Let’s be honest, when we tuned into Nintendo’s digital presentation at E3 in 2015, Mario Tennis wasn’t exactly the game we were hoping for but it’s one of the new titles that we got.
wasn’t exactly the game we were hoping for but it’s one of the new titles that we got. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing when we consider one of the earlier Mario Tennis which released on the Nintendo 64 offered great multiplayer fun and was one of the system’s greatest titles. Over the course of the next 15 years we would see 3 more titles in the Mario Tennis franchise release all offering a fun and unique experience for what it was. Unfortunately with its latest entry, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash on the Wii U, the franchise has run out of steam leaving fans of the franchise wondering “what happened?”
Not even 2 minutes into the start of the game and you can already see something is missing: gone are the cinematics that once opened these type of games, replaced simply by a splash screen with a mediocre track. Beyond the splash screen you’ll land on a dull menu screen offering very little variety in terms of experiences. You can choose from Mega Battle, Mega Ball Rally, Knockout Challenge, Classic Tennis, Online or a rewards page.
Aside the rewards page, the 5 other modes are far too similar from one another. In Mega Battle mode you basically play standard Mario Tennis with the new mega mushrooms added in. There’s Mega Ball Rally in which you just rally a massive ball for as long as you can to rack up coins. Knockout Challenge is a mode in which you take on an infinite amount of opponents until you lose racking up coins and trying to beat your own record of consecutive wins. Finally there’s Classic Tennis which is basically Mega Battle without the mushrooms and online mode which let’s you play either classic or mega battle online.
If you look at this as just a tennis game then sure, the menu selection might be fair, but past Mario Tennis titles had way more to choose from including wacky mini game modes. In Mario Tennis Open you could replay the classic Super Mario Bros. by beating enemies with the tennis ball. In Mario Tennis Power Tour there were several mini-games, albeit not tennis related but still extra content. Even Mario Power Tennis on the Gamecube had tennis based mini-games and bosses! All these games were developed by the same developer, Camelot, and yet there’s no trace of them in the new game. This is a giant step back for the franchise.
What is worth praising however is the gameplay. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash does deliver a solid tennis experience and there’s plenty of depth to how to return your shots to give each match a level of strategy. Hitting the “A” button will perform a topspin shot, while hitting “B” delivers a slice, “Y” a flat shot and if you don’t want to bother with that just hit X and the game will figure out what shot you should use automatically. Aside those three shots you can also lob the ball over the net, perform a drop shot, chance shot or the nearly unstoppable ultra smash.
For those familiar with the series, the chance shot which was introduced on the 3DS version, Mario Tennis Open , makes a return in Ultra Smash. It’s basically a highlight on the floor which suggests which shot to use at that spot. Successfully performing a shot here will add more power and an effect to your shot. For example hitting a topspin with a chance shot will force your opponent back. It’s a great feature for beginners but might feel cheap for veterans. The game can basically be played by running from spot to spot and hitting X and that summarizes what you’ll be doing 95% in the game. The other 5% is spent bouncing around the menus wondering if you can somehow unlock a secret menu with extra content.
The ultra smash is performed when a flashing star highlighted on the ground appears. Double tapping “Y” on this spot will make your character jump up and slam the ball over the net at a high speed making it very hard to knock back. If aimed right you can almost always get a point with this shot.
The added mechanic for this title is the mega mushroom which gets tossed into the court every now and then. Collecting this will grow your character into a giant, increasing your strength, reach and racket size for a limited time or until you get hit by a body shot. It’s about the only special feature to the game to make it feel more “Mario-esque” and it’s a shame there aren’t more to make things more fun as the basic gameplay does get repetitive rather quickly.
Those with amiibo hordes will be happy to see that the game does support amiibo, although in a limited form. Only amiibo which are selectable characters in the game can be used. Tapping an amiibo will let you play against your amiibo, level them up or partner with them in any mode. It’s a nice feature and does work well but again it’s basically the same as playing against the computer so it doesn’t feel too special.
You and your amiibo, or a real friend, can also team up and go online to face off against other players. The online mode doesn’t include a friend list to see if your friends are online or not. You just select the modes and rules you want, much like you would for single player and wait until the server pairs you with another human opponent. It’s a step back from the sort of online multiplayer features we saw in Mario Kart 8 and again another disappointment to add to the list.
The last bastion of hope for extra fun content is the rewards section. Surely players can find some achievements to hunt down and unlock there! Well sure but this section just highlights more how disappointing this game is. There are 25 achievements/unlockables in total. They can be either unlocked through meeting certain challenges or bought with coins and since you can’t buy anything else in the game with coins, you’ll probably be using them here. But even unlocking these rewards won’t do much as half of them only let you add a star next to your character which adds subtle shiny particle effects around them . The other half are mostly new courts to play on.
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash is a wonderful looking game with very little substance. The game is a hollow corpse when held up against the franchise’s history. I just don’t understand how a franchise hitting a console with so many opportunities such as the Wii U could have fallen so hard on its face. For the intents of playing tennis it does do a wonderful job but then why even bother attaching the Mario franchise to it? The game is mediocre at best and unless you’re an avid Mario Tennis fan you’re better off picking up any other Wii U title with Mario in it.
Written by Jason Lepine
Jason’s professional and cool-headed style masks what’s really going on inside. His ridiculous work intensity will drive him to spend 12 hours perfecting a video if need be.
This guy’s probably a notch away from exploding.
Pros: Good Visuals In-Depth Mechanics Online Support Amiibo Support
Cons: Little Content Weak Achievements Repetitive Gameplay Boring Gameplay
Final Score: 6 / 10
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