Mario Power Tennis review. New play controls give new life to this GameCube sports classic
New Play Control: Mario Power Tennis is a Wii re-release of Nintendo’s and Camelot’s GameCube tennis game Mario Power Tennis, which was originally released in 2004.
The game is an updated version of the original Mario Tennis that was released on the Nintendo 64 in 2000. Like that game and others made by Hudson/Camelot, the game is a family friendly, fun-filled sports title that is particularly attractive to Mario fans as it brings many of the most popular Mario characters to the fast-paced world of tennis.
Given that the game is a re-release, how does it fare in the current console generation?
System: Wii
Also On: GameCube
Wii Release - USA March 9, 2009 - EUR March 6, 2009 - JAP January 15, 2009 - AUS March 26, 2009
GameCube Release - USA November 8, 2004 - EUR 2005 - JAP October 28, 2004
Genre: Sports (Action/non-simulation)
Players: Four Players
Controller: Wii Remote & Nunchuck only. Nunchuck not required to play.
Save: 1 Block required to save game settings. 3 Files available for saving mid-match. Requires extra blocks for each of the three save files.
Developer: Camelot Software Planning
Publisher: Nintendo
Origin: Japan
Rated: E for Everyone (Contains Mild Cartoon Violence)
Discs: 1 Disc (It’s worth noting that New Play Control: Mario Power Tennis has a two-sided cover. Slide your fingers under the plastic covering the box to pull out the paper cover and reverse it for a slightly different cover. One that mirrors the original GameCube release).
Mario Power Tennis boots up with a lengthy and pretty cool computer generated intro involving Wario, Waluigi and Bowser who plan an attack on the upcoming tennis tournament. The feel of the intro is very wacky but also a bit chaotic and, above all, fun-loving.
This is the style that pervades every aspect of the game and makes Mario Tennis an accessible and fun pick-up-and-play tennis game for both kids and adults alike. Although it’s not super deep, it is deeper than it’s colorful coating suggests. The game abides by all the real rules of tennis (also making it an easy way to teach kids the rules of tennis) and features pretty realistic ball movement. The normal courts even have varying degrees of bounce that’s given to the ball when you play on them.
Thanks to the “New Play Control” update, Mario Power Tennis on the Wii takes full advantage of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck including pointing the Wii Remote at the screen to move the on-screen cursor for selecting menu items. Naturally, you use the Wii Remote to swing in various ways to create different kinds of strikes. If you opt not to use the Nunchuck accessory then your characters movement also defaults to a Wii Sports Tennis auto style where your character automatically moves to where the ball is located, so all you have to do is swing. However if you’re playing with a Nunchuck then you can manual move your character with the stick.
So instead of using buttons like in the GameCube version you swing the Wii Remote to play. Here’s a breakdown of the six different types of swings.
Topspin
To do a Topspin shot you must swing diagonally upward from left to right. Do it backwards for a backhand version. Topspin shots are fast moving with high bounce and an orange trail.
Slice
Swing diagonally downward from right to left for a Slice shot. Slices are slow with low trajectory and low bounce. They have a blue trail. Do it backwards for a backhand version.
Flat
Swing straight across from left to right for a Flat shot. Flat’s are fast with a low bounce and a green trial. Do it backwards for a backhand version.
Smash
If a ball is high in the air as it comes toward you a star will appear. Stand in the star and swing the Wii Remote downward to make a speedy fast shoot. Smashes have purple trails.
Lob
To hit a Lob shot, swing upward. Lob’s have a very high trajectory in order to sail over your opponent (although opening them up for Smash shots).
Drop
A Drop is a low-trajectory shot that barely flies over the meet in order to make your opponent have to rush quickly to the net in order to hit it. To perform a lob swing the Wii Remote downward.
You will be able to watch a video tutorial showing you the various types of shots and how to hit them when you first play the game (it can be viewed later as well).
In addition to the above one of the game’s main draws are the Power Shots, a new introduction in this game over the N64 original. Power Shots are pretty offensive and defensive special moves that you can perform by holding the A Button (for offense) or B Button while swinging. Offensive shots are self explanatory while defensive allow you to return shots that you may not have been able to reach otherwise. Each character has their own special moves with their own effects and these are all fun to use and pretty creative, such as Daisy who slides across the court on flowers or Koopa who hits an offensive water-powered low-bounce shot.
You start the game out with 14 characters and can unlock a further four characters (five if you count colored Yoshi) and further improved “Star” versions of each character. You also start out with 8 courts but can unlock a few more.
A big aspect of Mario Tennis are “Gimmick Courts”. These are courts with unique and game-altering aspects and mechanics that make the game much more random and exciting (if you’re into it). For example the Wario Factory Court features arrows above the net that when hit activate conveyor belts on the court. This forces your character backwards when activated making it harder for you to hit the ball.
