There are an incredible amount of Mario spin-offs that flood the market on a yearly basis. Some fans and gamers may be a bit annoyed of the fact that instead of creating new intellectual properties Nintendo continously slams the faces of its mascots onto a number of games. Although, its quite possible that once these players get one of these games in their hands, they’ll all come to a similar conclusion... that these games incredibly are fun. Mario Power Tennis is no exception to this situation and it is in fact the best Mario Sports spin-off seen this entire generation.
Mario Power Tennis is a fairly simple game to get the feel of. The controls aren’t too complex at all since all maneuvers performed are executed by double tapping the A and B buttons, alternating between the two for long and short hits, and pressing one or the other in conjuction with the R trigger when a character is charged up for a power or recovery shot. Fans of the Dreamcast’s Virtua Tennis and Xbox’s Top Spin may ask for a bit more in the speed department, but even hardcore fans of those "more realistic" tennis games should find much to like about Mario Power Tennis.
Shockingly, the game can be incredibly difficult at times. When going through the game’s large number of tournaments, the opposing AI can become an incredible challenge to overcome. Let’s say the two of you are close to net, knocking the ball back and forth. While the two of you are in close proximity of each other, it is very likely that your opponent will try to outsmart you by sending the ball way over you head and out of your reach. It’s as if the game’s AI adjusts itself accordingly to the way you play and as a result feels as if your
"the best Mario Sports spin-off seen this entire generation"
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playing against an actual skilled human opponent. That sort of challenge is rarely ever found in a game of this sort of competitive nature and it’s great to experience it in Mario Power Tennis.
Unfortunately for some, however, because of the game’s challenging AI, the game may feel cheesy at times. This is because your opponent always succeeds in pulling off a recovery shot just when you think you’ve won the match. So yeah, matches can drag on for long periods of times because of CPU’s want not to lose. Sometimes even dragging on for 10 to 15 minutes! If you were to lose one of these long matches, be ready to bear the frustration you will soon feel because Mario Power Tennis, like most Mario games of any kind, is simple in design but incredibly frustrating in certain situations.
As for what the game offers in terms of gameplay modes, there’s nothing too particularly out of the ordinary. Going through the tournament brackets is obviously the area in which most players will be spending time with in the single-player portion of the game. Doing so unlocks new playable characters and levels up current characters to star status. However, what’s interesting is that in order to take different characters through the more difficult tournaments you must complete each one of the previous tournaments with that character and by that I mean that, while you may have taken Mario up to the Moon Cup tournament, you will not be able to take a character like Yoshi up to that level until you have completed all preceeding tournaments with him.
Since Mario Power Tennis is completely based on a fantasy aspect of tennis, there are plenty of gimmick
"the game’s AI adjusts itself accordingly to the way you play and as a result feels as if your playing against an actual skilled human opponent"
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courts in which players can compete on. Oddly, none of these gimmick courts are tossed at players when going through the tournament brackets and they’re only accessible in exhibition, multiplayer and in mini-games. Some of these courses have paint spread on the floor (which gives a nod to Super Mario Sunshine) and others are filled with these crocodile-like creatures from the Donkey Kong Country series that crawl over the net, and if you were to hit them they’ll go and attack your opponent. These gimmick courts are pretty neat since they add lots of variety and color to the game and fortunately that can only add to the amount of enjoyment found.
Earlier, I mentioned the inclusion of mini-games. Well, the mini-games, just like in Camelot’s past Mario spin-offs, are incredibly entertaining if not a tad bit more entertaining than the actual tennis aspect of the game. Some of these mini games have players whacking balls of paint at a wall in order to colorize paintings of characters such as Mario, Luigi, Diddy Kong, Bowser Jr. and Yoshi, while other mini games have multiple players on treadmills, running for their lives away from blood thirsty Chain Chomps who get aggravated every time someone happens to hit them with an object (the worst obviously being bombs). The purpose of these mini games is to basically complete all the goals in the quickest time possible and unfortunately once they’re all completed, there isn’t much of an incentive to go back unless a friend just so happens to beat your score. Of course, if Nintendo’s stance on online gaming hadn’t been a conservative one that robs gamers of potentially better games, then perhaps there could’ve been the inclusion of leader boards or something of the ilk that would fuel the aggressive thirst players have for competition in attempt to outdo the times and scores of competing players from across the globe in these mini-games. But alas, that isn’t happening and isn’t going to any time soon on a Nintendo home console.
Of course, aside from the non-existence of a fleshed out online multiplayer mode, I do have other gripes with the game. Firstly, while each character seems to have their own distinct characteristics, there are handful who seem a bit disadvantaged due to their stature compared to other taller characters. For instance, Waluigi is much taller than are beloved Mario, thus he has a longer reach. It’s quite obvious that he can reach out and return some serves that Mario would not be able to if he were in Waluigi’s position. Normally, if the shorter character was a bit faster it wouldn’t matter too much since this character would then be able to get to the ball quicker. Mario unfortunately isn’t that fast at all and it clearly feels as if some of the shorter characters are disadvantaged when playing against the taller guys like Waluigi and Donkey Kong. Secondly, there should be a greater amount of power maneuvers that each character should be able to use, simply due to the fact that it becomes a bit of an eyesore to see characters repeat the same signature power maneuvers over and over again. Sure, they have an interesting affect on the pacing of matches and players who attempt to return the shot (i.e. Waluigi’s whirlwind shot will send an opposing player spinning if he returns the ball), but you can’t help but ask for a larger of variety of moves for each character in the game. And Finally, in order to perform these power maneuvers a character must be charged up, but the way these players get charged up seems to be a random occurrence. Some characters are charged with this energy earlier than others and at times it seems as if CPU opponents get it more often as well. Unfair? Yeah, just a bit.
One of the many reasons the Mario Power Tennis is so appealing is the fact that like most Mario games in recent memory, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The game is full of so much color and humor. The characters of the Mario universe are all appealing in a way in which they’re all likeable and good for a few laughs simply
"it could’ve obviously benefitted from the inclusion on an online multiplayer aspect"
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because of the distinct personalities they are each given. Showcasing this is a bizarre CG intro movie that taunts the exploits of the Mario universe’s villains (Wario, Waluigi, and Bowser) as they try to win the tennis tournament. This intro is full of physical humor and is rather lengthy; something which comes off as surprising seeing that Nintendo’s internally developed games have never been too CG heavy in the past.
This colorful atmosphere is ever present thanks to the game’s colorful visuals and up tempo music and sound effects. While the game may not be too astounding technically, it uses the GameCube’s visual capabilities to deliver a colorful world that is ever so fitting. The music is, of course, just as fitting, with many tracks being remixed melodies of past Nintendo games and a handful of original tunes. Also, the one liners recorded fit their purpose, adding to the humor of things.
Thanks to the incredible appeal and fun factor of the game, Mario Power Tennis has proven to me that despite Nintendo’s declining popularity in the home console world, their games still prove to be some of the most enjoyable to pick up and play and immediately entertain one’s self with. The game is just blast to play alone or with a handful of friends and while it could’ve obviously benefitted from the inclusion on an online multiplayer aspect, what the game offers is still a fulfilling enough package that could easily become one of the most entertaining videogames a GameCube owner could ever possibly possess. I heavily recommend Mario Power Tennis to anyone looking to stray away from the large amount of epic games that have flooded the industry within the past year.
