Mario football fan art brings Madden NFL to the Mushroom Kingdom

Sure, we’re glad we’ve got Mario Strikers for Nintendo Switch, but an American-style Mario football concept art has us craving Toad-led touchdowns

Screenshot of the Mario football concept art with Mario in an NFL football helmet about to kick the ball

If you read our Mario Strikers review for Nintendo Switch, you should know that we love taking to the field with the moustachioed plumber and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom lineup to play ball. What you might not know is that despite loving the suped-up soccer simulator, we have a few NFL fans in our midst at Pocket Tactics, and a few of us would rather score a touchdown than net a hat trick.

So, when we saw this Mario football fan art on Reddit, our inner Tom Brady couldn’t help but get a little excited over the prospect of what a Mario NFL title might look like. Of course, most of the concept images feature Mario, Luigi, and the rest of the gang in the customary football helmets – with Bowser Jr. looking particularly cute in his green and white getup.

Considering the Mario football fan art is just that, fan art, we’re surprised with the quality of the screenshots shared to Reddit, and I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I hope Camelot, the developers of the divisive Mario Golf and Mario Tennis Aces Switch titles, are paying attention. In one of the images, you can see not only the playing squads, but the legions of managers, coaches, and even a Kritter water boy waiting to hand out cool cups of Gatorade to a tired team of Toads.

While it doesn’t look like any more Mario Sports titles are coming anytime soon – though Mario Strikers is still periodically rolling out more content – we’d love to see Nintendo pick up the idea and run with it to the touchdown line. With Jumpman’s long sporting history, it seems that besides lawn bowls and cheese rolling, NFL is the only sport he’s yet to master. We’re looking at you here, Next Level Games. Take. The. Hint.

Screenshot of Mario football fan art with toads, goombas, and much more on the sidelines of the pitch

With that, we’ve waxed lyrical enough about the Mario football fan art. Now all we need is a development team, or a wish from a genie, to make it happen. Speaking of Genies, be sure to check out our Disney Dreamlight Valley review while you’re here and see how we got on in a whole new world of magic.