It’s been over thirteen years since the release of Mario Power Tennis. This wasn’t the last Mario Tennis game to be released, but it was the last truly great Mario Tennis game that we’ve seen on a home console. 2015’s Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash for the Wii U was bare bones to say the least, and even its decent predecessor, Mario Tennis Open, felt lacking compared to what came before it. The quality of the series was definitely on a downward trajectory. However, with the reveal of the new Nintendo Switch game Mario Tennis Aces, there is definitely hope for the series yet. Although it is only a brief tease of the upcoming release, the slither of gameplay that we’ve seen so far leaves a good impression and has us hopeful that Mario Tennis Aces may just knock it out of the park. Wrong sport metaphor? Let’s try again. Mario Tennis Aces may just be Nintendo’s ace in the hole, and here are three that can completely change the game.
Story Mode
3 Ways Mario Tennis Aces Can Change the Game
“This time the game adds the first story mode since the Mario Tennis: Power Tour game on Game Boy Advance”, the trailer touts. And what a story mode it was. For those who may not have dabbled in the earlier portable versions of this series, they had story modes where you climbed the ranks in your tennis school in order to take on some of the greatest tennis players in the world, including Mario and his friends. Surprisingly, you didn’t actually play as established Mario characters, but instead as new human characters like Alex and Max (not the most memorable Mario characters, I have to say). The games also had RPG elements that allowed you to level up your character’s stats.
From the looks of things, Mario Tennis Aces’s story mode looks to be quite a bit different from the ones in the portable games. For starters, the trailer shows Mario running along a world map, implying that the explorable areas of the previous games have been done away with. There are also no RPG elements to be seen. Instead, on your quest you’ll be able to battle boss enemies as well as take on several missions, one of which sees Mario battling a gang of piranha plants. These parts look similar to the mini-games that we’ve seen in Mario Tennis games prior. This is definitely a good thing as some of those were extremely fun (shoutouts to the “artist on the court” minigame from Mario Power Tennis). Of course, there’s sure to be a lot of tennis matches taking place along the way. Mixing these different gameplay modes together into one contextualized mode is definitely something to look forward to and could give Mario Tennis Aces the best single-player mode of a Mario Tennis game to date.
Gameplay Shake-Up
3 Ways Mario Tennis Aces Can Change the Game
A main problem of Mario Tennis Open and Ultra Smash is how they simplified the gameplay. In Mario Tennis, you have several different shots that you can use on the fly: topspin, slice, lob shot, etc. Those two games featured a chance shot system; an icon will appear on the floor when using a particular shot. Standing on said icon created an added beneficial effect. This trivialized gameplay down to always using the shots that the game told you to use, rather than experimenting with different kinds of shots for different scenarios.
Mario Tennis Aces does away with that system. The trailer explains that “new wrinkles in tennis gameplay will challenge your ability to read your opponents position and stroke to determine which shot will give you the advantage.” While the trailer doesn’t do a great job of demonstrating how this works, it sounds like this new system will guide players on how to make more effective use of their various shots, and will not simply power up a random type of shot like in Open and Ultra Smash. While this is merely conjecture based on the language in the trailer, at the very least, getting rid of the system that Mario Tennis Open and Ultra Smash used is a win in my book.
Something else that I’m thankful for from the trailer is the return of more Mario-esque courts. What I mean by this is the inclusion of whacky mechanics that you wouldn’t find in a regular tennis game, but feel right at home in a Mario game. We get a brief look at a match between Mario and Donkey Kong on a court where parts of the net are separated by warp pipes, but unfortunately don’t see how the warp pipes actually affect the tennis. Is it possible to hit the ball into the warp pipes to send them out of another warp pipe? Or are enemies going to pop out of them? Whatever happens, it’s sure to be the kind of fun that only a Mario sports game could provide. This was another problem with the previous two Mario Tennis titles: there were way too few courts with these kinds of Mario gimmicks. Sure, include a few traditional courts for a fair round of tennis, that’s all well and good. But when it comes to the more gimmicky courts, the more the merrier I say.
And not something that really effects the gameplay per se, but take a look at Mario’s swanky new duds. We’ve seen a few of the female cast members get a change of attire for the sport/racing games, but never the Mario Bros. themselves. Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi are all sporting some more ‘tennisy’ apparel this time around. Looking good, fellas. Could this be implying that we’ll be able to change characters’ costumes this time around? Probably not, but that would be pretty sweet.
More Multiplayer Options
3 Ways Mario Tennis Aces Can Change the Game
The Nintendo Switch is a great piece of technology that allows you to play both at home on your TV and on the go. But something that’s also really great about the Nintendo Switch are its two detachable joy-con controllers, allowing you to play two player multiplayer wherever you are. No longer will you be stuck watching your older brother play because you only have one Nintendo 64 controller, because the Switch gives you two controllers out of the box. This is perfect for playing some cooperative tennis doubles or some competitive 1-on-1.
Like the previous two games, Mario Tennis Aces will likely have online play, but with the Switch’s paid online service coming later this year, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see a more fleshed out online mode this time around. A tournament mode would fit right at home in Mario Tennis Aces, and would make that monthly fee feel a little more justified than if we, say, just received the same modes as Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, which were just one-off singles or doubles matches. We’ve seen an online tournament mode in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and something similar would be a perfect fit for Mario Tennis Aces. Let’s hope they put it in!
For a series that has very much stagnated for the last releases, Mario Tennis Aces really looks like its pushing the series forward. I’m happy to say that I am genuinely really excited for a future Mario Tennis game, which is something that I haven’t been able to say for a long time now. I have faith in you, Mario Tennis Aces. Please don’t let me down!