega-shots, improved sidekicks, and stadiums that fight back.

the basics from the original are still here. you got your captains with their Mega-shots, the sidekicks, tournements, and stadiums but each one is tweaked slightly. for one, new captains are introduced and new sidekicks come into play, each with their own skill rating that adds onto the strategy of building the perfect team. each sidekick also comes equiped with their own little powershot that can have an array of effect and the Mega-shots can now shoot up to six times which means if your the goalie, you have to quick with your pointer to stop the oncoming balls.

another cool feature is the ball, which changes color the more times you hit it or charge it. purple being the lowest and white being the highest, which means you have a better chance to score.

a very cool bonus feature is the inclusion of Wi-Fi, so you can play other players online. great add on but make sure your opponent has a good connection otherwise the game play becomes very sluggish and you could lose connection. other then that, great new feature!

and just like before, you have your tournements composing of the Fire cup, Crystal cup, and Striker cup. this is where my one complaint comes in. while the first two tournements are pretty simple to get through, the Striker cup is near impossible! for one, the enemey AI goes up drastically, not giving players a chance to adjust to the sudden change in gameplay. but what really frusturates me is not the enemy AI but the knock-out round of the competition where one lose and you have to start the tournement all over again. it is so frusturating when you make it to the final knock-out round, only to get sent packing and having to start the tournement all over again! and what makes it worse is you can't simply restart your Wii, otherwise its an automatic lose.

so kudos to the makers for improving the game but they could have at least made the Striker cup a bit fairer, i mean, i don't remember the Star cup being this difficult.

Freakin' Awesome!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Now, I'm normally not one to play strict sports games (sans Madden) or soccer games for that matter. But I've come to like the Mario Sports line. So after trying the original Super Mario Strikers, I felt I should get this. I am glad I did. This game is so easy to pick up. I had the controls down in 15 minutes (which is less than I can say for Madden. I've got 2005 at home which I bought when it came out. I'm still learning controls). The game is also fun. Its not like "real" soccer where you're lucky to get a goal in the game. I played a game today that ended 11-0. The game includes something called "Mega Shots" where you can send 2-6 balls at a time at the goalie. But when you do this, you can control the hands of the goalie if you're the other team. The graphics are really good, but nothing like the realism of the 360 or PS3. the audio is goodl the game utilizes the Wiimote speaker in a cool way with different sounds. I also like how the game can be played online via Nintendo's WiFi connection (which apparently is less prone to dropouts and problems). So even if you don't like soccer or sports games, at least rent this. You may be surprised.

Mario Strikers Charged

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It is a very good game, I like it just as much as the other mario sports games. Would reccomend it for anybody who liked the other sports games... Graphics are very good for a wii game

Mario Strikers Charged CK review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Two years ago Nintendo and development studio Next Level Games released Super Mario Strikers (a title that married a very untraditional approach to the sport of soccer with the lovable characters from the Mushroom Kingdom) for GameCube. Nobody had any idea what to expect from the endeavor, but it proved to be surprisingly enjoyable, particularly as a multiplayer affair. As a single-player outing, however, it lacked depth. Gamers could select their team captains, but they couldn't pick their sidekicks. Special moves called megastrikes practically guaranteed goals. And the selection of characters and stadiums seemed as light as the CPU-controlled artificial intelligence. Thankfully, for the official Wii sequel, Mario Strikers Charged, many of these criticisms have been addressed, but Next Level Games hasn't stopped there. It's also spruced up the overall graphical presentation and added a full-blown online mode the first one on Nintendo's new console worth mentioning. Charged still has some shortcomings, and yet it's a definite improvement over its predecessor in every facet and ultimately one of the best multiplayer offerings available for Wii, period.

