Hi, I'm Daisy! If you read that and thought that she's here, you'd be right. Along with the Princess of Sarasara Land, Daisy, the game also received Shy Guy as a playable character.
In addition to these two characters, the game was updated with a new stadium, Desert Ruin, which looks like it was set in the Sarasara Land area, received the Knight gear set, and some quality of life changes to go along with patches and bug fixes.
First, let's break down the new characters.
Shy Guy is the most balanced character in the game. This means that he can play any role and that putting gear on him will be key to how he's played and what role he will fill on a team. He can be a primary or secondary option for a team. His hyperstrike is strong, blowing others out of the way. His actual size is small, and so is his tackle range. His size and decent offensive stats may gear him towards offense and playmaking but his now game average strength, allows him to play defense, as well. It's totally up to the player on how he's used. Also, more than one Shy Guy can be on a team. Departing away from Mario Strikers Charged, his mask does not change expressions depending on what's going on. (Which was met with praise from others around the internet.) He also has the most meme-worthy upset animation in the game when he is the team captain. I promise you, it's worth a look.
Daisy is more or less a Luigi clone meaning that she has excellent playmaking abilities. She's stronger than him with a new game high technique stat that allows her to have high curve on her shots. Her speed is tied for the lowest in the game so, she isn't really suited for defense despite the decent strength that she shares with Shy Guy. Again, since she is pretty much like Luigi, she can be played like him if the player wishes. She's more specified to playmaking than Luigi is, though. Just like the other characters, using gear on her will allow the player to get the most out of her. Many of her sound and voice lines are re-used from other games, like many of the characters in game, so her lines will sound a little off a times since the lines seem to follow after each other depending on the celebration or animation that plays. Between the two goal celebrations she has, one is pretty good and typical of her while the other is very lackluster.
Let's take a look at the new stadium.
It looks very nice at a glance. The desert theme is a nice touch and welcome addition to the themes. The new music (there are two songs) that play when both halves match, is very nice, too. Unfortunately, there are no hazards here, as the pitch is just a standard one, still, with just different colored grass.
The newly added Knight set is very interesting and can be used to tweak the characters even further. It was advertised as a strength and shooting set.
I've equipped the entire set on Bowser so that you can see what the set does to his stats. His strength stays maxed and he is now close to maxing his shooting, as well, while sacrificing the rest of his stats. If the entire set is equipped, this is what you're looking at, stat wise:
Strength + 8
Speed - 5
Shooting + 5
Passing - 4
Technique - 4
With each piece doing different things to the stats, there are many different ways to equip the characters as well as mix and match this set with others. There are no requirements to unlocking these, outside of spending 300 coins per piece when selecting it on a character.
The quality of life changes that I've noticed are these (these aren't including anything that was in the patch notes):
When Boom-Boom is stunned, and the stars are over his head, a sound plays, indicating that he is stunned.
If any characters are caught in Peach's hyperstrike and it is successful, they now make sounds and speak in relation to the goal while being charmed.
When collecting coins after a match, the animation is now changed.
The music for winning a cup seems to have been sped up for certain characters.
Lastly, here are the patch notes for the game:
Can be found on this website ==> https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/07/mario-strikers-battle-league-version-1-1-0-is-now-live-here-are-the-full-patch-notes
Ver. 1.1.0
Additional Content
Added “Daisy” as a playable character.
Added “Shy Guy” as a playable character.
Added the “Desert Ruin” stadium.
Added the “Knight” gear set.
Added Features
Increased how many items can be displayed in the Notifications ticker in Strikers Club.
When choosing "Random" on the Character Selection screen, the geared version of the Character will be selected (if one exists).
General
Reduced the probability of scoring on a weak shot from far away.
Reduced the probability of Stars appearing when you are losing by a 1 or 2 point difference.
Revised the CPU behavior and opposing team composition in Cup Battles.
Added visible trail to the ball when it’s not in active possession, making it easier to see.
Made player numbers easier to see when playing online.
Fixed an issue when playing as Waluigi and using a hyper strike in which the ball could hit a goal post and not go in.
Made several other adjustments to game balance and fixed several other issues to improve the gameplay experience.
After this update, there are two more that are scheduled to be released before the end of the year. Will the following two updates follow this trend of two characters, a new skin for a stadium, a gear set with some QoL changes and bug fixes? There is no way to know. If it is that way, then there will be four more characters which would leave the roster at 16, four short of the rumored 20 from the datamining that was done at the time of the first kick demo and game's launch. That will also give us nine gear sets and eight total skins for stadiums by the end of the year. Personally, I feel that that is nowhere near enough for this game. As of right now, it is unknown if there will be any updates given in 2023. Most people are pessimistic believing that something will be coming. I don't blame them, quite honestly. Given the way the first update is, unless we are in for a big surprise, the game is going to feel like a let down as a whole despite the outstanding gameplay itself.
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