Mario Power Tennis Review

By Kristan Reed Published 24 November, 2005

Nintendo serves up another ace.

Version tested: GameBoy Advance

Tennis games are tennis games are tennis games, right? Well, not exactly. There's Virtua Tennis and Top Spin and a whole load of also-rans that most vaguely sane gamers steer well clear of. But Nintendo might have something to say about that, especially with the release of another charmingly quirky sports title featuring the ubiquitous tubby plumber.

As with every Nintendo sports title ever, the multi-talented cast of the Mario games makes its cheery appearance, but their role in this re-jigged GBA version has been diminished somewhat - and it's a much better, deeper game because of it. Although the game shares the same name as 2004's GameCube-exclusive, the structure's entirely different, featuring a much greater emphasis on the single player offering than the Cube version ever did.

Given that most of your handheld hours will be spent playing alone, the decision to include the Power Tour mode is a master-stroke, and becomes as compelling an addition to the tennis genre as we can remember. In what amounts to a Tennis RPG, you start off as a newcomer to the Royal Tennis Academy, with the basic idea to work your way up the singles and doubles ranks, with an eventual goal of becoming king of all you survey (much like the long-forgotten Game Boy Color Mario Tennis, in fact).

Shut up and play!

'Mario Power Tennis' Screenshot belly

Donkey Kong's pretty nimble for a banana belly.

Initially, the non-stop incidental Zelda-esque chat can get on your nerves as you wander around the academy ("just let me play for the love of God! I don't care about the tennis academy restaurant!"). Even getting the first game underway can take ages, but eventually it strikes a nice balance between these fairly pointless interludes and action, letting you work your way up the junior, senior and varsity ranks at your own pace. Each rank has four challengers that you must defeat in turn before you can progress to the next set of opponents, and clearing the early encounters is pretty perfunctory.

At the end of each encounter the game rewards you with experience points, which can be distributed between four main parameters (Power, Control, Side Spin and Speed), while a further five sub-parameters (Serve, Stroke, Volley, Top Spin and Slice) can also be powered up every time you 'level up'. As you work your way up, you'll really start to notice the enhancements in your abilities, with shots being returned with more power and accuracy.

But gaining experience doesn't just come from defeating opponents; a plethora of Teaching Court tests and mini-games also give you crucial experience to help you put one over the numerous CPU opponents you end up facing. Ingeniously, the training tests really help you understand the principles that underpin the fundamentals of tennis, as well as giving you a handle on the controls. So, instead of being given patronisingly basic tuition, the advice given in improving service, net play, volleys and so on ends up giving you the kind of edge that you take with you into the matches themselves - plus you can level up your character into the bargain.

A mini adventure

'Mario Power Tennis' Screenshot peach

Lots of love, Peach.

Slightly more frivolously - but no less important in improving your character's stats - are the Training Centre tests, which comprise of eight hugely addictive mini-games that come in three levels of difficulty (with a score attack unlocked after that). Initially accessible only by wandering over to the Training Centre itself, the game kicks off with incredibly silly (but lovable) tasks such as the Treadmill (where you must run on a conveyor for a set distance while avoiding banana skins and barrels), or the Jump Gym (smash boxes before they get to the other side of the screen). Some of the latterly unlockable mini-games are so furiously addictive we spent literally hours slavishly completing them - notably the Duck Walk, where you must race to the finish line in a time limit while avoiding explosive panels, or how about the maddening Reflex Rally - a rock, paper, scissors reaction test that nearly drove us insane with obsessive-compulsive levels of addiction to crack the demented level 3.

Once unlocked, all the various training matches and mini-games become available on the main menu screen, allowing you to repeatedly play them and improve your character's stats in the process - while also serving as excellent bite-sized diversions that will melt away the most tedious commutes.

