Mario and co. are returning to the court for Mario Tennis Fever. It’s been almost eight years since Mario Tennis Aces, but the franchise is doing more than just adding a fresh coat of paint in its latest entry.
With a new set of gameplay mechanics, additional characters, and updated graphics for the Switch 2, Mario Tennis Fever appeals to longtime fans of the franchise, as well as those who may have never even considered picking up a tennis racket. Though the game’s Adventure mode leaves much to be desired, its diverse modes and fun gameplay loop make it a title to get lost in for hours at a time.
Servin’ up new mechanics
You might think you know tennis, but Mario Tennis Fever puts a special spin on things. You have the same shot types and directional mechanics as in Aces (minus the Zone Shot feature), but where the gameplay really heats up is with the introduction of Fever Rackets, which grant players powerful abilities after being charged throughout the course of a match.
Some Fever Rackets lob fireballs at your opponent or cover their screen with ink, while others coat the court with layers of ice, turning the playing field into a slip-and-slide. Most of these Fever Shots can be returned and backfire against whoever uses them, upping the ante for quick counterplay. When you successfully pull off a Fever Shot, you gain the upper hand in a match through zone control or by limiting your opponent’s visibility or access to the ball. When you’re on the receiving end of one, though, you’ll be forced on the backfoot with an extra challenge to overcome while your opponent’s (or your own) racket’s effect is active.
On occasion, you might find that these effects can make the playing field quite chaotic, which can either be very fun or very frustrating, especially when you’re playing doubles. There were a handful of times where I couldn’t even see the ball—not because my opponents had used a Fever Racket that affected visibility, but because there was simply so much going on in the field of play, so many fireballs or mud splotches, that the visual effects obscured the ball’s position. When all four players activate their Fever Rackets within the same window, gameplay can become quite disorienting. And if all four racket effects end up littering your side of the net—well, you’re gonna want to forfeit the match right then and there. Luckily, this doesn’t happen all too often when you’re playing against CPUs, but you’ll want to be ready for the chaos in local or online play, which can host you and up to three other players.
Fever Rackets aren’t the only mechanics that affect gameplay, though; characters also offer their own variations on gameplay. Like in Aces, each character has a class and a set of stats that change their speed, power, control, or spin. From Donkey Kong and Princess Daisy to Dry Bones and Goomba, there are plenty of familiar faces to choose from—38, to be exact, 8 more than the previous game in the Mario Tennis franchise.
Like with Fever Rackets, you’ll have to unlock most characters by playing matches or completing various challenges, which gives you a reason to keep playing. The vast majority of the unlockable characters are earned by simply playing matches, though, and I wish there were more variety to the character unlock requirements.
Mixing and matching characters and rackets keeps the gameplay fresh, giving you access to different special abilities and playstyles on the court and challenging you to switch up your own approach when you face a new combination. These variations make the core gameplay loop quite addictive, and I found myself playing for hours without getting bored as I tried out new rackets and characters.
Too much tutorial, not enough Adventure (mode)
Like in other Mario games, Fever has its own Adventure mode for you to play by yourself against AI-controlled opponents in a story-driven campaign. Its plot is actually very simple: Princess Daisy is sick. To cure her, Mario and co. must find a golden apple. They travel to mysterious temple ruins, and while Mario and Luigi recover the fruit, Waluigi and Wario set off to rob the place of its riches. In doing so, they unleash a horde of shadowy monsters that exact their revenge by turning the entire group into babies. Yup. You read that right. Babies.
How will Mario and his friends reverse the curse? By playing tennis… of course!
Okay, maybe it doesn’t make a lick of sense, but this is a Mario spinoff after all. We’re not here for a narrative masterpiece; we’re here to hit some balls with rackets.
And hit balls with rackets, you shall. After being babified, you join the Mushroom Tennis Academy, where you’ll climb the ranks from the Junior Varsity class all the way to Rank A. Eventually, you’ll leave the academy and head back to where the adventure started to defeat the monsters. You’ll unlock rackets on your way and use them to take on bosses in unique fights (all while utilizing the skills you learned at the academy, of course).
Unfortunately, the Mushroom Academy, which really acts as a tutorial for the game’s core mechanics, takes up the majority of the Adventure mode, and it’s quite the slog, especially if you’ve been playing the game for a while. While you’re at the school, you’ll play a few easy mini games in between promotional matches and multiple-choice quizzes, but it’s a rinse-and-repeat formula for a few hours before the campaign finally turns you loose. Though the rest of the Adventure mode is fun and introduces interesting boss matches, it goes quickly compared to your time at the academy.
Mario Tennis Fever really isn’t designed as a campaign mode-first game, though; its heart lies in its Free Play mode and online options. I got to play a couple of ranked matches online, and the process for finding an opponent was seamless (minus the fact that server traffic was low in the days leading up to the game’s release). The connection also held steady the entire time. My only complaint is that I got absolutely stomped, but hey, that’s just a sign I need to get more games in.
No rain delays here
If you ever get tired of the core gameplay loop, you can hop over to one of the other game modes Mario Tennis Fever offers. Yoshi’s Ring Shot has returned, but it’s not the only Special Match you can play. There’s Forest Court, which adds or removes surface area to the court if you aim your shots right, Pinball Match, which fills the court with pinball bouncers, and Rocket Factory Match, which lets you fight with your opponents for randomized Fever Rackets. There are also tournaments, Trial Towers, and Swing Mode, a returning feature where you swing the controller like a racket.
Whichever mode you play, you can expect it all to be against a gorgeous backdrop. The animations and graphics are crisp and colorful, as you would expect from a Mario game. Each character is full of life, and you can tell there was plenty of personality injected into each entrance scene or celebration pose. Not to mention, the replay scenes are epic, showing slow-motion close-ups of a character striking the ball across the net or jumping up into the air as they activate their racket’s ability.
Overall, I had a blast with Mario Tennis Fever—even when I was getting curb-stomped in ranked. Never did I think I’d be addicted to a Mario Tennis game, but here we are. It’s a fun spin on tennis, and the customization options kept each match feeling fresh. Even when I felt like I needed a break from the core gameplay loop, I had another mode to keep me occupied for an ungodly amount of time.
Now excuse me while I go try to redeem my name on the ranked ladder.
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