One of my favorite games of all time
GAME PLAY
Game play remains nearly the same as in the GBC game. Buttons do shots, combinations of A and B before the shots gets to you do different shots. You get the idea. You can do 5 different regular shots using the combinations of A and B. These include but are not limited to the Slice, Lob, and Smash.
The difference from this and the older game is that you now have a power shot. After your character is charged up, you can hold R and hit A or B to perform a save shot, or a power shot. A save shot makes it so you can usually get a shot that may have been out of reach (mattering on what shot you have, it make give your save shot more or less reach). A power shot is a faster shot, that knocks back your opposition even if they hit it. Some power shots are just special versions of regular shots that can freeze your opponents, slow them down, make them stumble, or a combination of a faster shot with a strange effect.
Their is a lengthy tennis RPG mode. Its surprisingly fun and addictive. You go from a crappy junior to a varsity player, and play the best of another world. There is almost no Mario in the mode, which is awesome. I never really liked Mario anyway. Old characters from the GBC game return, which few people will notice, but its a nice addition for people who played the old GBC game.
How you get power shots range from fun to down right annoying. There are 10 mini games, each with 4 levels of difficulty. There are 8 (I believe at least) different categories these mini games improve. Some power shots use one category, others use 2 or more. To get the best power shots, you have to max out the level in several categories. Some of the mini games are annoying, some are frustrating, but in the end, you'll have a lot of fun with them overall. It adds a lot of replayability to try to beat your best record and make your character the highest level, which I did, both my characters in doubles are level 99 with all the power shot categories maxed out. Its not something to brag about actually, I think I need psychological help actually ;).
The game though, is very easy in my opinion. I've heard people actually complain about the games difficulty, but the fact is I've played it on normal, and technical when I unlocked it, and I've yet to lose a match. I've beat the game 3 times, I even went through doing the bare minimum and not upgrading my character to make it harder. I even completely avoided the tricks to beating the AI. The game is just way to easy even for a kid I think. I also enjoyed the story mode despite not liking many RPG style games with leveling up.
Then their is doubles. It plays the game, except you have a computer ally on your team, and your facing two people on the other court. This mode works wonderfully, since you level up your ally along side you, and they aren't retarded like in Mario Golf Advance Tour.
GRAPHICS
The graphics, while technically sound, are bright and colorful. The game has a Golden Sun look to it from what I've heard. The graphics and effects are nice, though nothing will make you gasp in shock. The pre rendered screens in the game look cute. They are no where near GC graphics though. I have to wonder, why Pre-render 3D for a cinematic and then use N64 quality models? It puzzles me to this day.
The actual sprites IN GAME look like pre-rendered 3D models to a point, and it looks very good overall because your never zoomed very far in on them. The graphics never look as good as other games like Minish Cap, or Advance Wars, but the game stands close to them.
SOUND
Every character you play against has a voice where they will make a noise every time they hit the ball. Does it get annoying... not really. The voices add some personality to some of the characters, but other wise voice clips are like those found in other GBA games, used way too often. Most characters have different sounding voice clips, which is nice though.
Music is like that of the GC game, except better. There is more music in this game than the GC game also. Some of the tunes are catchy, others are not. I found myself humming along to some of the songs. The mini games have childish music that is frantic and fits the mini games perfectly. I usually detest against that kind of music (if you read some of my other reviews... I'm once again looking at Wind Waker) , but it works here.
There are the wacks of the rackets and stuff, but that doesn't really matter, the fact that they are there is all the game needed to do am I correct?
VALUE
A long RPG mode, multi cart multiplayer with up to 4 people, leveling up your character insanely for said multiplayer can lead to A LOT of time put into this game. One of the few GBA games I've spent more than 30 hours playing.
TILT
I usually comprise tilt of how the games story immersed me into the game. For a sports game, I have to say I was utterly impressed with the story. You had back stabbing team mates, overly confident enemies. The thing I like is that when you win the tournament and go back, everyone talks to you differently than when you first came by. I wish other games would let you play after you won the main tournament/beat the final boss (Guess what game series I'm looking at... its starts with a Z.). The fact this game has a decent story mode and its a sports game earns it a high tilt score, I wish more sports games will follow in its footsteps.
OVERALL
This is one of the best sports games I've ever played. It has everything a great game should have, packed into a little GBA cart. I recommend anyone with a GBA to at least rent this game.