Mario Strikers: Battle League's File Size Seemingly Revealed

@AlanaHagues Gootball?

What's a gootball?

Funnily enough, Mario Strikers on Wii was also about 1.8GB, but it obviously would have had lower resolution textures (and/or cinematics). Oh, and it was complete on day one. No bug fix updates due to rigorous pre-release testing, and no content withheld in order to meet arbitrary deadlines while later spruiking it as “free updates” either.

Nintendo’s so-called compression “wizardry” aside, the small file size in this case is likely indicative of the game’s sheer lack of content at launch, which is a tremendous shame, because Nintendo still does release complete Version 1.0 games, but it’s particularly disheartening that it is now the exception rather than the rule (two more recent examples of which include Kirby and the Forgotten Land and WarioWare: Get It Together, at least for now...).

Rewind to the Wii, and the only Nintendo games that were patched or recalled, to my knowledge, were the Australian release of Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (as we got the US version of Wild World, but the European release of the Wii instalment, which meant that our DS save data couldn’t be read, and so Nintendo Australia offered to exchange the discs for an updated version), and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (which had a patch downloadable via the Wii Shop). If there are others, I have no idea, but they would be a tiny, tiny minority even if that were the case.

Publishers have become far, far too complacent now that they have the luxury of releasing unfinished garbage at full price. Just look at Nintendo’s own Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. No updated music, no cinematics, no credits sequence, among other content missing from the Version 1.0 build (should have called it Version 0.7, really). How utterly shameful and embarrassing, and a concerning precedent that could lead to further sloppy practices becoming commonplace in future.

I would still like to grab Mario Strikers and Switch Sports, but I’m keen on holding out until next year, when a reprint with all of the patches on cart will be available. I am frankly fed up with rewarding big businesses for producing bad products.

I really liked the demo… but Im really worried that it will be really short on content.

@RubyCarbuncle As a gamer on a budget, I tend to wait for a sale. This strategy also pays off for content too; by the time I get the game, it has been updated.

I wish this game had more than one stadium. I know there are a bunch of different aesthetics but it's not the same. The courses and stadiums in the Switch Mario sports games are a huge downgrade from the Gamecube era

@Silly_G I agree with everything you said, with the exception of the last paragraph. Does Nintendo print new “versions” of existing cartridges later on with patches included? This would be a megaton piece of news to me as a collector of physical media. Please cite evidence if this is true.

@Axecon you know, I couldn’t put my finger on it but I knew something was missing from this game compared to previous entries. You’re right, it’s the stadiums. What a major downgrade compared to previous Strikers games if all the play fields are different skins of this stadium.

it's not the shape or size, it's how many times you make it rise.

Much bigger than any Game Boy games though!

@AlanaHagues beautifully wondrous!

They really be releasing a game with only one court (cosmetics don't count) that has zero gimmicks, a neutered roster and missing side activities in 2022. This game will most likely only take you one or two hours to experience the full package which is quite frankly insulting at this point. Tennis Aces and Star Rush(ed) definitely had their flaws but they at least had a story mode (as half-baked as they were) and multiple courses to give you SOME dime for your buck. The only thing saving this game from receiving the same amount of scorn as those two games got is that Next Level Games has a (currently) very favourable perception amongst most Nintendo fans and that the animations in the game are admittedly stellar but those don't change the fact that this release is arguably the most lazy, cynical and half-baked of all the Switch era Mario sports games.

@mereel : Reprints of Nintendo-published games include the latest patches. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may be one of very few exceptions as the patches with the game exceeds 16GB, and I can't see Nintendo coughing up a 32GB cart merely to include patches (unless they issue a complete release with all of the DLC on the cart as well, also unlikely).

A handful of users on this site (and elsewhere) have attempted to compile lists of physical releases that have been reissued with a more up-to-date version of the game on cartridge, but unfortunately, there is no hard and fast way to know based on the packaging (at least as far as I am aware), but inspection of the cartridge itself will indicate whether or not it is an updated print.

To reiterate, this only applies to Nintendo-published games. Very few third-party releases have been reissued with updates on the cart unless in the case of a re-release of an existing title (such as a deluxe release).

This has been known for some time and I have witnessed this myself with Ring Fit Adventure (which is one of very few games that I didn't buy at launch). I cannot provide you with "hard evidence" other than my testimony (and I have no motivation to deceive), and others can also attest. I also own two copies of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, one being the launch Version 1.0 print, and the Japanese complete release that includes all software updates and DLC content on the cartridge. The latter contains absolutely everything and requires no downloads whatsoever (the version on the cart is 1.6). The base game available elsewhere should now also contain Version 1.6, but without the DLC content, as the DLC cartridge release is exclusive to Japan (it contains English however, and is otherwise identical to the version of the game released internationally, so it will be compatible with an existing save file from a non-Japanese cartridge).

It is worth bearing in mind, however, that even if you have an updated cartridge, if further updates are released after the fact, then you will have to download the entirety of the updates, not just the difference between the version you have on the cartridge and the most up-to-date version.

For example, say a game has a 1GB update followed by a second 200MB update; even if your cartridge already has the 1GB update on it, you will still have to download 1.2GB worth of data when the latter update is released.

@Fizza : It never occurred to me that the difference between an old fart and a whippersnapper was a mere 10 years, but here we are.

