NintendObs Thinks: Hints at unlockable characters in Mario Strikers Battle League.
I was right about free post-launch updates, and I'm ready to be right again about unlockables.
First and foremost, with Nintendo recently announcing “there are free post-launch updates coming, including new characters” for Mario Strikers Battle League, I am happy to report that I and many others who expected this to be the case are now gladly vindicated. To the others who were doubting out there, congrats for crying so loud about Daisy. (You know who you are.) You just gave Nintendo directions for the perfect first character to present and include in these free post-launch updates, the right striker to announce at that time when Mario Strikers Battle League will make all the buzz with a successful launch and the very people complaining right now will either be playing the game with smiles across their faces or watching livestreams of it wishing they’d be the ones playing.
I find it peculiar that many would base their expectations for an upcoming Nintendo title from the vibe they’re getting (justified or unjustified) out of other titles from Nintendo which are not part of the series at hand, more than they’d base their expectations simply on the prequel of the anticipated game — even though here characters added via free post-launch updates were to be expected specifically because of the manner in which Nintendo handles their ongoing releases. Actually, I find it even more puzzling that many would consider their current impressions of Nintendo’s business to be more reliable for pessimism than Mario Strikers’s own history should be ground for optimism, in spite of Mario Strikers Battle League being developed by the same studio that made all of its predecessors, and being published by the same publisher (Nintendo) which purchased the studio for the occasion less than two years ago at the height of the game’s development since Mario Strikers Battle League will be Next Level Games’ first release as part of the Nintendo group.
That being dealt with, by relying on Mario Strikers Charged it is easy to predict how — now in addition to characters coming via free post-launch updates — Mario Strikers Battle League will also include unlockable characters, and do so via the same mechanism that Mario Strikers Charged on Wii previously used. In fact, added stages and characters will probably use that same mechanism as well. The hints are right there in the game’s overview trailer, they just need to be pieced together. Of course they’re not as definitive as an official announcement, but they sure are strong enough for me to do away with writing in conditionals. After all, what’s the point in making unlockable characters a secret if they’re going to be revealed ahead of time, especially when they never were mentioned in marketing for any of the previous titles in the series? But enough teasing, let’s connect the dots, shall we?