So many developers have taken the easy route when it comes to creating software for Wii. Just take what worked for GameCube and do it again. These lazy undertakings aren't official ports, but they always have that same air about them -- that they might have started out as GCN or PS2 projects until someone got wind of Wii sales and decided to go with a quick, no-fuss port instead. Wii hasn't even been out a year and we've seen too many of these careless releases to count, so it is incredibly refreshing to behold an effort that looks and plays like it was created specifically for Nintendo's new system and not rushed to it, and for that Next Level Games has earned our respect.
Take, for instance, the game's crisp, detailed and wholly stylized visual presentation, which actually made us wonder if the experience could be duplicated on GameCube; probably not, we think. The title begins with an absolutely stunning pre-rendered intro showcasing characters like Mario and Peach battling it out on the soccer field against Waluigi and Bowser, and not only is the art and choreography beautiful, but there's no artifacting whatsoever, the video couldn't possibly be cleaner. It's a small detail, we know, but it's the first sign that the developer has strived to deliver a completely polished package, and this truth is demonstrated again and again. Slick, intuitive menus revolve around a soccer theme. Compared to the original Strikers, Charged boasts larger environments with crisper, cleaner textures, thoroughly enhanced particle effects, characters who run, jump, kick and perform special moves with very fluid animation, and a host of camera sweeps, screen shakes and environmental effects (wind, lighting, etc.) to add atmosphere to the action. Even the music is catchy, although it's repeated too often. There is the occasional background or stadium texture that looks a little blurrier than we'd like, but for the most part the game looks great and it supports 480p and true 16:9 widescreen (it'll fill your whole screen -- there's no fake stuff here). Everything runs at a pretty solid 30 frames per second with the occasional dip. Obviously, Strikers plays differently from its predecessor, in part because of a brand new controller. The title moves speedily and tightly along at an arcade pace and is responsively controlled with the nunchuk's analog stick. You'll tap the A button to pass to a teammate when on offense and the same will cycle between characters on defense. B trigger will fire off shots or, when held, charge up heavier kicks and megastrikes, the latter of which look superb thanks to some great new in-game animations. You can earn special power-ups, send shells at opponents, drop bombs, etc. By slamming into competitors who don't have the ball or by charging up a kick and releasing at the ideal moment. You'll be able to unleash these specials when needed by tapping the C button. Finally, when held, the Z button enables you to volley passes back and forth to teammates, which can set up some all-pro shots. Novices may never fully explore this function, but for it may change the way dedicated gamers play. These very traditional mechanics come together for a fast-paced and fun soccer romp.
If you haven't yet noticed, there aren't a lot of motion controls in place. This is because the development studio didn't want to force waggle onto players when it wasn't necessary. When gestures are used, however, they are used well. For instance, to perform bit hits, you now motion in any direction as you near an opponent and your character will knock them off their feet. It may sound like a subtle change over the original control scheme, but trust us when we state that it feels much better because there's significantly more "umph" to acting out the damaging move. On the other hand, thanks to the pointer functionality of the Wii remote, megastrikes are no longer a cheap means to score goals because now you can actually block them. Megastrikes are more powerful than they've ever been. If charged correctly, you can send up to six soccer balls at the goal, so this new measure is a necessity. If you're quick with the pointer and can move the goalie's hand in front of the oncoming soccer balls, you will regularly stop ones that might've been massive scores. In Charged, you can be leading 6-0 one second and find that the game is tied in the next. It can be intense and frustrating at the same time.

Charged continues its predecessor's rule in that only team captains can perform megastrikes, but that doesn't mean that the sidekicks are still more or less useless. Actually, not only do they come equipped with basic attributes some are slow, others fast, others more powerful, etc. but they can each perform one special maneuver. For instance, Boo is able to send the ball directly into the goal in one quick burst if you have the character positioned in exactly the right spot on the field. The Hammer Bros. can hurl hammers toward the goal, knock out the goalie, and then roll the ball in. These moves are executed by charging with the B trigger, just as you would a megastrike. As a result, sidekicks feel like real contributors now, as opposed to the generic stand-ins of the first game. Since you can also specifically choose the sidekicks you want on your team, too, there's inherently more skill involved in building the perfect soccer all-stars this time around.
What you will eventually notice is that you'll be able to use more skill shots and megastrikes in the single-player mode against easy AI competitors than you will against well-practiced human opponents a disappointment, as far as we're concerned. This is because real-life gamers are relentless, as we've found, and they will stay on you, keep nailing you with big hits and power-ups, and you'll just never have the time to fully charge a kick into a megastrike; and vice-versa, of course. Playing two-dozen matches online, we actually managed to get off only a handful of megastrikes against opponents and our competitors even less that. Perhaps that's why NLG felt compelled to prevent us from being able to skip the admittedlly-fancy megastrike animations, which see characters like Mario hurling themselves into the air before becoming engulfed in flames and eventually kicking the shot these animations can take 10 seconds or more. They look great the first time, or even the first 20 times, but after awhile you'll just want to skip by them and we unfortunately haven't found that option.

