Mario Tennis Fever Scores an Ace With Pinpoint Precision
It’s very early days, considering we’re only in February, but Mario Tennis Fever is easily my favourite title released this year to date.
It can be difficult navigating our world, one which so often lacks the charm, frivolity, and whimsy that many of us crave. Mario Tennis Fever is quintessentially Nintendo, providing that very ilk of virtual escape. It’s a joyous and delightful tonic for the soul that’s so much more than a digital iteration of tennis. It’s a game that reinforces the importance of play, whether that’s solo or with friends, in our lives; you’ll feel lighter walking off the court than you did walking on.
Mario Tennis Fever boasts an awareness that shouldn’t be overlooked. While it is admittedly a sports game, Mario Tennis Fever is not a title that wants to be seen as a spin-off or lesser in any way to the mainline platforming entries, nor does it deserve to be. It’s been crafted with mass appeal in mind, with a wide array of modes that appeal to franchise traditionalists as much as they do sports fans. Mario Tennis Fever offers immense bang for your buck, with six key modes available - most of which feature plenty of variation.
I feel it’s important to stress that you don’t need to be a tennis expert to enjoy Mario Tennis Fever. In fact, the game is built so that you need no prior knowledge at all. There’s a rapid tutorial players can blitz through, but it’s Mario Tennis Fever’s charming Adventure Mode that’ll most aptly bring you up to speed. It’s also this mode that I think will most strongly appeal to fans of the franchise’s traditional mainline entries.
Adventure Mode Combines Tennis Mechanics With Traditional Franchise Storytelling
Adventure Mode is a complete joy to play if you don’t question the somewhat wacky story too much. It begins with Mario and friends on an expedition to source the Golden Apple to heal a sick Daisy. However, the expedition goes awry turning Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, and Waluigi into babies. Having lost all of his strength, Baby Mario must retrain at the tennis academy, acquiring the skills he needs to retrace his footsteps in order to undo the baby curse.
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As I said, the story is completely bonkers, but if you’re expecting realism in a Mario title, I’d be questioning why. I’ll admit, I was curious as to how such a story could use tennis mechanics alone to support a narrative-driven adventure of this nature, but what Nintendo has crafted works immensely well. I’d recommend you embark on Adventure Mode first and foremost, as Mario’s tennis academy training will really allow you to get to grips with the game’s mechanics.
Coached by Toad and with constant motivation from a Talking Flower returning from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Baby Mario will work his way through a number of training exercises to increase his stats. Players will alternate between practical on-court lessons that’ll drill you in certain shots and minigames that offer something a tad different as Baby Mario is tasked with working on his upper or lower body strength. Of course, you’ll engage in your fair share of matches too, including against your coach, other students, and your rivals … Baby Wario and Baby Waluigi.
Once you’ve completed your training at the Mushroom Tennis Academy, off players will venture on an expedition which really caught me off guard. Across six key stops, you’ll defeat monsters, traverse obstacle-ridden caverns, engage in boss fights, and put a stop to environmental hazards all using tennis mechanics.
I’m loathed to delve too far into all of this for spoilers sake, but I do want to make it clear that it isn’t match after match. You may, for example, need to direct bubbles of water using your various tennis shots to extinguish a series of fires. Or perhaps you’ll need to return projectiles from enemies to clear a path.
The strength of Mario Tennis Fever’s Adventure Mode is that it continues to surprise, constantly posing new challenges across its runtime. In total, it took me just under four hours to complete the adventure. If I’m being very picky, I’d love for this to have lasted for just a tad longer, simply due to how much fun I was having, but I can’t say that Adventure Mode ever felt too brief or fleeting. It truly is the best of both worlds, combining a traditional Mario adventure with the tennis gameplay formula in a real crowd pleaser of a mode.
CPU Is Well Balanced, Certain Opponents Pose a Real Threat
Elsewhere in the title, you’ll find what you might class as the more, let’s say, expected offerings. In the Tournament mode, players can select from singles or doubles, with three tournaments on offer for each style of match. Within a tournament, you’ll need to make it through an opening round, semi final, and final in order to nab the trophy - and yes, you can enjoy doubles either with a friend or playing alongside a CPU.
