Mario Tennis Aces

Man it’s been ages since I last played a Mario Tennis game, I’ve skipped out on every Mario Tennis game since the N64 version and I feel as though I haven’t missed out on much. This new Switch entry however caught my attention since it seemed as though it was going to make an attempt to revamp the game’s core mechanics and re-introduce both a fully fleshed out adventure mode and a tournament mode that utilises Nintendo's new found online features. On the one hand I feel like the game succeeds in virtually everything it sets out to do, the biggest problem for me is that I think they’ve stopped short of including enough variety and features to justify paying the same price for this game that you would for Splatoon 2 or Breath of the Wild (including the new fees for online services).

I feel like the game found a really nice balance in it’s control scheme to allow for both skilled play and casual play. Pretty much anybody can pick up a controller and start performing decent in a match, yet you have so many technical options at your disposal like topspin shots, slice shots, flat shots, lobs, top shots, and trick shots that really separate the boys from the men if you learn how to use them properly. The game’s character roster is separated into different classes that allot different strengths, perks, and weaknesses; for instance characters in the defensive class are able to dash across the whole court quickly to make saves, technical characters have more control over the direction of their shots, power characters shoot the ball with excessive force yet in return they’re generally slow and bad at defence, tricky characters are able to curve their shots, etc. Even within these classes characters can vary significantly in their attributes which was pretty impressive to see.

On top of all that there are even more tools at your disposal; take the energy gauge that slowly builds up during rallies, this allows you to either slow down time to make precision saves, use special dashes to make dicey saves, and to perform zones shots and special shots that are basically cannons which allow you to hit the ball anywhere on the other side of the court. It’s all fine and dandy though I must admit that the special shots are a little too difficult to block, since it must be timed perfectly otherwise you lose the rally and damage your racket (which can break). Overall I’m not a fan of how these special shots hamper the game’s balance and I was even more disappointed that these moves play out exactly the same no matter what character you choose (you just get a different animation). I also thought it was weird (and kind of dirty) that the developers locked a bunch of characters behind a timed unlock system that “encouraged” players to join (and pay for) online tournaments every month, honestly the lack of character options hurt the game more than anything.

Let’s talk about the adventure mode because this was probably the feature I was most excited for. So essentially Mario and pals find themselves on this Tennis Island where they’re having a tournament, when suddenly a possessed Waluigi and Wario show up with an evil Tennis Racket (not unlike Majora’s Mask) and Luigi gets possessed too… and you gotta go around the island collecting power stones… And then you gotta win a tennis championship against the possessed people in order to exercise their demons and rescue the spirit of the island from the looming apocalypse… ummm okay… The story was completely outrageous and throw away sure; but I really can’t hate too much since the effort was there on behave of the developers. I thought the campaign was decently long for a sports game I suppose… And they tried to come up with some interesting concepts for challenges. I particularly liked the challenges associated with the mirror mansion area and in general the bosses were honestly pretty good for a f***ing tennis game lol. There was definitely some frustration to be had though especially with the nonstop rally challenges and the stupid panel challenges.

I’m not going to lie; me and some friends basically made this game the obsession of a weekend we’d spent out at the cabin, just the amount of fun we had playing doubles was enough for me to acknowledge this game’s existence. If this game was half the current asking price I’d recommend it, but there’s just not enough features and options here to justify spending full AAA price plus an online subscription. You’ll get about 2-3 hours out the campaign, you’ll likely write off the game’s “swing mode” which uses the Joycon’s motion controls to play Wii Sports style (good luck controlling the ball!), and the rest depends on how much you like playing the same kinds of matches over and over again with friends or online. This is definitely a dramatic improvement over the last Mario Tennis game for the WiiU and it’s worth applauding Nintendo for bringing back the adventure mode and tournaments. But that’s just them fixing their past mistakes; I was really hoping they’d go beyond expectations with this new game.

+ Secretly a fighting game
+ The mechanics are pretty much perfect
- Light on content
- Short single player

While the core mechanics of Mario Tennis Aces are really solid, it faces a similar problem as ARMS the year prior: lack of content. The solo campaign is generally short and unpleasant: the AI programmed to be near perfect outside of cheesy exploitation, with repetitive play and weak RPG mechanics. There are no unlockable characters, but this is the only way to unlock new courts. Online runs fine, but the skill gap between the best and the rest is absolutely massive, so many will find little fun there. To make matters worse, matchmaking is convoluted, and you can't even play doubles online with a friend unless you create a specific lobby with extra friends. You also can't play traditional tennis rules. All in all, this actually has less content and game options than the N64 game, which is kinda inexcusable. But the core play has been polished expertly, and those willing to master it will likely have a good time. This is a really hard sell if you planned to play alone, but if you've got a buddy you can play local multiplayer with regularly, or crave stiff online competition, this may be worth it. Though it'd be nice if it were $20 cheaper.