Mario Tennis Aces - Nintendo Switch

Mario Tennis is a game that has gone through the paces of many other games that are Mario spinoffs. They started out solid but went downhill during the Wii and Wii U era. Let it be known this is a huge step in the right direction. If you're looking for a solid single-player Mario Tennis experience akin to Power Tennis on the GameCube, you won't find that here. The story is definitely forced in, and the adventure is quite short. Camelot Software has found creative ways to play during the adventure, so the time spent isn't wasted. As for unlockables and customization, that is lacking in this game as well, there could definitely be much more to unlock. If you are buying solely for single player, I cannot recommend Mario Tennis Aces on that alone. However, the multiplayer is where this game truly shines. Gone are the Chance Shots that have you running and pressing whatever button is shown over and over with your opponent. Now there is an energy system that allows you to take advantage of the stars on the court that appear, serve stronger, or use a full-on shot that takes the entire meter and is very difficult to block. This energy can be filled by well-prepared or well-timed shots, so there is a lot of strategy that goes into energy buildup and management. This mechanic could have been a lot worse, but thankfully Camelot pulled it off. As for the core game of tennis, that's here as usual. You can even turn off the energy system if you want. Tournaments are available both offline with computer opponents, and online. Online play has been superb, with the game ensuring good connections whenever you play. I've had a blast playing online through tournaments. Local multiplayer is up to 4 players, and is even more fun than online, if you can gather some friends! One last thing I want to touch on is Swing Mode. This mode is not just Mario Tennis with motion control. It plays entirely different. You can hit the ball out much more often depending on your swing, your swing timing is extremely important, and there are other modes available here as well. Swing Mode can be played with 4 players. However, I found Swing Mode to be fairly inconsistent with the motion control, and I wish that you could customize the matches more. Match customization is not fully featured here at all, and I wish there were more options for private matches. DLC characters will also be added in the months ahead for free, so Nintendo / Camelot has committed to providing content throughout the life of this game, at least for a few months. Overall, I've had a great time with Mario Tennis Aces and expect to for a long time to come, both with local friends and competing online. This is just under Mario Kart for games to get for multiplayer on Switch. Get some friends together and you won't be disappointed. I do wish that the single player component and unlockables were more present however, and for more private match customization. I recommend this to anyone that plans to play this game multiplayer, especially with friends. Thank goodness this is not another Mario Tennis Ultra Smash (Wii U). Good job Nintendo / Camelot. 4 stars.

After the extremely disappointing Mario Tennis Ultra Smash, I was hesitant to purchase Aces. I’m glade I did though. Those of you new to the Mario Tennis series may be wondering what makes it special. Of course, there’s the inclusion of characters from throughout the Mushroom Kingdom. Of course Mario, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Peach make appearances, but the game excels in adding smaller characters to the mix as well. Baddies such as Chain Chomp, Spike, and Blooper are also featured in the game’s roster. Unlike in Mario Kart, where characters are split into weight classes and and all characters in the same class play the same, characters in Mario Tennis Aces are split into 6 playstyles, and each character has their own unique characteristics. New to the Mario Tennis series is the introduction of an energy system. By charging up your shots, you can build up your energy gauge, which in turn can be used to activate special skills. Zone speed slows down everything except your character, giving you time to get to a far-away ball. Zone shots allow you to send powerful, accurate shots lasering into your opponent’s court. Trick shots can be used to quickly move across the court to return a powerful shot. If you’re able to fully charge your energy meter, you can unleash a special shot, which if not blocked with perfect timing, will shatter your opponent’s racket. For the first time since Mario Tenni: Power Tour on the GBA, Aces contains a single player story mode with light RPG elements. The story itself is mediocre at best, but it serves as a great way to hone your skills before jumping into the surprisingly competitive tournament mode. Tournament mode is by far the highlight of Mario Tennis Aces. It pits you against randomly selected online players, and builds a tournament based on single-match elimination. Because the game doesn’t create the entire tournament at once, and instead matches two player in round two together, etc., wait time in between matches is always short.

I was a big fan of the Mario Tennis games on N64 and GBC, especially the RPG elements of the latter. The single-player portion of this game really doesn't compare, functioning mostly as an extended tutorial with very minor RPG elements. That being said, multiplayer is great fun, especially if you're able to get some local doubles matches in. The online tournament modes will likely make or break enjoyment of this game for most people. Standard mode incorporates the energy gauge and trick shots. It wasn't very balanced for the first month after release, as Bowser Jr. could basically return anything at max charge and trick shots were easily spammable recovery moves, resulting in long drawn-out matches. I was ranked in the top 100 for most of this first month before dropping standard mode entirely as I grew tired of it. Nintendo patched the game last week to supposedly address both of the points mentioned above, so now may be the best time to try Standard tournaments. If you enjoy a simulation of regular tennis, Simple mode provides a more even experience (in my opinion at least). However, it is much easier to find a game in Standard, as I've had to wait several minutes before for matchmaking in Simple. Standard definitely has more of an arcade-y/fighting game feel to it, so I wouldn't recommend Simple mode if you don't enjoy tennis by itself. If you're able to try the game out and enjoy the gameplay mechanics for what they are, I think you'll find it worth your time. Nintendo seems to be willing to patch online multiplayer based on player feedback, which is a good sign. Hopefully this support continues after they've finished releasing all the characters.

