If you’re a baseball fan, you may have heard of the Curse of the Bambino, a supposed curse on the Boston Red Sox that they couldn’t win a World Series since they traded Babe Ruth nearly a hundred years ago. That curse (unfortunately) ended last October when the Red Sox did win the World Series. In the same way, I’ve said on at least one occasion that the Mario series is under the Curse of the Cube, that Mario games on the GameCube are just doomed to be mediocre at best and dreadful at worst. Mario Power Tennis, however, had a chance to break that trend. After all, here’s a Mario sports game, one with new Power Shots added into the tennis gameplay, one that could perhaps be really impressive and make the Mario series look a lot better.

This Review, like all of my Reviews, is on a 0-4 star scale. “No stars” is pathetic and “****” is excellent.

Graphics: ***

The graphics are about what I’d expect from a GameCube game. The characters look realistic, save for Bowser Jr, who has a stupid-looking mouth. Okay, so maybe that mouth of his is supposed to look that way. Whether it is or not, there’s no excuse. Change it, or better yet, get that idiot out of this game. Anyway, the courts look really nice, and you won’t find better-looking fans in the stadiums of other “real” sports games (although seeing Piantas isn’t exactly a thrill). I’d still like to see some more detail on the fields and even on the players, but this graphics performance was more than good enough.

Sound: ½

Ah, the sound. The miserable, miserable sound of Mario Power Tennis. First, the good. A secret bonus game that you unlock late has good music, as does the DK Court’s game point and the Peach Dome’s classic SM64 castle music when you start a match. But that’s all that’s good about the music in this game. The music is very forgettable. It is not very good at all. Remember that great tune for Game/Break Points? There’s nothing like that anymore. Remember that dramatic-sounding tune for Set/Match Points? You won’t find any tune like that in this game, though you will find a few courts with cheerful-sounding Set/Match Points tunes. That’s right, cheerful, when it’s supposed to be the most intense part of the match. Don’t worry, that’s not all that’s wrong with the sound in this game. The announcer’s voice is annoying; I’d rather have Mario’s cheerful voice instead. There’s also Daisy’s voice. She sounds like a pre-teenager, with a very annoying voice not that far off the Mario Kart: Double Dash disaster of a voice (which I fortunately forgot). Bowser has a really stupid voice as well. Bring back the N64 laugh! Bowser sounds totally out of place, like a human in a Bowser suit. He should sound much scarier than this. I guess this is the voice I missed when I failed to complete the game that deserves to remain nameless.

So overall, the sound to this game is an utter disaster. This is how far the Mario series has fallen when it comes to sound. They’ve got to turn it around.

Characters: ***

Bowser Jr. is the worst character in the history of video games. His existence serves as a taunting to all us Koopalings fans. I wish he would just go away!

But there’s more to the characters than Bowser Jr. I’m not happy to see Piantas in the stands, rather than Goombas and Troopas, but at least there are Toads in the stands. However, the character selection is very nice, especially the hidden characters. I won’t give them away, but there is one certain secret character from Super Mario World who is a very welcome addition to this game. I’m really glad to see him, as he hasn’t been playable before. If you’re able to wiggle your way through the tournaments in this game, you’ll get to play as him.

Difficulty: *

Believe it or not, Mario Power Tennis is a really easy game. Maybe it’s because I had so much practice at Mario Tennis 64, but I just cruised through most of the tournaments, only struggling in the Star Tournaments’ Moonlight and Planet Cups, but still beating those. The reason? The computers aren’t really that good at tennis skills. They rely on Power Shots to beat you. If there were no Power Shots in this game, it would be even easier (actually, you can turn off the Power Shots, but I like the game better with them on). They’ll be about to lose a point when they pull out a Power Shot to save the day. Now if you just wait for your own Power Shot, you can counterattack them with a Power Shot of your own and beat them. I’ll explain more on these Power Shots later.

Overall, the game is really easy. If you don’t know Mario Tennis, it will take longer to learn, but if you played the N64 version, this game will not take you very long to master. It took me just two days to unlock everything (not counting the one day that I just played one Exhibition match to try out the game).

