Nintendo serves up another smash-hit Mario Tennis game.
Playing the game is rather easy to learn thanks to the 'pick up and play' style. Your basic buttons are the A & B buttons, which give you your two standard shots. The A button is for a topspin shot, while B is your slice. You can also perform combinations, such as pressing A ->A quickly, which leads to a harder shot, B ->A, which performs a drop shot or A ->B for a lob shot. Each of the game's 18 total characters has their own type of offensive and defensive Power Shot. The offensive shot leads the character to smash the ball with lots of speed and power, making it difficult for the other player to return the shot. While the defensive shot assists you if you're too far away from the ball, you can bring the ball over to you and then hit it. In order to use these Power Shots your racket will begin to glow, when it's lit up all the way around you will be able to use them when you so desire by pressing the X or Y buttons. However these Power Shots are not mandatory and can be turned off so nobody can use them if they do not appeal to you.
The game looks and sounds great as well. Each court has its own distinct look with lots of vibrant colors and corresponding sounds. Aside from the basic grass, clay, and hard surface courts there are a few themed ones from Nintendo's past. Such as a retro Donkey Kong court, WarioWare court, Bowser's Castle court, and even an original Super Mario Bros court. Each court has their own retro music to fit with the theme and it really works well, especially if you're familiar with them. Each character is animated well and looks good despite their cartoony nature. Shadows are also cast whether the sun is high or low in the sky. These shadows also help give a realistic feel to the image of the game.
Aside from the standard exhibition singles or doubles games, there are tournaments and some Mario styled versions of tennis. The tournament mode is a great way to master the game as the higher you advance, the more difficult opposition you face. Unfortunately you cannot start a doubles tournament with 2 players, which feels like a loss. Ring Shot is a game where gold rings will appear on the court, and the objective is to shoot the ball through the rings. They appear in different sizes and are worth different amount of points. The player with more points wins the game. Another mode is Item Battle, where in front of the net are Mario Kart styled item boxes. Smash through a box to gain and item, such as a banana peel or a shell. You can fire these items off onto your opponent's side of the court to help mess them up and gain an advantage. However these 2 different versions of tennis feel gimmicky and probably won't consume most of your time.
As another distraction there are a few mini games you can play to earn high scores. One of these is Artist on the Court, where you'll have a large black and white photo in front of you, and colored balls will come at you and it is your job to hit the correct color ball onto the correct part of the picture. So basically hit a red ball onto Mario's hat. Terror Tennis places you on half a court with a large wall in front of you with portraits of ghosts. The ghosts will each start wiggling as this try to come out of the picture to attack you. What you must do is hit your ball at the ghost as they try to come free. The closer they are to freedom when you hit them, the higher points you receive. Gooper Blooper Volley is another mini game that helps build your skills. You basically rally with a giant squid and when you shoot the ball into his court, that spot will be marked with an X. Meaning you cannot hit the ball in the same spot twice. The higher the level you go the more frustrating it can become, but it really helps you perfect your Drop and Lob shots. All in all these mini games serve as a fun little distraction, some are better than others but they all tend to help you practice your skills in some way.
Without a doubt Mario Power Tennis is a fantastic game to play. Its fun on both single and multiplayer modes. It is a definite must for Mario fans, as well as tennis fans.