Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color)

Mario Tennis is a tennis game for the Game Boy Color. It is the second direct Mario Tennis game in the series, and the first handheld game in the series. The game features an RPG-like story mode, in which the player controls either Alex or Nina in a quest to become the top tennis player and beat the best player of all, Mario. It was re-released on the 3DS's Virtual Console in Japan on June 26, 2013, in North America on December 26, 2013, and in Europe and Australia on January 2, 2014.

Menu

 * - Select Option
 * - Confirm
 * - Back

Mario Tour overworld

 * - Move/Select
 * - Talk/Confirm
 * - Run/Back
 * / - Menu

Tennis match

 * - Move Character
 * / - Hit the ball in a very weak manner.
 * + - Topspin Shot, a red, powerful, high bouncing shot.
 * + - Slice Shot, a blue, defensive shot with side spin and a low trajectory.
 * + - Smash, the most powerful shot, clad in purple.
 * → - Lob Shot, a high shot that aims for the back of the court with very high bounce.
 * → - Drop Shot, a low, weak shot that barely glazes over the net with little bounce.

Play modes
Mario Tennis has several different modes. The modes are Mario Tour, Exhibition, Linked Play, and Mario Minigames.

Mario Tour (story mode)
In Mario Tour, the player takes control of Alex or Nina. They are the new students trying to make their way up the ranks at the Royal Academy, a school for tennis. At the beginning of the game, the player gets to choose whether they are going to play singles or doubles matches, and can change between either whenever they want. Alex's doubles partner is Harry, and Nina's is Kate.

In Mario Tour, the player's character does exercises with coaches and plays against higher ranked players in order to get a higher rank for him or herself. Higher ranks mean they can challenge better players. As a new student, the player starts in the Junior Class. The goal is to advance to the Senior Class, and then to the Varsity Squad. Eventually, they can earn a spot on the academy's travelling team and enter the Island Open. After the Island Open the player can face Mario in singles on the Castle Court; in doubles, both Mario and Peach.

As the player progresses through the ranks and gains experience, the player gets to increase their characters ability in different areas (similar to an RPG). The four areas that can be improved are Speed, Power, Spin, and Control. Leveling each ability increases a series of related stats, while neglected abilities can have their stats decay.

Exhibition
In this mode, the player plays a single game of tennis. The player may choose what character both they and the computer uses as well as the court and computer's difficulty level. Both singles and doubles are available in Exhibition.

Linked Play
Linked Play is just like Exhibition Mode, except that the player plays against another human player instead of a computer. Linked Play requires two Game Boy Colors, two copies of Mario Tennis for the GBC, and a link cable. This mode was removed from the 3DS Virtual Console release due to multiplayer support being removed.

Mario Minigames
This is a group of minigames presented by various Nintendo characters. Minigames are unlocked when their respective characters are unlocked, meaning that half of them need a Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak to be unlocked. The minigames include:
 * Perfect Shot
 * Treasure Box
 * Medallion Match
 * Two-on-One

Nintendo 64 transfer
With a copy of Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64, a Nintendo 64, a Transfer Pak, and a copy of Mario Tennis for the GBC, it is possible to transfer information between the two versions of the game. Characters from the Game Boy Color game can be transferred to the Nintendo 64 game and vice-versa.

Playable characters
All characters have different statistics, making each of them unique. Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Baby Mario, as well as new characters Allie, Joy, and Brian are available from the start, but most characters need to be unlocked by beating them in the Mario Tour. Some characters need to be unlocked by a N64 Transfer Pak. The N64 Transfer Pak characters are not usable in the 3DS version. In total, there are 29 playable characters available in the game, with all new characters to the Mario Tennis series also making their first appearances in any game. Below is a full list of all of the characters in the game. Notably, Mario can only be played as after completing the Mario Tour, making this the first of the few games in the Mario franchise where he is unlockable. Also, this is the only appearance of Waluigi in a Game Boy Color game.

Characters and courts in this game, along with Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64, can no longer be transferred while playing the Virtual Console release, as the Nintendo 3DS is not compatible with the Nintendo 64/Game Boy Color Transfer Pak.

Mario Tour members
These characters must be created before they are usable.

Mario characters

 * Daisy
 * Boo
 * Toad
 * Bob-omb
 * Great Fairy of Victory
 * Lakitu

N64 status icon cameos

 * Birdo
 * Paratroopa
 * Donkey Kong Jr.
 * Shy Guy
 * Hammer Bro
 * Goomba

Notable members

 * Kevin
 * Frank
 * Ellis
 * Edgar
 * Headmaster