The Mario Strikers Battle League release date isn’t too far away now, and Nintendo has today revealed that a free demo and a trial weekend will be taking place for players to try out the bonkers soccer sim.
Between June 3 and June 5, various matchmaking slots will be made available for players to squad up with others around the world. Across that weekend, six one-hour slots will be there for Nintendo Switch Online members to access (you can find a full schedule below). To access these trial periods, all you have to do is have an active Switch Online membership, download the Mario Strikers Battle League First Kick demo version of the game for free from the store, and be raring to go at the start of each 60-minute slot.
While an hour slot doesn’t seem like much, Mario Strikers Battle League’s matches are short but action-packed, so you should be able to squeeze a fair few games into each session.
During the trial weekend, you’ll be matchmade into teams of four, with each player picking an iconic character from the Mario Strikers Battle League roster, which includes the likes of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Bowser, Peach, and more.
Here’s when you can enter each one-hour trial period:
Friday, June 3
- 8:00-9:00pm PT (11pm – 12am ET/ 4am – 5am on June 4 BST)
Saturday, June 4
- 4:00-5:00am PT (7am – 8am ET/ 12pm – 1pm BST)
- 12:00-1:00pm PT (3pm – 4pm ET/ 8pm – 9pm BST)
- 8:00-9:00pm PT (11pm – 12am ET/ 4am – 5am on June 5 BST)
Sunday, June 5
- 4:00-5:00am PT (7am – 8am ET/ 12pm – 1pm BST)
- 12:00-1:00pm PT (3pm – 4pm ET/ 8pm – 9pm BST)
If you really can’t wait until next weekend to get your first taste of the game, fear not – an offline-only demo is available to download for free right now from the Nintendo Switch store.