I don’t know what it is about these Camelot/Nintendo titles, but they always seem to be about what is just beneath the surface. At face value Mario Power Tennis is no different then Mario Golf Toadstool Tour – it’s a cute looking game with Nintendo Mascots that is based on a popular sport, and yet again thanks to all those mascots you’re forced to look deep within to realize that Mario Power Tennis is also the best tennis game to be released this generation.
It’s a damning indictment of Nintendo that they continue to produce some of the best sports titles out there, yet they refuse to ‘adult’ them up with real licenses to sell them to the mass market. Oh well, that discussion is best left for another time; for now we’ll settle for telling you why you should look past all the cute to get to the fun.
The graphics in Mario Power Tennis are what you’d expect. The most crisp, detailed character models to date of some of Nintendo’s top mascots are found in Power Tennis. The most surprising thing is the crowd, and the environments. You may not notice them, but they’re far and away the best tennis atmosphere you’ll find in this sports genre. Each stadium is filled with well detailed characters from the Nintendo universe, and if you don’t look hard at each court you’ll definitely miss how great a job Camelot did here. The courts themselves are also visually dead on, as they represent some of the highlights of various Nintendo games (Luigi’s Mansion, Delfino Plaza, and on, and on).
The sound department is a real shocker, since every “Mascot Party” game to be released by Nintendo thus far was lacking any real voice work. It’s not like the game is packed with voice overs, but there’s certainly more than you’d expect. The music also doesn’t fall back onto the typical Mario themes like a crutch. The themes are all there, but you can also hear plenty of new music put in by developer Camelot. It’s not good, it’s not bad – it just complements the tone of the game well.
Mario Power Tennis may be one of the best tennis titles on this generation of hardware, but it’s still not an authentic simulation experience (to the surprise of no one). Real tennis doesn’t let you build swimming pools on the court, or light the ball on fire with your breath, but if you look past all the over the top action, you’ll find a game that requires a bit of skill to master.
As you’d expect the game is fairly easy to pick up and start playing, but as time goes by, and you start to learn each available shot you’ll find an incredible amount of complexity in Mario Power Tennis. Just in like in Mario Golf Toadstool Tour you’ll be using the A and B buttons in different combinations to achieve different shots. A+A will give you a standard return, A+B will give you a lob shot, and on and on. It’s the use of the button combinations that’ll really make the game hard to master. If you get two players in the same room who take Mario Power seriously you’ll find that the action is better than anything you’ve seen on any tennis game out there.
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Much of what the game does to give the player an authentic experience goes unnoticed; but if you happen to play the title, keep on eye on some of the tennis fundamentals, and see if Mario Power Tennis doesn’t simulate them well. As an example, you’ll notice that the power of your return is influenced by your position relative to the ball.
Enough about the authenticity of the game though – you know that’s not what Mario Power Tennis is about. Besides being able to execute standard tennis shots, Camelot has added way over the top special moves. Each character has two special attacks they can use when they “power up” during a rally. One move is offensive, and the other a defensive ‘save me from defeat’ return. After you execute the move you will power down and have to wait to charge up again to use the specials. The defensive move is performed using your Y button, while the offensive is done with the X. You can also choose to let the game ‘decide’ for you (your position relative to the ball will determine which shot is performed), by choosing that as an option, in which case you’ll simply press either X or Y button, and let the game determine which shot to use for you. Regardless of whether you do it yourself, or tell the game to do it, these special shots can extend or kill a rally in a flash. The defensive shot will return any shot that has been hit your way, regardless of how distant the ball may be from you, while the offensive shot will hit the ball so hard at your opponent that even if they manage to return it they’ll be completely out of position. There is quite a bit of strategy involved with the powers moves, and deciding when to use them – do you save your power shot until after your opponent has wasted their defensive shot? Do you wait to use your defensive shot as a perfect return to your opponent’s power shot? Rally’s can go on for what seems like forever, if the correct sequence of specials is used by either player. The only drawback to the special moves is that you’re forced to watch a sequence each and every time they’re performed. It’s not so bad initially, but after a few hours of gameplay they do tend to ruin the flow of each game (not to mention get annoying).
If the special moves aren’t enough for you, you can also play in gimmick matches. Feel like playing Mario Kart on a tennis court? Well Camelot is happy to oblige. In this mode there are three boxes over top of the net, and as you return the ball you’ll activate whichever box you happen to hit. On your very next shot you’ll automatically hurl whatever prize you unearthed at your opponent. There are tons of gimmick courts you can play on, each offering their own unique experience.
Mario Power Tennis is an alright game when you play it against one friend, but it gets real fun as a title when you play it with three other friends. Doubles play is where it’s at in Mario Tennis. Having four people, each with the ability to use special moves, while playing on a gimmick court is an experience that must be played to be believed. As an aside, I’m once again left to wonder just how much fun all these party games by Camelot would be if they were online capable. Nintendo would rule the online market if they ever got into it – but again, this is a beef best left for some other time.
Camelot has been creating some of the best sports titles out there, and they’ve unfortunately gone largely unnoticed by the mainstream. Such is the crux of using mascots to help sell your games. With that said, you owe it to yourself to at least rent Mario Power Tennis, bring some friends over, and experience what is probably the best tennis title out there.