The main mode in the game is the Tournament mode where you play matches against the computer to unlock additional courts and characters. In this mode you’ll start at the Mushroom Cup and progress on to further cups such as the Flower and Star Cups. As you progress your opponents will get harder.
If you don’t want to do the tournament you can play Exhibition which is just a normal match. You can also choose to play Ring Shot mode (play for points as you try to shoot the ball through rings hanging above the court) or Item Battle (collect items in boxes hanging above the court and unleash them on your opponent to interfere with their shots).
The game also includes a “Special Games” category of unique and fun mini-games that you can play to take a break from the normal tennis action. These include a painting game in which you must paint a picture using colored balls, a Shine-getting game in which you must wipe off Super Mario Sunshine sludge off the court using water balls to reveal the shines underneath and a crazy Chain Chomp game that’s a lot of fun with four players. Each of these games has bronze, silver and gold medals to win and a few more unlockables in addition to a couple more mini-games you can unlock as you play. Some of these are much funner than others and/or funner to play with friends. They are a nice addition to the game.
Mario Power Tennis overall is a very serviceable and fun tennis game however it suffers from a few annoyances. The controls work pretty good for what it is, however difficulties inevitably come up when using the Wii Remote to swing, such as when a swing doesn’t register (did I really swing or not? Sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s you or the game) or when the game registers a swing as something different than the one you were trying to pull off. The diagonal swings in particular are hard to differentiate between the high-trajectory Lob shot. I can’t count how many times I did the former when meaning to do the latter, and that can be very annoying.
Other annoyances come in the form of the character’s voices, which they often repeat, and a few strange omissions like the fact that you can’t simply restart a match when you are playing a mini-game, you must pause (pressing the 1 Button) and Exit out to the main menu and then re-exit to start over. Which is annoying. You also can’t pause at all during tournaments (but you can save in between, still the ability to pause should have been offered).
However the biggest omissions is the lack of online play. While I understand that adding online play to GameCube re-releases wasn’t on the agenda, it still is a glaring omission as this game would’ve been a lot funner and had a lot more replay value if you could challenge your friends online. As it stands, you likely won’t always have three other willing players to play with you. And the game is much funner with human opponents than it is with the computer.
And that brings about a few other glaring omissions or flaws if you will. Although the game keeps track of stats while you are playing, you can’t save them. There are no profiles and you can’t even enter your initials when you get done playing a mini-game and breaking a previous record time or score. This makes all the extra stuff pretty pointless and sucks the life out of any competition that could’ve been had. Which is, in a word, stupid. Why these options aren’t included is beyond me. This means that you will only play until you or a friend gets tired and wants to move on.
As it stands, the game doesn’t last very long as you can blaze through it pretty quickly if you are determined to unlock all of the game’s characters and beat all the Special Games. And once you have unlocked everything there isn’t much more reason to play unless you have friends over.
Musically and graphically the game is fine, for a GameCube title. Which is what it is. So it’s pretty pointless to even talk about that. Although the game does, naturally, make great use of Mario elements in the courts. Particularly on the Gimmick courts, some of which are modeled after other GameCube hits like Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi’s Mansion.
Overall, New Play Control: Mario Power Tennis is a very serviceable tennis game if you are looking for a deeper experience than what you get with Wii Sports and it can be fun to play both alone and with friends. However the game is far from great and hurt deeply by the lack of online play and score tracking/profiles, which means you won’t have much fun unless there are others around who are really into Mario Tennis.
FUN FACTOR: 7.0
Mario Power Tennis is a fun tennis game and is highly accessible to both kids and adults. Kids will love to just swing the Wii Remote randomly (and may have more fun if you teach them the shots) while adults will appreciate the different moves you can pull off with various tennis swings. The game is much funner with friends than alone, however the fun only lasts until one of you gets bored. The game completely lacks online play as well as the ability to save high scores or get track of stats, making the game’s only challenge coming from unlocking everything. Which doesn’t take too long.
Graphics: 6.5
The game is colorful and fun. But it’s a GameCube title so it doesn’t look so great on the Wii. But it’s definitely not horrible and the Power Shots all contain neat and fun effects.
Music: 6.0
The music in the game is up-beat, matching the Mario theme, with a few remixes of classic themes. Overall the music is fine but far from great.
Ingenuity: 7.0
Swinging the remote like a sports racket is nothing new, however the game makes the most of it by remapping all the shots done with buttons to Wii Remote swings.
Replay Value: 7.0
There are quite a few unlockables but you will get them all pretty quickly if you play the game a lot. There is no online play or profiles to keep track of statistics (such as win/loss records and so on) or to enter your high scores, sucking any challenge you may have been able to create by trying to beat the scores of your friends.