Arguably the game's main offering is its Road to the Striker Cup, which enables you to progress through various cups, including Striker, Crystal and Fire. The cups start off ridiculously easy, but eventually become quite challenging, particularly if you start out with a more advanced difficulty. NLG has returned all the classic stadiums from the original game and has added a host of new ones, including Sand Tomb, Thunder Island, the Vice, Lava Pit, the Dump, Galactic Stadium, the Wastelands, Crystal Canyon, Stormship Stadium and the Classroom. The levels are extremely varied and come to life with interactivity for instance, wind that has a bearing on the game and objects that crash onto the fields. The sheer diversity of the levels helps break up the monotony of the cups, which are all too similar. While the difficulty does increase, you will eventually take notice of the repetitive nature of the experience -- maybe that's inherent to any sports game, but it's a consideration nonetheless. What may also be true is that sports games are simply best played by two more or more people, and that, of course, is where Strikers shines.
And it really shines, actually, because it dishes out a robust four-player mode either off or online. Both are great, which surprised us since our experience with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is based solely on the rather clumsy and stupid Pokemon Battle Revolution. Strikers is the anti-Pokemon in that it features a very clean, intuitive connection interface and in our experience very little lag, even when playing four players online two per Wii console. The title pulls your system's Miis and saves all your Wi-Fi Connection data to them. When logged into the network you've got the option to battle friends, compete against a randomly selected competitor in a ranked game, look at the leaderboard or evaluate your friend roster.

The megastrikes look great, but after a while you'll just want to skip them and can't.The obvious downer is that, yes, Strikers does use individual friend codes that are completely separate from your Wii system number. Why, we have no idea, since it's not simple or easy in the least. You'll have to call up all your buddies, ask them what their friend codes are, enter them, and they will in turn have to enter yours. With that done, you'll be able to see whenever they are online and you can invite them very quickly to a match. Another real disappointment is that you can't communicate with anybody at all during the online experience. No headset support. No typing via the Wii remote and virtual keyboard. If you want to communicate at all, you better have a phone handy. This is especially unfortunate because in a game like Strikers, as in Smash Bros., half the fun comes with the trash talking that transpires during matches. There are some other minor gripes. You can't set conditions or choose levels in ranked matches -- they are chosen at random. (You can do this against friends, though.) And you will not be able to gain the friend code of someone you play in a ranked match. Only once was lag so unbearable that i felt like i was not even controlling our characters; I actually checked to see if we had mistakenly turned on some unnoticed CPU control option no joke, it was really that bad. But by and large the online experience was excellent, offering no lag whatsoever. When i first got the game, i seemed to be the only ones in America on the network and i could never find anybody to connect with in ranked matches. However, in the days prior to this review, more and more players started to appear online and we found that the process of searching for gamers and eventually connecting to a ranked game usually took no more than 30 seconds and sometimes as few as five. NLG has created a sense of community via online leaderboards. You can log in to see where you rank across the Americas, which is sure to spur competition (sadly, ranked matches cannot be played outside the continent and official Nintendo documentation is very vague and iffy on the subject of whether or not you can play against friends on different continents; we tried and couldn't, but it's allegedly possible, maybe.)

Closing Comments
Mario Strikers Charged is exactly the kind of sequel I was hoping for. It plays similarly to its predecessor, which means that it's got tight control and it moves at a quick, arcade-style pace. But it's also got a lot of mechanical and aesthetic enhancements, from new Wii gesture controls that feel great to truly polished graphics. There's added content. More characters to choose from than ever before. You can select sidekicks, who now come with special moves of their own. There are wealth of new interactive stages. And there are even some supplemental single-player modes. When you're done with Road to the Striker Cup, you can try out the Striker Challenges, which throw you into situations and test you to come out the victor; as you win, you'll unlock cheats that can be used in the offline multiplayer mode.

There are, though, some lingering issues. Despite the added depth, the single-player mode again takes a distant back seat to the multiplayer one, as the CPU-controlled characters just don't match up with human opponents. After awhile, you'll begin to notice the inevitable repetitive wave of matches. And there are also some issues with the online interface -- namely, that you still have to use unintuitive friend codes and that there's no way to communicate with each other while playing.

Despite these criticisms, whether you're playing against friends or in random ranked matches, the online mode is fast and if you've got a good connection lag free, successfully nurturing the high-action nature of the game. And since you can play four-players online Wii Charged truly is one of the best multiplayer experiences that can be found on the system. I've connected every night since I first started playing and this game has me convinced that there is a very bright future for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

If you thought the original Strikers was good, you haven't seen anything yet. And if you've never played these soccer games before, now is the time to start.

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