Mario Tennis Review

By Crazy Packers Fan


 
This Review is rated on a scale of zero to four stars, with zero being something like extremely stupid and
four being absolutely brilliant. Well, that’s all for today. What? You wanted a Review? Oh, all right, then, here we go!

Graphics: ***

A big improvement off Mario Golf, that’s for sure. No more cardboard, or paper, type of graphics. Of course,
if you want fingers, you may have to wait for the Game Cube if you’re some of the characters. The courts look great, and the ball looks like a sphere, not like a bouncing dice cube. The rackets look all right, and the net looks real, too. The graphics aren’t perfect, but they’re the best for a Mario game yet.

Sound: ****

The sound is absolutely perfect in this game. The sound of the ball bouncing off the rackets and the ball sounds completely accurate, and the characters’ voices sound better than ever. Even Yoshi doesn’t make
those messed-up noises in this one; he actually talks (like in Super Smash Bros.)! The music is great; you’ll find the Mario music, Yoshi music, and original Donkey Kong music in this game. I love the game point music, and the match point music also is pretty good. This is one of the areas this game really excels in.

Difficulty: **1/2

This game can be as easy as being able to ace four times and return winners four times, or it can be as hard as the A.I. knowing exactly where you’re going to hit the ball before you know yourself! It all depends on what level you’re on. On Easy and Normal, victories come quite easily. On Hard, Intense, and Max, you’ll have to use every skill you know in order to win. The Piranha Challenge is impossible to return all 50, and the Star Tounament final is as hard as this game gets. But really, once you get to know it, it’s really not that hard, and you’ll win more than you lose.

Characters: ***1/2

The character selection this time around is the best a Mario game has ever seen. You have all the Mario Kart 64 characters, DK Jr. and Shy Guy (the hidden characters), Paratroopa and Boo, Birdo (making Yoshi and her the cutest couple), Baby Mario, Daisy (Luigi needed a couple, but Bowser must still have her crown), and the newest and strangest character, Waluigi. The real reason Nintendo put him in the game was not to have someone to laugh at, but because “Wario didn’t have a mixed doubles partner and we don’t want to know what Wario’s girlfriend would look like.” That’s what Nintendo Power says. Some say he’s strange but cool; others say he’s a messed-up moron. That uncertainty is what gives this game the half-star. There’s five types of characters: all-around, technique, speed, power, and tricky. All-around is good in all categories; for beginners. Technique is great for putting the ball anywhere you want on the court. Speed is self-explanatory. Power is being able to nail the ball at lightspeed but also being like Tanooki Mario when he’s a statue: you move really slow. Tricky lets you do strange things like curving serves and arcing shots. Technique is probably the best category in the game, because who needs power if you can put the ball anywhere, even over the opponent’s head, super-easily? Technique players usually have super speed. This makes the best characters in the game the princesses and Waluigi. Waluigi’s supposedly the best because of those lanky arms and legs, but sometimes he can’t bend them back to hit a shot right at him. Daisy is my personal favorite; she’s easy to control, super-fast, has good reach, and the best technique of all. But it’s all
opinion... Still, Nintendo made the two Koopas (Bowser and Paratroopa) two of the hardest to control.

Controls: ****

This is an area I haven’t covered in other Reviews, but in this game they are fantastic. A is topspin, B is slice, A and B at once is a smash, A before B is a lob, and B before A is a drop shot. Hitting a button twice makes the shot powerful and gives it a color. Hit a button before A and B at once to do a super smash, which is purple in color and is sometimes unreturnable for the opponent. Z cancels your shot if you hit a button too early, before the ball goes somewhere besides where you are. The controls may sound complicated, but they are sure much easier than a lot of other games, where you’re hitting R, L, Z, C> and C< for easy stuff. This game’s controls are easier than a lot of others, but for a Mario game, they usually are easy.

Courts: **1/2

The courts are basic at first: Hard, Clay, Grass, and Composition, the classic tennis types of courts. But then you add the Mario courts, Yoshi and Baby Mario and Birdo courts, DK court, and Wario and Waluigi court and you have a lot more than just the basics. Why are there two Mario courts? I mean, really, why have a Mario Bros. Court and then also a Mario and Luigi Court? Why have two courts like that when you could have a
court based on someone else, like the princesses? And why are two courts Fast ball speed and Weak bounce? There should be a Fastest and Strongest court instead of two of the same. The Bowser court is the most fun to play on. There are items from Mario Kart 64: Banana, Lightning Bolt, Green and Red Shells, Mushroom, and Star. They do almost the same things as in MK64, only a little different. Finally, if you beat the
Piranha Challenge, you get a court known as the Piranha Court, with Normal speed and bounce. You can
only use it in Piranha Challenge mode. Also, in Special Games mode, you can use an Open Court, which is also Normal speed and bounce.