But essentially, the real task at hand is to qualify through the ranks and compete in the Island Open knockout tournament to decide the island's best player (or players if you decide to opt for the double challenge). But it doesn't end there. Up to that point, you're consistently left wondering when the 'real' opposition is going to show up - as in Mario and co. Entirely predictably, a further tournament with six of the Mario posse becomes your final challenge, with two rounds of five-setters to conquer before you finally can claim to be the best of the best. As single-player campaigns go, it’s a quality offering, and is as addictive a handheld tennis game as we can recall - and that includes the awesome Virtua Tennis.

Doing it for a reason

'Mario Power Tennis' Screenshot ominous

Sounds ominous.

The key difference with Mario Power Tennis is the mini-games and training exercises feel much more justifiable than some of the oddball interludes you're forced to play in VT (and, indeed the Cube version of Power Tennis). In other words, the time you're not playing tennis is time well spent and is immensely satisfying. On the other hand, Camelot still hasn't quite nailed the overall gameplay brilliance, and the tennis experience on offer here doesn't quite give you that intuitive sense of total control over your shots. Oh, and it doesn't believe in the concept of shots being 'out', bizarrely.

As you may recall from the Cube original, it's basically Tennis with 'power shots' - which come in two flavours; defensive and offensive. To give it that essential Nintendo twist, a few shots into a rally your character becomes surrounded by what looks like a glittering target icon. At this point, you can hold down the right shoulder button and unleash a fearsome drive that's pretty tough to return - unless you're lucky enough to be in line with the shot. If it looks like you're out of range then you're probably out of luck and the point goes to your smug opponent. If, though, you too have a power shot at the ready, you can rescue the point with a defensive manoeuvre. Each of these is entirely ridiculous, of course, but come with their own special time-stopping animation and glitzy effects.

One of the side benefits of playing all those crazy mini-games in the single-player Power Tour mode is that you'll also unlock a stack of power shots into the bargain; allowing you to customise your character's abilities yet further and blast your opponents into next year.

Rally evolved

'Mario Power Tennis' Screenshot minigame

Minigame madness. We love it.

As such, Mario Power Tennis' rallies become more extensive as you go along, with each match becoming a strategic game of when's best to use your power shots. It's tennis, Jim, but not as we know it. Lacking the realism factor that defines its competitors, all that remains is whether it's as enjoyable. In the extensive Power Tour single-player mode, there's no question that it's a lot of fun, demanding something more than mere basic tennis knowledge, and is well worth checking out if you're a bit of a VT or Top Spin freak. It certainly kicks the underwhelming VT Advance into touch, and even gives VT World Tour a run for its money as a handheld game, but ultimately falls down by not really feeling quite right. The ball physics are a world away from being realistic, and the pace of the game doesn't really get going until you've really started to beef up your character.

You can, of course, ignore all of this and just play some basic Exhibition matches, but even then, the sense of speed is lacking (even at the top skill level with the unlockable 'star' versions of the Mario posse), and games quickly descend into power shot fests. Mercifully you can turn off power shots, but all that does is expose Mario Power Tennis for what it is - a great, but not brilliant tennis title.

Multiplayer-wise, the game's aided somewhat by being compatible with the Wireless adapter, but unlike the DS finding someone else with a copy of the game and the correct leads or hardware is the perennial issue. Still, if you're in luck then there is the potential for head to head or doubles encounters, but it's one hell of an expensive way of getting some multiplayer action (yes, it's one cartridge per player, sadly). If that's your thing, you could easily track down a GameCube and a copy of the original for a considerably smaller outlay.

As GBA titles go, Mario Power Tennis is a fantastic title to own - not least because it justifies its existence by being the best GBA tennis title by a mile. With a massively entertaining single-player element that features some mind-bogglingly addictive mini-games and excellent visuals it sells itself. It might not play the most incredible game of tennis you've ever come across, but that issue soon gets lost once you find out just how entertaining it is on the whole. Yet another shining example of the kind of simple, addictive brilliance that Nintendo seems to have a monopoly on these days.

8 / 10

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Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Talha #1 6 years ago

    Wouldn't it be nice - if unthinkable - if they did a PS2 version of this? That way, finally PS2 would have gotten a decent tennis game, other than patchy Smash Court.

