Our Super Mario Strikers unlockables guide details how to find a secret character and unlock all stadiums, trophies, cups, and cheats.
The GameCube era was coming to a close with a healthy dose of Mario spin-offs in the bag. You had your tennis game, another golfing outing, and plenty of parties, and they even got the gang together for some baseball. So what was left? On December 5, 2005, Nintendo released Super Mario Strikes, the first Mario spin-off focused exclusively on soccer and the last Mario-focused game on the GameCube. And it was a blast! After nearly 20 years, the game was finally rereleased through the Nintendo Switch 2 and its Nintendo Switch Online service on July 3, 2025.
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As the first entry in the Strikers series, the game isn’t bursting with content, but it’s still got a decent amount of unlockables and cheats you’ll want to know about. And that’s what we’ll cover in our Super Mario Strikers guide!
Some of the technical stats we cover in this guide were gathered from the fine folk over at the Mario Strikers Discord Server. Head over to their community if you’re looking for more advanced tips and techniques or if you’re looking to play any of the three Strikers games online.
July 4: Trophies list and requirements added. Guide complete!
June 22: Cheats added! Includes clips of the items cheats.
June 19: Character, stadium, and cup sections updated.
List of Characters
Super Mario Strikers has a total of nine playable characters, including the new Super Team once you’ve unlocked them. Each of these captains can perform a Super Strike on the field, allowing you a chance to score two goals at once.
Mario
Luigi
Peach
Daisy
Yoshi
Wario
Waluigi
Donkey Kong
Super Team
After picking a main captain, you’ll then pick a sidekick to fill the rest of your team. There are four in total. No unlockables! Sidekicks can’t perform Super Strikes.
If you pick Super Team as your captain, you’ll also get them as your sidekicks. Yeah, that means your entire team can perform Super Strikes. Not exactly fair for the other team, so keep this in mind as you play with friends or people you hope to maintain relationships with.
Toad
Hammer Bro.
Birdo
Koopa Troopa
How to Unlock Super Team
Complete the Bowser Cup to unlock Super Team. The Bowser Cup is a grueling challenge taking you through seven different matches. The top four ranked teams from those seven matches move onto a semi-final match and finally a finals match. Come out on top and you’ll be tasked with one more game — a fight against Super Team. Beat the robotic crew and you’ll be able to select them after you claim your trophy.
Don’t have the Bowser Cup? You’ll have to play through and rank third or higher in each of the previous three cups. These include the Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, and the Star Cup.
Character Stats
Despite each captain being designated a playstyle type in-game, each character functions quite similarly. They all handle the ball the same and their speed is identical (although captains are slightly faster than sidekicks), and the primary differences come in item preferences and character size.
Each captain has a preferred item that increases their chances of obtaining that item during a match. Some items are simply better than others, and that alone puts certain characters ahead of the rest.
The larger a character is, the easier it is to tackle them. Each character has a hurtbox, an invisible shape surrounding the character that another player must hit for an attack to register. If all characters had the same hurtbox size despite their physical appearance, then no character would have any advantage or disadvantage. Alas this is not the case as hurtbox sizes in Super Mario Strikers are based off the actual size of each character. For example, Donkey Kong will be easier to attack over someone like the lanky Waluigi. Although, it can be argued that a larger hurtbox also provides additional defense against an opposing team’s shots.
| Captain | Preferred Item | Hurtbox | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mario |  |
Mushroom | 1 |
| Luigi | |
Mushroom | 2 |
| Peach |  |
Blue Shell | 1 |
| Daisy |  |
Red Shell | 1 |
| Yoshi |  |
Spiny Shell | 3 |
| Wario |  |
Bob-omb (giant) | 4 |
| Waluigi | |
Bob-omb (triple) | 1 |
| Donkey Kong |  |
Banana (giant) | 5 |
| Super Team | None | 1 | |
In the table, the hurtbox size is ordered from smallest (1) to largest (5). It should be noted that it’s really Wario and Donkey Kong who have the most significant differences. The rest are somewhat different but are fairly close to each other.
Sidekicks do not have their own item preferences and will instead adopt whatever chances their captain comes with. As for their hurtbox sizes, they’re all very close to the smaller side of the scale with some light differences.
| Captain | Hurtbox | Captain | Hurtbox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toad | 1 | Hammer Bros. | 3 |
| Birdo | 2 | Koopa Troopa | 3 |
Unlockable Stadiums
Seven stadiums make up the world of Super Mario Strikers, three of which are available from the start. Each stadium is nearly identical when it comes to gameplay, but there are some minor differences when it comes to goalposts and net sizes. For average play, this won’t matter too much. Things like floor type (grass, metal, wood, etc.) are merely cosmetic.