By the way, are we still up for lawn bowls at 3.00?

@Silly_G I second! Something just tells me that the game is going to be incomplete and lacking content compared to the previous games. Of course, I have already preordered, as I am a fan of the series, but still...

@Silly_G interesting. Thanks for the detailed reply. Of course, this will all become a bit sad and disappointing 25 years from now when the update servers are long gone, and we try to fire up old Switch game cards only to learn we only have access to the broken “1.0” version of all these games. Unless we lucked out and got an updated reprint cartridge instead - assuming the game even got a reprint run. Many don’t. It’s all going to be very confusing. How is the retro scene even going to work for the games of this era?

@mereel : The silver lining is that you can wirelessly transfer update data between consoles (not saves, unfortunately, as that runs checks through Nintendo's servers beforehand).

So, if you have back-up consoles that contain all of the update data, then you're set in the event that one of your consoles fails (but sadly, merely copy/pasting data between microSD cards won't do as the data is encrypted to the console itself).

@YoshiF2 Don't worry. Nintendo promised that it will recieve post-launch updates like characters and other content.

Awesome. Won't take much space if bought digital. Looking forward to its release this weekend.

Everyone says there is less content than the predecessors, but then again, it is true? I mean, yes, there are less characters, but in neither the GC and the Wii ones there were equipments (and there seems to be a lot), in the GC and Wii ones every character had only 2 shirts while there are customizable shirts, and the same goes for the stadium: there are less, but you can customize them and fuse them togheter (and there were no gimmick on the Gamecube ones either). They just preferred to focus on different things this time around (and we still don't know how many cups are there... the GC one had 8 cups, but the Wii one only 3).

@SilverM Honestly, it really does feel like people sometimes just want to continuously blame Nintendo when all they're doing is what every other company has done years ago. You don't rag on one company, calling them cynical and releasing "half-baked" games, while turning a blind eye to the others who charge $10 more for even buggier and content-deprived games.

@Silly_G Mario Party 8 (UK) and Super Paper Mario (EU) also had recalls on the Wii, in case you're interested.

@SilverM this is missing the interactive stadiums and the character exclusive mega powers. Which is at least half of the creativity and fun involved in the previous games. And they stripped everything that made each match unique. Now every character plays the same, aside from their stats, and every stadium is exactly the same, aside from the cosmetics.

I hope that is just from the demo, because this is the most basic game I’ve seen from Nintendo since the NES game URBAN CHAMPION.

Does this game have a story mode like Aces and Super rush? I can't find the answer anywhere so I'm assuming it's a no!

Half the size of Sonic Origins.. 😂 😭

@YoshiF2 Is Super Mario Strikers for the Gamecube a bad game to you?

@Gingerman86 Nope. Neither do the previous Strikers games for that matter. Instead you have cups like in Mario Kart.

@meleehunter I know the previous strikers games had no story, but neither have the console Tennis and Golf games until the Switch. Seems odd to leave it out for this.

With multiple 1TB micro sd cards and I'm picking up a physical copy of the game anyway, file size means nothing to me. It's still nice to know that Nintendo can keep file sizes down on new releases. Compared to PS5 & Series X game releases 😒. My SSD's have been full on both of those consoles, even with expansions smh...

@meleehunter I Can understand that for the first entry in a series and a 2005 game. But after the Wii game, you’re supposed to go forward, not backwards.

@bluesun : Ah, yes. I somehow recall the Mario Party 8 situation (which was pretty ridiculous), but not Super Paper Mario. Either way, the former’s so-called “issue” was more of a censorship one, I believe, rather than anything relating to glitches, which was what I was mainly referring to. But interesting all the same.

@mereel yeah they don't - nintendo games aside but putting an updated version on the cart requires a resubmitted rom and nintendo testing it all over again - which can fail delaying things. Much easier to just print off what has been previously submitted to Nintendo. Hence the recent doom collection still being the same as the launch doom cart version. The exception to this rule is when the publisher prides itself on doing it like fangamer did with Stardew Valley. New copies are not updated to version 1.5 on the cart indicated by a sticker on the frint of tge case.

@YoshiF2 Well, it may surprise you to hear that some players prefer that game instead of the supposedly better in every way Charged. If you actually played that game online, you would realize all those special moves and traits you're so fond of actually make the game hideously unbalanced, and games nearly always come down to fast characters abusing exploits in the goalie AI to get free goals, ignoring the whole ball-charging mechanic. The comparatively "bland" Super does not have this problem, and it makes sense that an online-driven game like Battle League would draw more from that to make a fair experience instead.

More is not always better.

@meleehunter see, there you have it. They could have improved all those things you mentioned in this sequel. Not just take them away. That’s the equivalent of taking away 50 smash characters away because it was too unbalanced, instead of fixing what made them unbalanced in the first place. Instead of making the exact same GC game but for Switch. Thanks for proving my point.

You also didn't give an argument about the missing stadiums with the hazards.

Here's a solution too: Just put a "true football" mode, in which you just take each custom superpower away and put only the simple stadiums and thats it. It isn't that hard to please fans of both games.

@Silly_G Mario strikers battle league is a complete game and it's going to get 8/10 from a lot of outlets and sell a lot Nintendo is having a ball in 2022 and Nintendo has improved in a big way in the right positive direction