The 'Shroom:Issue XXXV/Review Corner

Review Corner

Mario Power Tennis (GCN)
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The game Mario Power Tennis is a sports game featuring a cast of assorted Mario characters, but it’s not as simple as that. It’s actually fairly deep when it comes to gameplay.

The playable characters consist of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Yoshi, Bowser Jr., Koopa Troopa, Boo, and Shy Guy, along with 4 unlockable characters. They are broken into 6 types: All Around, Speedy, Power, Technique, Tricky, and Defense. Each of these characters has their own special Power Shots, both offensive and defensive. These can greatly help against a tough opponent.

All but one of the courts (the Peach Dome) has a gimmick that affects play on the court. For example, the Luigi’s Mansion court has ghosts that slow down the players, while the Mario Classic court has 8-bit enemies from the original Mario Bros. game walking around. These elements help make playing on these courts a varied experience every time.

There is a varied selection of Minigames. One of them involves hitting different colored paint balls onto a picture to color it, another involves feeding Chain Chomps tennis balls, and there is even one requiring you to lob balls back and forth with Gooper Blooper. Each of these belongs to a specific court, that being why there are only so many minigames. Minigames are a nice change of pace if you get bored of playing Tournament mode for hours.

I would recommend Mario Power Tennis to anyone who likes Mario in general; you really don’t need to know anything about tennis to play it. It’s a fun, engaging game, and if it’s your kind of game, you’ll be hooked for a long time. I rate it a 9/10.