Controls: no stars

The controls to this game are exactly the opposite as they were in Mario Tennis 64. No, I’m not saying they’re totally different; I’m saying they’re totally bad. They are very unresponsive. So often I found myself losing points because my player didn’t swing his or her racket, even though I pushed the button (not every time, of course, but at an annoying enough rate). Another problem- the lob is a very important shot in this game as compared to the N64 version, especially in the Artist on the Court mini-game. However, you must hit A then B to shoot a lob shot. That’s the same as the N64 control, but what the game needs is a one-button control for lobs. There are so many buttons on the Cube controller, I’m sure one of them could have been designated the lob button. In the Artist on the Court mini-game, you’ll try to lob a shot, but your player will often automatically swing the racket when you press A, not giving you a chance to lob by pressing B afterwards. This wastes precious time. And in a real match, you could very well lose a chance at winning a point, because you won’t be able to put the ball where you want it in a hurry, as your player will often swing the racket when you press A, and you won’t have the chance to lob when you press B afterwards. I don’t want a game’s challenge to come from failures in the control department. I want the game to be challenging through AI, not poor controls.

Gameplay: ***½

But if you thought this game is about to go down the pits, guess again. Despite the fact it’s easy, despite the poor sound, despite the terrible controls, despite Bowser Jr.’s presence, despite many references to a certain Mario Cube game I don’t like very much, Mario Power Tennis succeeds mightily in producing fresh, new, fun, exciting gameplay. It does exactly what I thought it couldn’t do: it makes the Mario Power Tennis playing experience different from the Mario Tennis 64 playing experience, while lots of fun at the same time. Yes, Mario Power Tennis is a masterpiece in this department. It may not be “pure” tennis, but seriously, are there any tennis purists who would buy this game? The Power Shots, while distracting and unrealistic, are a success. The Gimmick Courts, while having the name “gimmick”, are a success. Camelot got it right, and in a big way.

First, I’ll talk about the brand-new addition to the Mario Tennis series, the Power Shots. Each player has a personal offensive Power Shot and a defensive Power Shot. When a player uses a Power Shot, the play actually freezes (including the ball and all other players), and that player goes through an animation before launching their Power Shot. The offensive Power Shot is obviously a very powerful shot that can often win a point. The defensive Power Shot is a completely unrealistic shot that 99 percent of the time saves a point for you (temporarily, at least) by your player doing something crazy to hit the ball, no matter how far away it is, even if it’s a sure point for the opposition. The key to winning in singles matches, I figured out, is not to wait for your racket to power up and then swing away with an offensive Power Shot. Actually, what you want to do is not only wait for your racket to power up, but also to wait for your opponent to launch his or her offensive Power Shot, then hit the Power Shot button immediately after they shoot, so you shoot your Power Shot, and they’re usually defenseless, and you win the point. This is almost the exclusive way to win points in late Planet Cup singles matches.

How do I like Power Shots in general? For one thing, if they were not in this game, I would not like this game as much, despite the fact that I could win more easily without my opponent having the option to use them. They are what separate Mario Power Tennis from Mario Tennis 64. They also add a whole new strategy to the game- it’s not just about winning at tennis anymore. It’s about quick reflexes (defending a Power Shot that’s coming at you) and also smart usage of Power Shots. You don’t want to waste your Power Shot early in a rally and then watch your opponent come firing back at you with a stronger shot that wins the point. It isn’t enough to win a point the “real” way- your opponent will often use his or her defensive Power Shot and keep the ball alive right when you thought you won the point. The animations are the problem. Sure, I think they’re cute and funny to watch, and sometimes nostalgic, but they take a little too long. Seriously, do we need to see Waluigi clean out his ears before flooding the court and making his defensive Power Shot? Must we wait for the “W” to come up on Wario’s defensive Power Shot before he uses it? These long animations often mean that you don’t have the time to either A) aim the shot (if you’re shooting it) or B) defend the shot (if your opponent is shooting it). I wouldn’t know how to fix this, though, if I were working at Camelot. And if there were no animations, there would be no Power Shots, so I guess they’re necessary. Also, how does the game determine when you get a Power Shot or not? Is it random? How come most of the time the computer gets them faster than me? All in all, though, I think they did a great job with this.

As for the rest of the gameplay, which tends to get forgotten with all the Power Shooting going on, it’s great. The computers are smarter in this game; they know you want to smash the ball down their throats, so they’ll lob it over your head and not give you the opportunity (one way this game’s difficulty is made a little harder). I don’t like the way your teammate plays in doubles mode, though; he (or she)’s often lazy and selfish. Your teammate may not try that hard to go for a ball coming at him or her, and he or she may let the opponent hit him or her with the ball quite often. Plus, your teammate doesn’t care if you want to play the net; he or she wants to play the net too and be the hero. Thus you end up having to watch your teammate simply return weak shots instead of putting the point away, like you would if you were at the net; if you go to the net, your opponents will often lob it over both of your heads and win the point. And please tell me, why are you hitting a drop shot at a computer player who’s at the net already? A drop shot is a very weak shot that barely makes it over the net, which is useful against a player who is back at the baseline. If they’re already at the net, the drop shot isn’t going to fool them; they’re right there to hit the pitifully weak shot.

