Surprise! A Free Mario Strikers Switch Demo Is Now Available On The eShop

I guess Nintendo expects an uptick of interest in Soccer games this holiday season. Can’t blame them. It was the 06’ World Cup that had me noticing Mario Strikers GCN.

I'm still holding out for all updates to be done and dusted so that I can grab a reprinted cartridge.

I am so, so over buying unfinished sports games from Nintendo.

Oh I dislike this game so so so so much. It does not deserve the hype, the score, your time and definitely not your money. And it is absolutely not the « best sport game on switch »

Got excited for a sec, than remembered I played the original demo and hated it, couldn't get past 1 of the required missions, kept losing on the score. 😝

I'll download to see if it has couch co-op and/or vs but it's getting deleted straight away if it's single player only. Or online multiplayer.

It’s a fun game but could be better. A lot better.

I'm not going to deny the lack of content, but if you like arcade sports titles and have buddies to play local or online multiplayer with, it's still a really good time.

Nintendo had to limit the play time in the demo so that you couldn't basically just have the full game with less characters LOL

I never really enjoyed the Frist Kick demo, so this demo (and the entire game) is a pass for me. Also, I dislike demos with limited plays, like certain 3DS demos, but that might just be me.

Too late. Already moved on to many, many other games that are worth my time.

it so weird/dystopian to say a "free demo"

Cool. Maybe if it's good I'll buy it. Otherwise I'll just play the good one.

I probably won't bother, I don't have any friends who have this game let alone interested.

I missed out first demo. I will give this a shot, tho I haven’t heard positive things about it, unfortunately, sounds like for full price it was way to barebones, hope I enjoy it tho.

nintendos being generous, this game is definitely not doing well lol

@BenAV not far from the truth at all. you play one mode youve played the whole game

@diwdiws : "Free" is redundant in this context (since when have we ever paid for a demo?) and I don't understand why they keep using the term.

EA reportedly toyed with the idea of charging $10-$15 for demos, which sounds ludicrous, especially if they aren't offering players a tit-for-tat discount from the cost of the full game (but of course this can only be applied to digital purchases).

I might check the demo out.

Worst case scenario, I play the few available rounds, and never touch it again. Best case, I enjoy it and maybe actually buy the game at some point.

Sure, a demo is always welcome. But the game is still unfinished - lacking in content. Meaning, I'm not buying it.

With this demo you'll probably already see pretty much everything the game has to offer anyway. Only thing you won't experience is the online, I would guess. The stadiums add practically nothing of value and even in the full game you'll be sick of seeing the same few characters all the time because everyone is a captain now.

But hey if you enjoy the gameplay... you may as well say you just got a new free game as a result! No purchase necessary! The gameplay portion IS fine, as is the presentation, you just won't get too much more value out of the game than what the demo offers. The limited time on the demo is probably put in specifically because of this because I don't recall any other Switch game doing this.

@Silly_G while I completely agree with your sentiment, unfortunately future versions or “reprints” of this game as you call it will not have the DLC included on the cart (and yes I know the DLC is free). Nintendo simply doesn’t follow that model.

If you have any evidence to the contrary please link to it.

@mereel : I am not referring to DLC, I am referring to software updates, which Nintendo typically includes in their cartridges in reprints (with the possible exception of Smash Ultimate, as the game plus updates exceeds 16GB). Third parties don't usually do this, however.

Users on this website can attest that their physical copies of older games purchased more recently (such as Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Party, ARMS, Pokémon Sword etc.) will have the updates included within the cartridge, with no further downloads required, and some have gone through the lengths to create databases that document all known variants of physical releases.

As I typically buy games at launch, most of my cartridges have Version 1.0 on them, but I did buy a copy of Ring Fit Adventure when it was issued a reprint after the launch print was sold out, and so my copy had the most up-to-date version on it (though additional updates have been issued since), which brought this practice to my attention, and additional inquiries have indicated that this is standard practice for Nintendo (albeit one that many don't seem to know about).

And for this reason, I'm holding out on buying Switch Sports, Mario Strikers, and Bayonetta 3 until next year, and by then, I hope that they will be reprinted with the complete and final versions of the games on the cartridges.

It's a fun game for a few minutes if you've got friends over. But by no means a must have game. Online is dispointing.

noone cares, game got released as a demo and died pretty much instantly

A lot of salty people in these comments.

Mario Strikers Charged is one of my favorite Wii title, but Battle League is so barebones it's disappointing. So few characters, so few game modes, so few everything.

It doesn't make sense to limit the number of plays. You can create a new account on Switch in seconds. I used that trick to play Monster Hunter demo.

I personally love this game and still play regularly. I'm not sure what more content they could have brought. I mean the single player is pretty decent and long enough and there's enough multi modes in my opinion.

A FREE demo of an underperforming game that came out like a year ago?! Wow how generous of them.

never liked soccer or this series art direction

If this had a decent, lengthy career mode, I might consider picking it up but it doesn’t seem to have much going for it in terms of single player.

the demo is just the full game there is 0 content

I bought this on Launch Day, played it a few times and eventually traded it in.

I'll never play this version but would with the GC version.

limited to 7 match because if it wasn't the demo will just be the game for free.

One thing that may help sales with games like these is if Nintendo didnt apply the Nintendo Tax to every one of their licensed games and made games like these $40. With so much filling this year up, I'm interested in this game but not enough to pay $60.

@Silly_G Does that exist for any game on Switch?

@Aventurier : I've already covered that in an earlier comment. Reprints of Nintendo games include any software updates (current at the time of manufacturing) on the cartridge.

This does not usually apply to third-party titles, however.

One of the biggest regrets I have with the Switch was buying this game.

Me and the kids will try it!

A demo of a demo haha.

I need the next update to come out soon. Also they would fix all their issues if they added a "Charged" mode. No gear allowed, the physics of the ball and power behind it play exactly like it does on the Wii.

@Silly_G Wow I did not know about this. Thank you for the detailed explanation.

LOL

"Some game modes in the demo..."
SOME game modes?

In practice, this game has only 1 game mode.

Because cup and quick battle are all the same.
There's no league, no championship, nothing.

"some game modes"....biggest LOL

I do enjoy Mario Strikers somewhat as the core gameplay is pretty tight, but I definitely agree with many sentiments that it is very light on content. Especially moreso if you want more offline, single player content- without online the game is pretty much tragic as there’s not much variety or things to do/unlock/achieve. I mean even the slim stadium upgrades are locked to the online battle league silver coin payments and use which is silly. And you have to rebuy what you unlocked again if you switch to something else... such an archaic, puzzling, frustrating pseudo-unlockables system. Hopefully they add more modes, characters, stages, cosmetics, customization etc. very soon and not drip-feed content longterm.

Online matches being the main portion of the game can get pretty grueling as there are a lot of hardcore advanced players on there as I feel many casual players have dropped the game by now or don't participate nearly as much. Also, we need Pom Pom or the Kremling Kritter back as a goalie option cuz Boom Boom be letting me down constantly smh. Either that or an option to play/switch to a manual goalie as well. That could also go well for a penalty kick mode too.

Still waiting and hopeful for a new Mario 3-On-3 Hoops, Mario Superstar Sluggers & Mario Sports Mix on Switch that are more expansive & comprehensive than the previous Mario Sports offerings this far.

… Wun can only hope.

This game does not a demo but a price drop.

This game does not need a demo but a price drop.

Shame I literally just bought this for my son a few days ago. The only thing to do in the game is quick play a simple soccer match. I could have just got the demo and told him it was the full game, he wouldn’t have cared that only a few characters were available.