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Since the original Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64, Nintendo and Camelot have arguably struggled to recapture that game’s magic. Other games had interesting gimmicks that were, unfortunately, just that, gimmicks. More recent ones, like Aces for the Switch, felt like a step in the right direction but ultimately had little to no longevity. With Mario Tennis Fever, Nintendo and developer Camelot really feel like they’re on to something. It’s a great culmination of everything the series has been so far, and I’d say potentially the best Mario Tennis game ever.
The most buzz has been made about Mario Tennis Fever’s adventure mode, and that’s where the only semblance of a plot exists in the game. Daisy is sick, for some reason, and the crew heads off to a mysterious island to find a Golden Fruit, which will cure her. While searching for the fruit, Mario and the gang are turned into babies and lose their tennis skills. As the adventure begins, the babies must re-learn their skills while also defeating the monsters that turned them that way. It’s a simple plot that doesn’t really go anywhere and ends as soon as it gets going. However, you don’t play a Mario Tennis game for the plot, arguably.
That said, the Adventure mode that underpins it is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Fever. It serves more like a tutorial, teaching you the practical applications of the many different swings you can pull off in the game, and it is over in about four hours. There is an experience system underpinning everything, harkening back to the Game Boy Colour versions of Mario Tennis, but it ultimately feels useless. There wasn’t a single point where I had to earn more experience to hone my skills outside of the area at the beginning. That could be because half of the Adventure mode is spent in the academy earning points rather than actually adventuring.
Thankfully, Adventure Mode makes up a small amount of the Mario Tennis Fever package, and everything else is rock solid. The game itself is as you’d expect – you select a character and engage in a match of tennis. You have different swings which have different applications on the court, and the winner is the one who utilises them correctly. Tennis is a simple game that’s incredibly easy to grasp, which makes it a perfect fit for a family-oriented party game like Mario Tennis, but it’s where Fever does things a bit differently that makes it stand out.
And the biggest change here from other games is the titular Fever Rackets. These are selected after your character, and provide your character with a special move designed to turn the tide in your favour. Fever Rackets are a wide range of abilities – some might make fire spawn on the opponent’s side of the court, while others might spawn a shadow partner for you to play with. They’re a good mix of offensive and defensive abilities, and, even better, unlike the enlarge mechanic in Ultra Smash, they don’t spell out an automatic win if you get one. Instead, Fever Shots merely put more pressure on your opponent, rather than making them instantly lose.
The result is, especially when playing doubles, some pretty frenetic chaos. There were times when there was a Thwomp spawned on one side of the court, my opponent was launching Fire Flower projectiles at me with every hit, and, of course, the floor was icy. The hectic nature of the Fever Rackets, coupled with the already fast pace of Mario Tennis Fever, really helps keep the game engaging. Every session of Fever that I played never lasted less than two hours, and while I’m sure that might wear off eventually, it’s a very speedy and addictive game that our group struggled to put down. Of course, if that sounds like too much, you can play with standard rackets too.
Beyond the normal tennis modes, including free play and tournament, there are other modes to keep things interesting. Trial Towers, which require you to complete a set of unique challenges that aren’t necessarily just tennis, is a fun distraction and test of endurance. You might need to return the ball to an invisible player, for example, but completing ten of these trials with only three lives can be challenging. Completing these towers unlocks heaps more trials to complete and earn stars for, too, which bolsters an already robust package.
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Other modes put you on unique courts that, again, twist tennis in a fun way that only the Mario Tennis games can. One of them has Fever Rackets dropping onto the court for players to scramble towards and use immediately, while others take place on a court that’s literally a pinball table, complete with multi-ball phases and bumpers. There’s even one based in the Flower Kingdom, from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, where picking up a Wonder Flower warps the stage in a weird and unique way. It’s, again, a fun way to bolster out an already substantial package with heaps of stuff to see and do outside of typical tennis.
A Swing Mode is also included, which aims to emulate the bygone era of motion controls popularised by the Wii and Wii Sports. While I was never one to criticise the waggle all those years ago, today it feels a bit like a half-hearted inclusion in Mario Tennis Fever. For one, the Fever Rackets you can select with this mode are fewer (six of the thirty are available), and the motion controls just don’t hit the same as they did on the Wii. I can’t tell if it’s because the controls aren’t the same, or my attitude has shifted towards them, but Swing Mode feels like a good option for kids, but barely anyone else.
The character and racket rosters are solid, too. Every character has unique stats as well as unique characteristics; Birdo has a quicker charge on a certain shot, for example, while Nabbit has worse backhands because of the sack he’s carrying around on his back. There’s a nice mix of characters here, and when combined with the huge roster of Fever Rackets, it leads to some solid combinations to experiment with when playing.
Though this is always a divisive topic, those looking to jump straight into Mario Tennis Fever may need to put in some work to unlock everything if they’re planning to host a group. A majority of the characters and rackets are locked from the get-go, with many of them requiring you to play the game to unlock. I think that some may find solace in having something to work towards, but if you’re looking to buy the game and play it that night with everything unlocked, that’s not possible. You might care, you might not, but it’s worth mentioning.
The typical suite of multiplayer options comes with Mario Tennis Fever, too. You can play the game locally and online via GameShare, and even with those who own any Nintendo Switch console, not just Nintendo Switch 2. There are online options – a ranked mode and a private room option are included here too.
And with the jump to Switch 2, it’s no surprise that Mario Tennis Fever looks and plays beautifully. From the pre-rendered cinematic that plays on open to the way the court fills with all kinds of crazy effects with zero slowdown, this is a game that benefits from the power of Nintendo’s new hardware. Like most Mario games, it’s bright, colourful and vibrant, and every character is dripping with personality. Just the way that Wiggler puts out his hands to do his victory laps, or the way that Diddy Kong balances the ball on his tail before every serve, are just some examples of how every character has been crafted with soul and charm.
And that’s really the greatest compliment I can pay to Mario Tennis Fever. It is the culmination of everything that Nintendo and developer Camelot have learned since they started making these games on the Wii U in high definition. It perfectly balances fun gimmicks with technical precision, and really is the best Mario Tennis experience players could ask for. Heck, I don’t even like tennis, but Fever had me in just that – a fever – and that’s the greatest compliment I could ever pay it.