  • rare_uk #2 6 years ago

    Is this going to come out on DS? I like the sound of this one, but if there's a DS version with stylus shenanigans coming out I'll hang on
    Edited by 1 at 24/11/05 @ 08:22

  • SirScratchalot #3 6 years ago

    It´s a buy for use on the lurvely micro. It never leaves my pocket....

  • Hog-lumps #4 6 years ago

    "Wouldn't it be nice - if unthinkable - if they did a PS2 version of this?"

    err, is that a joke?

  • Aretak #5 6 years ago

    "That way, finally PS2 would have gotten a decent tennis game, other than patchy Smash Court."

    The PS2 nicked Top Spin, so it already has one. Not to mention the sublime Virtua Tennis 2.
    Edited by 1 at 24/11/05 @ 09:15

  • FairgroundTown #6 6 years ago

    Okay - this sounds very similar to Mario Golf Advance, what with all the role-play and wandering around the clubhouse... And the real problem there was that it suddenly lurches to an obscene level of difficulty after about 5 hours game-play. What's the deal with the learning-curve here?

  • Mike69_2004 #7 6 years ago

    isnt this like the third or fourth mario sport game reviewed this week :S :S

  • Aretak #8 6 years ago

    "Virtua Tennis 2 is out on the PS2?!"

    Yeah, it came out a couple of years ago. Click.

  • Decoded #9 6 years ago

    Another one for the Christmas list, then. I just need more family to buy me all the stuff I want.

  • joey #10 6 years ago

    Blizeh - The Micro has a brighter screen and as it's smaller it looks more detailed, I imported the Famicom version and it is indeed a thing of beauty.

    Get a Micro, this game and a copy of Gunstar Future Hero's - what they managed to get the gameboy to do is stunning!

  • Fozzie_bear #11 6 years ago

    Those sub-RPG bits killed Mario Golf on the GBA for me. Shame because the golf itself was quite good fun. Don't think i can face the prospect of clicking through them again for this one..

  • Genji #12 6 years ago

    Holy mother of... FOUR mario reviews on the front page! Saints be praised!

  • Genji #13 6 years ago

    You are when you posts comments about it in threads that are COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the DS OR the PSP. Stay on topic!

    I would get this if having a multiplayer game were a little easier, like on the DS. Actually, screw it, I have the GC game :-)

    Tennis games are meant to be played on the one TV.

  • afray #14 6 years ago

    I liked the Camalot Mario Golf game, it was mucho enjoyablo. Did run out of steam pretty quick, though, after about 10 hours. When I play a sports game, the sport should be strong enough that I can come back to it again and again: See virtual tennis 2, brian lara 1, PES 3/4, champ man 4, footy man, tiger woods, etc. Seems that the main part of this game might not be for me, which is a shame when I do love a tennis game so.

    Also, *fumes at England's batting line up regressing to 1997*

  • krudster #15 6 years ago

    Learning curve is fine. If you hit a brick wall, you just have to level up by practising for a while. It doesn't take long to get yourself some decent stats if you play it that way.

  • FairgroundTown #16 6 years ago

    There was a discussion on the Mario-everything earlier in the week, in the baseball review. I have to say, in this particular case, that I would be more likely to buy it if it was NOT Mario, but that is just me, and I strongly suspect that removing the Mario branding would remove a lot of their sales, as it is the thing that makes the game stand out from the crowd...

  • Kay #17 6 years ago

    But Mario Tennis has been around for a long time. Even the old Game Boy Tennis game in 1989 had Mario in it.

    K

  • AOFanboi #18 6 years ago

    At least the Mario sports games are worth reviewing, unlike the Disney variants.

  • justMe #19 6 years ago

    I don't usually like sports games, but I loved both Mario Golf (GBA) and Mario Tennis (GC). This one looks like a mix of those two, so it will be hard to resist if I ever come across it in the shop. Might also pick up a Micro when that happens... :)

  • technos #20 6 years ago

    SSX on Gamecube's got Mario in it, frod. And well.. Mario was in the original Donkey Kong.