I've spent about 30 hours with this game and there is a lot to like, but also a lot not to like. The gameplay itself is great and there is a lot of potential in both online and local multiplayer. If you are a fan of the Mario Tennis series, you might want to check this game out. However, the game leaves a lot to be desired. There is almost no customization for any of the characters (only Mario has a changeable costume if you played the demo version). You don't actually play a full game of tennis. Instead you basically play best-of-three-sets. And there is no way to change that. The single-player Adventure Mode can be tricky and annoying to get through, especially if you've never played the Mario Tennis series. And you don't really get anything for completing it. I've played about 100 matches online and it can be very frustrating. Players just max out their energy gauges and perform special shots at will. And trick shots can be super annoying as well. But overall, I've enjoyed the challenge and am hoping that they can fix some of these problems (lack of customization, more robust Adventure Mode that actually gives you something, and a way to nerf the special shots/trick shots) with an update. I gave it 3 stars because I liked the game but don't think it's worth the price tag just yet.

Aces is a fun, yet competetive game, that really does shine when it comes to multiplayer. At it's base, it's tennis, and just like the actual sport, can become very heated due to its competetive nature and learning curve. While tying to remain casual and fun, some of the features added can, at times, feel counterintuitive for what the game strives to be, adding mechanics like special meters, moves, slow mo and meter enhanced shots, the game while trying to be casual at its core and yet openly competetive can be infuriating to newer players, or in cases where players are of different skill levels. A little skill goes a long way, for better or for worse, and in my experience, it becomes a game about momentum. Single player is extremely lacking and multiplayer is while fun much of the same, the recent addition of co-op missions is welcome, however, and the option to play by swinging a joycon, while novel, seems gimmicky, but that is just my opinion. In all, while the game can be enjoyable, I am hesitant to recommend it. If it's a game you can get into, then I'm sure you'll love it, but I'd recommend trying it first before you buy through a friend or store demo, or look to get it on sale.

Tight controls, good mix up with variety of hits, and new mechanics with trick shots and special shots. Definitely adds another level of wit to your games of tennis. Simple matches can be played too without all the tricks and special pizzazz. This game definitely has its fair share of problems. Adventure mode is a bit barren, split screen can't be turned off for local multiplayer matches, and there lacks some flare with costumes or additional cinematic cut scenes. User interface exp is a bit below average with its weird stage select toggling. Hope there will be patches and DLC content in the future to fix all these issues. Online tourney is definitely good in this game. Matches are found pretty quick, but connection can be shotty at times depending on who you match up with. However, if your connection is good, nothing to worry about--otherwise you're back in the queue. Day 1 patch fixed up the lag found in the demo. Also, new ranking system incoming for more balanced match ups. If you're looking for more single player action, better off looking elsewhere, but if you want nice game play and good online multiplayer, Aces is the one.

Mario Tennis Aces, though not without a few design flaws, is easily the best Mario Tennis ever made. The new trick shots, zone shots, and special shots seem gimmicky at first, but they add quite a bit of strategy to the game. Online is a ton of fun, with great matchmaking leaving you playing people of the same skill level frequently in a tournament atmosphere. Single-player is fun, and local multiplayer is often very intense. The biggest downsides come from 2 flaws. The biggest is the flawed netcode. For a game in 2018, it is sad to still have consistent lag in a game like this. Nearly 50% of my games have had varying levels of lag, with about 5-10% being nearly unplayable. The other big flaw is the lack of options when playing local multiplayer. A new update allowed matches of 1-set 6-games, but there is no way to do multi-set matches in local multiplayer. Court selection is also not very intuitive, leaving it in a menu where you have to select what courts you'd like as an option for each match and then letting the system randomly select one of your choices. Both of these items could be patches, so hopefully Nintendo fixes these issues sooner rather than later.

So I won't bore you with the basics. Mario Tennis Aces plays like Mario Tennis. It's well designed and controls how you expect a Nintendo game to control. Perfectly. If you like crazy tennis games with friends, there you go. Now for the meat of the review, the story mode. An upgrade from Power Smash, this game includes an adventure mode. Complete with world map and silly story. It's enough to get you started into this world. You travel through the map challening opponents to games of tennis and playing bonus stages. Unlockables include stronger rackets and your able to level up. Sadly these two features are not to fleshed out, as each racket is just better then the previous, not allowing the need to simply change rackets to fit different playstyles. No reason to go back and use older ones. And level ups increase your movement speed, power of hit, etc. But all these stat increases are auto and don't allow for customization. The first playthrough is fun and all, but I don't see myself wanting to replay through it a second time soon. The meat of the game is definitly in it's multiplayer mode, which is still tons of fun.