Exhibition Mode: ***1/2

This is the heart of the game. You can play singles or doubles, one- to four-players, on any court you have
unlocked, and on any rules you want. This is where you can practice against computers before having to tackle them in the tournaments. You can play other live opponents, but really, just like Mario Golf, if you’re
a great player and they aren’t, it’s no contest and no fun, unless that gives you great pleasure, winning every single point. By the way, in tennis, unlike volleyball, you serve in a game whether you win or lose the point. In my first game, I thought I had won a perfect game because I kept serving, but really I had lost on four straight points! And also, the rules make things quite confusing. 0 points =  Love, 1 point = 15, 2 points = 30, 3 points = 40, and 4 points = a win of the game or deuce, if your opponent has already scored 40. You must win by two, and you win two or six (depending on the rules you chose) games to take a set. How many sets you chose to play decides how many sets you have to win to win the match. In a 3-set match, it’s really best of three, or winning two sets. The numbers that come up can be quite confusing too, so if it’s orange and yellow it’s the points score, if the numbers are blue it’s the games score, and if the numbers are those awesome colors of green and yellow it’s the sets score. If you still don’t understand, think of it this way: If you win every point, you should win the match. I didn’t make the rules, so don’t blame me.

Singles Mode: ***1/2

This is one-on-one playing, you against your opponent. In this mode you must utilize your strengths and pit
them against your opponent’s weaknesses. For example, a speed player does great against a power player,
because the speed player can return almost everything, at the net or the baseline, but the power player is
almost immobile, having to stay back at the baseline and play very conservatively. On the other hand, a
power player does great against technique players, because technique players are weak, and the power
player’s power shots are so strong a technique player cannot put the ball where he or she wants because it
is too fast for them. The technique player’s strength is against speed kings, because the speed players can
run right by the ball and don’t return the technique player’s perfectly-aimed shots very well. All-around
players are basically good and bad against all, especially good against power players. Tricky players are weak against all, and must play very conservatively for any chance of victory. This mode is all about strategy and the match-ups more than a lot else.

Doubles Mode: ***

This is two-versus-two playing, and you have a partner. Match-ups lose their importance here, and it all comes down to outplaying the opponent no matter what type of player you are. You must play at the net
sometimes; other times you’re at the baseline. If you aren’t on your teammate’s page, you’ll lose for sure; and this isn’t easy because you don’t know what the A.I. is thinking. Smash shots and stars on the court itself (markers for good places to smash shots at) are so frequent, you’ll wonder what happened to the strategy and technique of playing instead of just smash, smash, smash! This mode is easy compared to singles mode, because if you’re on a computer’s team, they’ll usually just smash away while you stand back and watch. I wouldn’t trust the computer on your team in the hard levels though; if the opponents are doing well, your teammate will just let it hit him or her right on the nose. Why? Because they cheat. All right, all right, maybe I’m exaggerating, but they do have ways of cheating sometimes. Sometimes, if you’re playing against The Moron Of Morons, Mario, you see some blue clone of Mario in the judge’s seat, or whatever they call it in tennis. He’ll call some of your shots out that are in and some of his in when they are out. What a moron! Oh, yeah, the doubles mode: it’s not quite as good as singles mode, but with all non-A.I.’s, it’s one of the most fun. Especially in Bowser mode...

Bowser Mode: ****

One of the most fun modes in all multiplayer games all-time is the Bowser Mode. Against the computer it’s
little or no fun, but against friends, this mode is really fun! You’ve got items to use, like Stars, Mushrooms, Bananas, Lightning Bolts, Green Shells, and Red Shells, all by just shooting the ball through the big rainbow blocks and hitting the R button once you have an item. Use the items wisely; don’t just use them right away when you get one. For example, a Star or Mushroom should be used after an opponent uses a Lightning Bolt on you. That way, it cancels out the bad effect the Bolt has on you and also gives you the power or speed you get from the item (depending on each one; the Star is power, not invincibility to other items, and the Mushroom is speed). Four-player doubles action is the best; especially when there are about ten Bananas on the court and Shells flying everywhere. This is the best mode in this game, with a tipping court depending on players’ weights on the sides of the court, and the items being used constantly.