I really can’t fault the mode at all. The challenge steadily increases with each progressive tournament. In the latter stages, you truly do feel a sense of triumph besting an opponent after a long rally. Opponents in Mario Tennis Fever won’t simply miss a shot after a while to allow you the point. You truly do have to outmatch them, drawing them back with a lob, for example, before aiming a dropshot they won’t be able to return. A strategic mind is required, but the Adventure Mode should set up all players to be capable of that.
There’s then Free Play for which there’s perhaps less to say. You can choose from singles or doubles, setting the length and rules of the match, plus it can be enjoyed in four-player co-op. Those same multiplayer rules apply to both Swing Mode and Mix It Up. Swing Mode is a fun gimmick for the Wii Sports fans amongst you. It was perhaps my least played mode, but that’s because I like sitting down. It essentially allows you to wield your Joy-Con 2 like a tennis racket, enabling motion controls in both singles and doubles matches.
Mix It Up Is Full of Whimsy, With a Clever Nod To Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Mix It Up is a total blast and is up there with the Adventure Mode as one of the most enjoyable offerings. Players can select between Special Matches or Score Challenges, both of which feature fun gimmicks. There are five special matches on offer which essentially function as regular matches with a zany twist, so you’ll still be vying to reach seven points.
In Pinball Match, pinball bumpers will pop up on both sides of the court, causing chaos in terms of both your movement and the ball’s, as one example.
Wonder Court Match is perhaps my favourite of the bunch, with players securing Wonder Seeds instead of points, many of which will activate unique on-court conditions, functioning similarly to how they do in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Score Challenges, on the other hand, do exactly what they say on the tin offering a variety of conditions under which players can use the ball to score points. These particular matches I found encouraged great replayability. It’s so tempting to think, “Let me have one more go.”
Trial Towers Follow Adventure Mode As My Second Favourite Offering
When players are ready to put their skills to the test against other fans of the game, there’s an online ranked mode you can enjoy. Ahead of that though, you may want to test your skills on the Trial Towers - another standout mode for me. There are three towers to conquer, each boasting 10 floors. Each floor will pose a different challenge. Typically, they include besting an opponent wielding some kind of advantageous racket or skill or completing a technical undertaking of some variety. The catch is that you only have three chances at failure throughout your journey through the 10 floors.
It was the last mode I played, actually, and as such, I really thought I’d breeze my way through. How silly of me. Floor 6 of the Tower of Resolve really sure did test my patience. Even when you think you’ve mastered all that Mario Tennis Fever has to offer, it surprises you with one little pain in the backside, albeit a welcomed one.
I can’t talk about Mario Tennis Fever though without praising the addition of Fever Rackets which truly revolutionise the formula. Present in every game mode, the game boasts over 30 Fever Rackets, all of which behold unique power-ups and abilities. Return shots to garner ‘FV’ and you’ll eventually unlock your Fever Racket’s power. The Swerve Racket, as you might be able to guess, adds some serious twist to your shot, while the Shadow Racket spawns a temporary teammate, even if you’re playing in singles.
Given that I’ve already touched upon how much variety Mario Tennis Fever offers, you can surely see how much additional variety Fever Rackets add into the mix - especially as it’ll take you a long while to unlock all of the rackets on offer. You’ll need to complete the game’s various modes or reach a certain number of played matches to unlock every option.
A Wonderful Way To Begin Mario’s 40th Anniversary Year
As I said, if I’m being fussy, I’d love to have seen the Adventure Mode’s runtime slightly extended, and I’m hoping additional Special Matches may be added as DLC at a later date, but it’s nigh impossible for me to see Mario Tennis Fever as anything other than an utterly brilliant game which offers above and beyond what I initially expected for the title.
Mario Tennis Fever kicks off Mario’s 40th anniversary year in triumphant style. It’s a sports entry that delivers enough variety to be of appeal to all fans of the famed plumber, no matter their genre of preference. With its surprisingly charming Adventure Mode and more match variations than you could possibly imagine, Mario Tennis Fever is a bountifully delightful release that conjures up the pure, whimsical escapism that only Nintendo so wonderfully nails.
Pros: Great variety of offerings, Fever Rackets keep gameplay fresh, Adventure Mode is a pleasant surprise
Cons: Adventure Mode is on the short side
For fans of: Mario Kart World, Wii Sports, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Mario Tennis Aces
9/10: Exceptional
Mario Tennis Fever launches on 12 February on Nintendo Switch 2 (version tested). A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.
Topics: Mario, Super Mario, Reviews, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2