Home > Reviews > Gamecube > #567

Mario Power Tennis Review - Gamecube

Mario is a good sport. He's seen tennis games before, he's played golf, he's been in a massive melee, he can ride go-karts pretty well, and he's even played a bit of baseball in his time! And who knows what he's gotten up to in all those parties he's had over the years, but to us all, regardless of how much exercise he does, he's still the short stocky George Costanza of Nintendo, with a true Italian heritage. Guess what? He's back for another game of tennis, determined to show us that he's better than Hewitt and anybody else that stands in-front of him Even Princess Peach!

Mario Power Tennis will test your skills not only with respect to your game of tennis, but also your keen eye for hidden dangers, and the ability to exploit your favourite Nintendo character's strengths and weaknesses. Sure, you'll be able to beat easy opponents just by running around the court pressing A to return the ball, but if you want to master the game, you're going to have to learn all the shots to keep your opponent on their toes. Power shots are a key part of the game to secure your win in the star cup, especially against the big boys like Donkey Kong and Bowser. All up there are fourteen characters to play around with at first. Of course, just like any game of this type, there are unlockable characters - however all the big guns are already in the game like Wario, Mario and Yoshi.

There's no interface while you're playing, which makes for a nice enjoyable experience on court. On the more realistic looking courts, you'll get a speedometer which will check the speed of your serve, as well as a scoreboard, however it's often hard to check them as you're constantly watching the ball to make sure you win! There are three different camera angles to choose from. Two of them are identical only they are at either side of the court, and the other one is a zoomed in camera that's more over-head.

From the menu, you can choose between three different modes: Exhibition, Championship, and Special. Exhibition will put you into a game with whomever you choose, at whatever location, and you can decide basically everything. You're in charge of the difficulty, and you can set how many sets you want to play. Your championship tournament mode will take you on a similar path to the Mario Kart games, where you'll face the Mushroom, Flower and Star cups, and of course as you progress each cup will get harder. The Mushroom and Flower cups are a walk in the park as you could expect, but Star is where the challenge starts to get intense. All of a sudden Waluigi's power move doesn't seem so funny. Still if you're an avid tennis player and good on the (continued next page)