Ring Shot Mode: ***

This is quite an interesting mode: there are so many options, depending on how many players are playing.
With one-player, you can play game (clear the set number of rings in one game, probably the hardest because of cheating computers who lose on purpose), time (clear the set number of rings in the alloted
period of time), ball (clear the set number of rings with the set number of balls, more computer cheating and losing), and point (clear the set number of points, with smaller rings netting more points than big ones; rings grow gradually). With two-players, you can play one-on-one to see who gets more rings; the way of winning rings is winning the point and collecting all the rings in the rally. With any number of players, you can play doubles mode: either Teams or Battle Royale. Teams is collecting and winning rings like you did in the two-player mode, just doing it as a team; Battle Royale is competing for the most rings yourself, even against your own teammate. One problem here is that teammates can cheat to give the opponents your hard-earned rings if you’re winning. Still, this mode beats the one in Mario Golf, with the double fault here being what I just mentioned above and the fact that there’s no real prize to winning except the satisfaction of... winning!

Tournament Mode: **1/2

This is the point of the game: winning a big tournament and a trophy. Of course, you’re against all computers. You play three rounds, with each getting harder as you go. Really, you shouldn’t have much
trouble with Mushroom or Flower Cup if you’re even just an average player. However, once you get to Star
Cup, let the cheating begin! Your shots hit the net very often and they go out of bounds very often, as
well as your opponents gaining new skills they never had before, like Bowser running fast or Peach powering super smash shots at you. Mario’s the worst cheater of all, being super in everything, but what do you expect from a plumber who’s cheated ever since he was Baby Mario? In Singles Mode, winning the Star Cup gives you Shy Guy, while in Doubles Mode, winning the Star Cup gives you Donkey Kong Jr. Winning the Star Cup in Singles Mode with any character makes them a *star* character, which means they can have better stats if you hold down the R Button while selecting them. Then they can enter the Star Tournament, with the Rainbow, Moonlight, and Planet Cups waiting to be won by each. No more hidden characters, though, a plus because you can actually play as someone good at the beginning and not have to unlock everyone, but a minus because you don’t have any characters left to unlock. Still, you can unlock tons of courts by winning tournaments with different characters. It all depends who you choose and what Cup you win and what mode you win it in.

Piranha Challenge: *1/2

The only bad score of this game: the Piranha Challenge gives you the challenge of hitting back 50 straight
balls past your opponent for wins with the balls being shot at different speeds and locations by the Piranhas. I can’t even win 50 straight against the computer at any level! The Piranhas make matters worse. They say DK’s the best at this. Yeah, right, the big ape who lumbers slowly around is the best. I’m sure. Anyway, if you do hit back all 50, for wins, without being returned, in bounds, remember, you get the Piranha Court! Great, you won a court for this mode only. So what? And what are the chances of winning? Less than the chances of you betting on that 16x Chain Chomp in Game Guy’s Game Room and winning sixteenfold coins.

Options Mode: **

You can decide to shut off the music, for some dumb reason, or erase all of your hard-earned victories
here, for some other stupid reason. You can look at the status, which is nice if you want to waste some time and beat every character at every mode possible. Hey, what an idea...

Special Games Mode: **1/2

You can watch computer characters stink it up in demo mode here, play a tiebreaker to seven points or short
game to five points against other live opponents (not computers; note this is the only mode you can choose
the same character with more than one person), or get a code from the Internet or wherever, play a game, get another code, and rank yourself on the Internet or something like that.

Continue Mode: ***

All right, all right, I’m desperate for another thing to review, but you can continue a saved game many times over and over again, even if you lose it, which is a plus, but the minus is that you cannot save a game to remember that you’re up 40-love in a game, you just play the game 0-0, but it does remember the set and game score, just not the points themselves.

Fun Factor!: ****

This is what this game’s all about: fun. Especially in Bowser Mode and Battle Royale Mode with four live,
non-computer-controlled characters. Or multi-player, in short.

Overall: ****

Of all the Mario Kart/Party/Sports games, this is my absolute favorite, and I suggest you buy this game
whether you like tennis, understand tennis, or even have ever heard of tennis. Mario and pals can make you
like it. (Or hate it- if they cheat to beat you. By the way, you CAN nail Mario in this game- with a 100-mph
serve right in the big ol’ doorknob nose!)
 

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