Switch Sports was what was promised, Strikers however was just disappointing like all the Mario Sports titles on Switch so far.
I don't think Aces is disappointing. It's not as good as it could be, but it got a lot of characters people wanted to see, got a lot of solid updates that expanded the game in ways it needed to be expanded upon, and had the best gameplay I think the series has ever had that kept me super engaged. It needed more content, but it felt like a pretty solid return to form and a "service" early release done right. And it was so early in the Switch's life I could write it off as such too more easily. Especially after Open and Ultra Smash, it was a huge breath of fresh air and felt like righting the ship after a decade of bad Tennis games even if it wasn't perfect.
The problem with Super Rush was that its gameplay wasn't up to that level. Running to the hole in golf is the innovation for innovation's sake that was actually really not that fun or engaging outside of Battle Golf which
was actually really fun but didn't get any updates. And Cross Country was truly awful as well, and I think the classic Mario Golf style was lost in the process. I think Super Rush had a chance to be great and overall 10 courses was a solid amount, but they kept things too simple to account for a boring as sin "run to the hole" mechanic that didn't work that well. And it was coming off the truly phenomenal in every way Mario Golf World Tour so the stakes were so much higher and it was so much more disappointing.
Battle League is where Nintendo blatantly didn't give a shit outside the animations and it shows. They rushed a product out to market to fill in a hole and told Next Level Games to barely support it. It didn't even get half the content Golf and Tennis really got. And to top it all off, it launched in the poorest state a game could for the whole series content wise and the base game was not as good as the classics. It's certainly fun with friends, but that's it and only because there isn't another Strikers game this side of the Wii. Stadiums were shrunk down to an almost laughably small and tight space, and the game was made in a more clunky manner and there was no content at launch, and none added through the games launch. It was literally just some great animation work on a very fun with friends exoskeleton that barely worked. I wanted to love it, but dear lord, it was the worst by far and Next Level deserved a much better opportunity to finally make a new Strikers game than this. It feels like the epitome of a game rushed through Covid woes to meet a 2022 World Cup deadline and fill in the release schedule.
I'd be a lot less critical of Mario Sports titles if they all had stellar gameplay at least. But only Aces has that crown unfortunately, while Super Rush and Battle League are the worst playing in their respective series.
If Mario Baseball comes back too, at least the gameplay only really can improve from the waggle fest that was Super Sluggers at least.
