Mario Tennis Fever: Hands-on Preview
Miss the days of Arcade sports titles coming out on a regular basis? Me too, but thankfully, there is a little light at the end of the tunnel. That light comes from, as it so often does, an Italian plumber and his love for sports. Thanks to Nintendo Australia, I was lucky enough to get my hands on Mario’s latest sporting effort, Mario Tennis Fever. It was a fairly hefty preview period, which allowed me to get my hands on the full range of modes that the game offers and I feel like one thing is for sure this time around, there will be plenty to do.
Which is great news because, let’s face it, Mario Tennis Aces was a bit light on in terms of things for players to sink their teeth into. Fever is fixing that straight off the bat with a host of additions and improvements. For starters, the character count has doubled, with a host of new, returning and altered characters (Baby Waluigi, anyone?) making an appearance. It isn’t quite as large as the roster offered by Mario Kart World, but really, it isn’t that far off. There are also five main modes, at least that I got to see. Adventure, Tournaments, Quickplay, Towers and Swing Mode, and during my time, I got to dabble in each of them.
First things first, though, there is a quick and handy tutorial mode that introduces players to the basic mechanics of the game, letting people get straight into the action with friends or family, which is, after all, where these games truly shine. It isn’t a complete tutorial; to get all of the mechanics under your belt, you will need to complete the Adventure mode, Fever’s story component that takes a newly babified (yes, that is a real word, I am sure) Mario and lets players gradually improve his skills until he is once again the Mushroom Kingdom’s version of Rodger Federer.
My time with the adventure mode saw me go through the hoops, compete in mini-games and eventually get on the court for a match. I understand the need to start things slowly, especially as this is an all-ages title, but I feel it is perhaps a little too slow to get rolling here. That said, once things kicked off, I was having fun; it just took a while to get there. As I progressed, I was introduced to the new and advanced mechanics, which make playing this mode a must if you want to master the game. I will be interested to see if it holds up for the entire mode or if it simply becomes repetitive, but at this stage, I am cautiously optimistic.
What was instantly fun was the tennis itself. Jumping into a few singles and doubles matches with some fellow journalists, it became immediately apparent that the gameplay is tight. It is, obviously, more arcadey than something like Top Spin, but don’t let that fool you; there is depth there if you want to look for it. Anyone can pick up a controller and play, but only masters will use lobs, drop shots, power shots and other mechanics to ensure their victory. Speaking of, there is a brand new mechanic called the Fever Raquet. At the start of each match, players get to choose one of these fever racquets, each of which sports a special power to mix up matches. The special abilities include things like a shadow clone player to help you, spreading bananas on the opposition’s side of the court or the ability to send whirlwinds across the court to change ball movement and stun the other player. It is activated in the match by building an in-game meter through making shots, and is simply activated by hitting the Y button. There is a catch, however; if the opposition can hit that special attack on the full, the effect will transfer back to the person who activated it. This led to some cracking rallies at the net where both players were madly trying to hit the ball on the full so they could avoid the consequences. It feels like a fun and balanced inclusion from Nintendo and should make multiplayer matches a blast.
The Tournament mode is exactly what you expect, the same thing that has been in every Mario Tennis game since the Nintendo 64. Pick a player, win the tournament, unlock stuff. It sounds simple, but really, there is a timeless appeal to these sorts of things. As for the Tower mode, it is basically set out like the Towers in Mortal Kombat, believe it or not. Each tower has a series of matches that have special conditions for victory, some purely skill-based, some involving luck, some serious, some silly and some sitting somewhere in between. It should offer a nice challenge to players who want more from the game, but I can’t see it being something that people come back to once they have completed it, even with leaderboards in place.
The final mode is Swing mode, and as the name suggests, it is time to grab those wrist straps because you will be swinging those Joy-Cons all about the place, trying to hit the ball and not fall on your ass while doing it. This is here for party play, pure and simple, and it absolutely gives those Wii Tennis vibes that a lot of people are missing. That said, it certainly felt a bit more advanced than the old Wii, with the game doing a pretty good job of recognising what shot I was playing based on my arm movement. It is hardly 100% on this score, but it, more often than not, could tell if I wanted to lob, slice or drive the ball, which is pretty impressive, especially for something of a side mode.
Mario Tennis Fever is shaping up to be a really solid, possibly fantastic, entry in the Mario Sport Patheon. There have been some smart gameplay improvements, the adventure mode (despite its slow start) looks like it will offer a ton of things for solo players to tackle, and the joy of arcade-style Tennis can’t be denied. I feel like this will be the sort of title that will get brought out at family BBQ’s, parties, and gatherings for years to come, and as far as game design goals go, that is an excellent one to tick off.
Mario Tennis Fever is hitting the Switch 2 on the 12th of February.
