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Mario Tennis is one of my most-played game franchises of all time and whilst Mario Tennis Aces was incredible, it still didn’t quite reach the heights of former games in the franchise when it comes to longevity, and I think that’s about to change with Mario Tennis Fever.
Whilst every Mario Tennis game since the original has had a gimmick, this feels less like a gimmick in Mario Tennis Fever and more of a genuine improvement that will not only help with much more diverse gameplay, but also a mechanic that will help people really find a play style that makes for more competitive gameplay.
The big difference here is Fever rackets which replace character abilities that have often been featured in previous games. This is great for two reasons – the first is that with 38 characters featured, including the addition of Baby Waluigi, you now can freely select your character without having to worry about what their ability is which would often limit selection in previous games.
The second is just how many of these change the total way that the game plays. With 30 Fever rackets, there’s a really great mix of active and passive abilities. The best way to describe them is similar to that of Mario Kart items, with many of them being featured. There’s abilities that will put iconic Mario enemies onto the court, ones that give you the ability to dash further, others that create a tornado and then they can also effect each other, so for instance if you use a Fever racket to put bananas down on the court, the other person using the Tornado racket can make them go away, which is where the strategy and balance comes in.
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Fever Rackets are used to build up Fever Shots which happen pretty quickly. There’s also strategy in the sense that if you hit someone’s Fever Shot before it bounces, then the effect will be reverse and you’ll go back and forth through that process until the ball bounces on someone’s side. There’s also now health that means you’ll be slowed down when your health runs out, or if you’re playing doubles, you’ll be knocked out for a certain period of time.
The game looks absolutely phenomenal as well which brings all the Fever Shots to life, with a massive jumbotron scoreboard peering over the court at all times, and there’s that signature Mario Tennis music playing in the background at all times and the Talking Flower from Super Mario Bros Wonder also narrates the matches as well. This is especially important in the game’s Adventure mode which sees the return of a fully-fledged RPG story mode. I got to experience a taste of it, in which Mario and his crew are all turned into babies and must re-learn their skills in order to beat the best.
By completing mini games (which feel straight out of Mario Party in the best possible way) and in completing matches, you’ll level up your characters improving shot types and eventually allowing them to participate in tournaments. This mode pays tribute to the GB Adventure mode which a sprawling overworld that you can explore with loads of Nintendo characters to talk to, and I really can’t wait to see what else it’s hiding.
The other part of the game I got to explore is Trial Towers which puts you up against a bunch of different challenges that perfectly make use of the Fever Rackets and Fever Shots in amongst differing match conditions and is a great way of experimenting and teaching you which ones work well together.
All-in-all, there’s a lot to be excited about with Mario Tennis Fever. I’m really excited to see how the online community takes all the new mechanics and hopefully turns this into a game that has a long and healthy community that keeps growing and changing.
Mario Tennis Fever launches exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 on February 12th. The cheapest copy is $99 with free shipping on Amazon.