All in all, though, I love the gameplay of Mario Power Tennis. What a fun game. What a surprising success.

Tournament Mode: ***½

Tournament Mode is, of course, the heart and soul of the game, where everything gets unlocked. This mode will test your skills at both the normal courts and the Gimmick Courts. It’s a great mode, and since the gameplay I described is basically what the Tournament Mode’s gameplay is like, I give both the same rating.

Gimmick Courts: ***

Gimmick Courts were supposed to stink. They were supposed to be laughed at as simply a gimmick and nothing more. As it turns out, they are much more than a gimmick; they make the playing experience more fun. From Luigi’s Mansion Court to the best gimmick court of all, an unlockable one based on a certain game that’s in every Super Mario Advance, there are all sorts of crazy things that happen on these courts. Wario’s court has conveyor belts, an idea I had for the Nintendo Football League Drawing Board submission a long time ago. Donkey Kong’s court has those Snapjaws from Donkey Kong Junior coming after you while you play. There are others as well, of course, all of which add their own subtleties to the game. The only trouble I find with these is that they don’t add enough to play. I don’t think the obstacles work well enough to really hinder your play, save for on the two unlockable Gimmick Courts. Still, they’re a great addition to this game, and playing them in Tournament Mode adds to the fun.

Item Mode: ***

Item Mode allows you to use items during the match, when you shoot the ball through ? Blocks which are right above the net. However, you don’t have control over when you use your items, like you did in the N64 version. You just automatically use them when you hit the ball. I’d rather have control over the items myself, but apparently Camelot wanted to simplify play, and here they simplified it too much. Still, items add to the play, so it’s not like it’s a bad thing.

Ring Mode: **½

Ring Mode isn’t the fun one-player mode it was in the last game. It’s now a multiplayer versus game, where you compete to get to a set number of rings faster. You want to win the point, and if you do, you get all the rings that you hit the ball through. Your opponent then keeps half the rings he hit the ball through, and the other half are added on to your total for your next turn, all of which you can claim by winning the next point, but half of which you claim if you lose the point. This goes on until one player earns the set number of rings. Sure, it’s nice to have a versus mode to Ring Mode, but why eliminate the one-player mode? I found the one-player mode to be something that really extended the lifespan of Mario Tennis 64. It’s not a bad mode, though it could have been better.

Special Games: **½

These special games are mini-games where you use your tennis skills to do things other than win at tennis. In Artist on the Court, by far the best mode, you paint a picture on the wall by hitting the paint balls that come at you, and you want to hit the right colored ball at the right spot on the wall (if you get a spot right, that spot can no longer be colored over). Unfortunately, the lack of a single-button lob control makes this mode more frustrating than it should be. I won’t go into detail on all the mini-games here, but most of them have relatively simple concepts requiring hitting the ball in certain locations. A couple of them, both I think are unlockable, are real stretches to have to deal with tennis; they are more like Mario Party mini-games than anything else. Overall, the special games aren’t bad, though some more complex concepts would have been nice.

Replayability: ***

Mario Tennis 64 lasted a long, long time afterward, and I figure that multiplayer modes in this game ought to make it last quite a bit longer for me. Plus, beating all the tournaments with all the players and also having each character beat all the other characters are some challenges that can add to the game’s longevity. It may get a little repetitive after a while, but it isn’t that repetitive.

Fun Factor!: ****

This game is a whole lot of fun. It’s certainly not a game that will bore you. The excitement of each and every point makes it a continual thrill. It’s a far cry from the boring (and frustrating) experiences of some past Mario Cube games.

OVERALL: ***½

The curse is broken! Congratulations, Camelot, you won me over! This game is very good, the best Mario game I’ve played on the Cube (not counting Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, which I haven’t played nearly enough to rate yet). Unless you absolutely hate tennis and want nothing to do with it, I really feel this is a must-have game for the Cube. Believe me, there haven’t been many Cube-exclusives I’ve really liked. In fact, there’s only been one, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and that’s it. Mario Power Tennis delivers a brand-new tennis experience from its N64 predecessor, while not going too far off the deep end with the gimmicks, as it finds a way to get just the right balance between tennis and craziness on the court. I’m so impressed with this game. Mario now can hang his “M” hat on this game as being a crowning achievement for his series on the Cube. What a success this game is. Although I can’t say it’s better than the N64 original, it’s still very, very good. Buy it! You won’t regret it! (When’s the last time you heard me say that about a Mario game on the Cube?)

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