    Needs more Mario.

  • Toonster #21 6 years ago

    Well, a few days ago there was Mario Baseball on the front page. The day after, Mario Kart DS, the day after Mario Football and today, Mario Tennis. Can we keep the record going?

    I'm not complaining about the number of Mario games, though, seeing that only one of those four games got a mediocre review.

  • justMe #22 6 years ago

    It's Mario 20th birthday celebration, 6 Mario games released in November.

  • Xerx3s #23 6 years ago

    I read that there are 109 mario games already. Bet that even €A can beat that....

  • justMe #24 6 years ago

    Any games company would give anything to have Mario selling games for them:

    20 Years = 190 million games sold (That's 9.5 million games per year!)

  • CosmonautX #25 6 years ago

    Xerx3s --

    I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were 109 Mario games, but the great thing is that most of them are pretty damn good, many are considered classics of their genre and there a couple that can legitimately be said to have changed the direction of gaming at the time of their release.

    Frod --

    I don't know if it's worth bothering, but as far as original Nintendo IP goes:

    Pikmin
    Nintendogs
    Pokemon
    Mario
    Zelda
    Metroid
    Wave Race
    1080
    Wario
    Donkey Kong
    Star Fox
    Advance Wars
    Kirby

    ...and that's just off the top of my head, and doesn't include older series like Excitebike, Kid Icarus or Ice Climbers that could be successfully resurrected - Excitebike in particular is just waiting for a team to build on the great N64 title. It's pretty easy to hammer Nintendo for "overuse" of Mario - and to be honest, having a moan about it when Nintendo are releasing a bundle of Mario-themed titles to tie in with his 20th anniversary is a little like shooting fish in a barrel - but you risk missing the fact that they have a remarkable array of IP to call on, and that their own software lineup is actually quite varied & rich.
    Edited by 1 at 24/11/05 @ 19:34

  • smelly #26 6 years ago

    well mario *IS* 20 this year..

    And you can forgive them for using mario in sports games.. "nintendo tennis" would never sell as well.

    As long as they dont forget his roots and dont mess up new super mario bros, im happy.

    Now where's my copy of mario kart ds dammit?

  • CosmonautX #27 6 years ago

    frod --

    Yeah, I thought it was going to be pointless. However, if you *really* want active Nintendo franchises in 2005, they'd include:

    Nintendogs
    Pokemon
    Mario
    Wario
    Donkey Kong
    Star Fox
    Advance Wars
    Kirby

    As for "junk"... well, I reckon we'll have to agree to disagree. IMO, Nintendo have turned out a bumper helping of solid games recently: a great arcade football title, perhaps the finest Mario Kart game in the series (which seems to have launched their Wi-Fi service with a bang) and a great GBA tennis/rpg title. The only damp squib has been Superstar Baseball, and even that is likely to be worth a shot when the price drops.

    I kind of understand some people being frustrated with so many Mario-themed titles, and to an extent I agree with them. I can see why Nintendo are using Mario to push these titles, but I think that in some cases they may be better served by developing them as standalone games that could start new franchises (think Pennant Chase Baseball rather than Mario Superstar Baseball)

  • justMe #28 6 years ago

    Imho, Mario in a game title is like a "quality seal", you just know your money will be well spent if Mario is on the cover.

    And who needs Mario 128 when you've got online MKDS...

  • CosmonautX #29 6 years ago

    Must have plenty of room under your bridge, then.

  • HunterSeeker #30 6 years ago

    This is definately one of the best games released on GBA in recent times.
    It's fun and very addictive.

    Be prepared to expect a 9/10 from IGN and 8/10 Gamespot.

    And to people who rated it below 6, i bet they never even seen/played the game before: probably because it's gba, because it's Nintendo they gave it a 1.


  • romanista #31 5 years ago

    why doesn't this show up when you search for reviews? do love this game though