A look at all seven stadiums:
The Palace
Pipeline Central
The Underground
Konga Coliseum
Crater Field
The Battle Dome
Bowser Stadium
Four stadiums are unlocked by completing cups. The exact criteria:
| Stadium | How to Unlock |
|---|---|
| Konga Coliseum | Rank third or higher in the Mushroom Cup. |
| Crater Field | Rank third or higher in the Flower Cup. |
| The Battle Dome | Rank third or higher in the Star Cup. |
| Bowser Stadium | Rank third or higher in the Bowser Cup. |
Secret Cups
The game starts you off with a single cup, the Mushroom Cup, but there are eight in total. Place in the top three of the Mushroom Cup to unlock the Flower Cup. Keep placing in the top three of each new cup to unlock the next one. The Bowser Cups require you to come in first!
| Cup Name | How to Unlock | Completion Reward | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Mushroom Cup | Available from the start. | Place third or higher in this cup to unlock Konga Coliseum and the Flower Cup. |
 |
Flower Cup | Rank third place or higher in the Mushroom Cup. | Place third or higher in this cup to unlock Crater Field and the Star Cup. |
 |
Star Cup | Rank third place or higher in the Flower Cup. | Place third or higher in this cup to unlock the Battle Dome and the Bowser Cup. |
 |
Bowser Cup | Rank third place or higher in the Star Cup. | Complete this cup to unlock Super Team, Bowser Stadium, the Super Mushroom Cup, and the Credits. |
 |
Super Mushroom Cup | Complete the Bowser Cup. | Place third or higher in this cup to unlock the Super Flower Cup. Place first to unlock the “Perfect Strike” cheat. |
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Super Flower Cup | Rank third place or higher in the Super Mushroom Cup. | Place third or higher in this cup to unlock the Super Star Cup. Place first to unlock the “Field Tilt” cheat. |
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Super Star Cup | Rank third place or higher in the Super Flower Cup. | Place third or higher in this cup to unlock the Super Star Cup. Place first to unlock the “Weak Goalies” cheat. |
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Super Bowser Cup | Rank third place or higher in the Super Star Cup. | Complete this cup to unlock the “Infinite Powerups” cheat. |
List of Cheats
Under the Options menu is a Cheats section that allows you to modify future matches. There are five cheats in total, and you can mix and match which to turn on and which to leave off. One of the cheats offers more than a simple on and off option.
Custom Power Ups Cheat
There are five options to toggle through in the Custom Power Ups Cheat. You can only select one of these variations at any given time.
Explosive
Freezing
Shells
Giant
Accelerators
So, how do you unlock these item cheats and what do they do?
| Cheat | Effect | How to Unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Explosive | Bombs, and more bombs. You either get triple Bob-ombs or the giant variant! | Earn the gold Super Striker Award by performing 100 Super Strikes in Cup Battles. |
| Freezing | The Blue Shell reigns supreme here. Only the triple and giant variant will spawn. | Earn the gold Tactician Award by performing 300 perfect passes in Cup Battles. |
| Shells | Nothing but shells. Green Shells, Red Shells, Blue Shells, and Spiny Shells are all that’ll appear. | Earn the gold Veteran Award by playing 100 matches in Cup Battles. |
| Giant | Shells and Bob-ombs, but they’re all giant. | Earn the gold Paramedic Award by hitting 100 players in Cup Battles. | Accelerators | Mushrooms, mushrooms, and mushrooms. And stars if you’re behind! | Earn the gold Sniper Award by scoring 300 goals in Cup Battles. |
Additional Power Ups
The remaining four cheats can be toggled on and off. They don’t have any other variations. These cheats are unlocked by ranking first in each of the Super Cup matches.
| Cheat | Effect | How to Unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Weak Goalies | Goalies are less effective at blocking shots. | Rank first place in the Super Star Cup. |
| Infinite Power Ups | A power up is added to your inventory every 10 seconds as long as you have the space for it. | Rank first place in the Super Bowser Cup. |
| Field Tilt | The map will tilt towards the winning team’s goal. If the tilt is steeper if the goal difference is more than one. | Rank first place in the Super Flower Cup. |
| Perfect Strike | All Super Strikes are automatically Perfect Strikes. It doesn’t matter where you mark the meter, and you are guaranteed double goal if you complete it. | Rank first place in the Super Mushroom Cup. |
List of Trophies
We’ve already covered how to unlock item cheats in the previous section, but there’s a few more details when it comes to unlocking different tiers of trophies.
 |
Veteran Award | |
| Total cup matches played | ||
| Bronze | 25 | |
| Silver | 50 | |
| Gold | 75 | |
| Unlock the Shells power up by earning gold. | ||
 |
Sniper Award | |
| Total goals scored in cup matches | ||
| Bronze | 75 | |
| Silver | 150 | |
| Gold | 300 | |
| Unlock the Accelerators power up by earning gold. | ||
 |
Super Striker Award | |
| Total Super Strikes in cup matches | ||
| Bronze | 25 | |
| Silver | 50 | |
| Gold | 100 | |
| Unlock the Explosive power up by earning gold. | ||
 |
Tactician Award | |
| Total perfect passes in cup matches | ||
| Bronze | 75 | |
| Silver | 159 | |
| Gold | 300 | |
| Unlock the Freezing power up by earning gold. | ||
 |
Paramedic Award | |
| Total hits in cup matches | ||
| Bronze | 250 | |
| Silver | 500 | |
| Gold | 1000 | |
| Unlock the Giant power up by earning gold. | ||
Know any other secrets or tips not included in our Super Mario Strikers guide? Feel free to share them in the comments!
