Summary
There's no question this is the best Mario Tennis game since the series inception on Virtual Boy in 1995. Aces at the time was the king of the series, but Fever is by far the well-rounded Mario Tennis title, perfect for all players.
Developer – Camelot Software
Publisher – Nintendo
Platforms – Nintendo Switch 2 (Reviewed)
Mario Tennis has made its return once again in the first year of the Switch 2, and it’s no surprise to see the popular sports series receive a new entry. In 2018, the Switch received Mario Tennis Aces, which provided great content at the time. This time around, Mario Tennis Fever aims to be the best game the series has seen in its history.
When it comes to sports games, the main selling point in my vision has always been multiplayer. Normally, single-player gets overlooked and is often viewed as boring. In Mario Tennis Fever, there is a bigger focus on single-player modes, and it’s new Adventure Mode, which is essentially a mini story mode featuring the Baby Mario characters.
The Adventure Mode is indeed short, taking players likely around 3 to 4 hours to complete. The start of it is all about training and learning the mechanics of the game, which is useful. However, it becomes dreadful when you basically know the mechanics if you played other modes prior. It takes up at least a quarter of the story mode.
However, as you go further into Adventure Mode, it becomes a neat little story featuring the baby characters who never see the spotlight in the Mario universe. We also see the additions of Baby Waluigi and Baby Wario, who, unsurprisingly, are the enemies. I also have to give props to the cinematics in the story. They are probably an underrated part of the experience.
Mario Tennis Fever’s other modes include online multiplayer for ranked matches in doubles and singles. This is the mode you’ll likely play the most and where the replayability value comes in the most. The other unique modes include Trial Towers, where you go through various challenges to reach the top of the tower to unlock characters. The others include Free Play, Mix It Up, Swing Mode, Tournaments, and Online Rooms.
Best Mario Tennis Roster
Mario Tennis Fever, without a doubt, offers the best cast of characters to choose from in its series’ history. There are 38 characters to choose from, but there’s a decent amount you will have to unlock and grind for. It includes Dry Bowser, Dry Bones, Kamek, Baby Peach, Boom Boom, Nabbit, and many others. All come with a unique play style, such as Speedy, Technical, All Around, and more.
Lack of Tennis Courts
Something I noticed in this game is the lack of variety in the courts that it has to offer. While there are fantastically designed courts, such as Waluigi’s Pinball and Airship Court, there definitely could have been more thought in adding even more courts to compete on.
Visually Impressive
Mario Tennis Fever is one of the best-looking first-party Switch 2 games thus far, alongside Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. Camelot has blown us away with the art style the game offers, and its smooth gameplay goes along great with it.
Gameplay
Gameplay is great; it’s intense at times online and makes for a good time. The introduction of Fever Rackets, which gives you the ability to put an item on the ground to hurt your opponent, was the perfect fit. The game completely changes when you go from playing solo to duos, making you put trust in your teammate to handle their side of the court.
There are multiple different ways to score in Fever, such as loading up your Fever bar, hitting a star shot, hitting a curve shot, and many other mechanics this game has to offer.
We can’t forget about the Talking Flower. Thankfully, you can disable him from talking in matches because after a while, it can become too much. It’s a neat addition to add commentary to matches, and it’s a great example of the impact that Super Mario Bros. Wonder has had in the Mario universe already.
I never had a frame drop at all during my experience, and the performance has been outstanding. I also have to mention that in TV Mode and in Handheld Mode, the game performs exceptionally well. No matter what character you select, it feels well-balanced, and you feel like you can win with anyone. Ultimately, it comes down to who you like the most and the feeling of the character
Best Mario Tennis Game
There’s no question this is the best Mario Tennis game since the series inception on Virtual Boy in 1995. Aces at the time was the king of the series but Fever is by far the well-rounded Mario Tennis title, perfect for all players.
We hope to see online events such as tournaments because playing ranked may become stale quickly. There’s plenty of replayability here. The price might be intimidating for many people. $70 is becoming the new normal for Switch 2 games, and in my opinion, the content within this game can make up for it, especially if you plan to GameShare or play online a lot.
If I were to point out where the game could improve, one is more online multiplayer options, more stages, and maybe more unique characters. The Adventure Mode was pretty short. That wasn’t the problem. The missions within I felt could have been better, but it’s hard to think what else they could do for this sport.
Now that we have our Mario Tennis for this generation, let’s hope for another sport… maybe Baseball?
