Mario Power Tennis

Mario Power Tennis is a sports game for the Nintendo GameCube and a re-release for the Wii as a game in the New Play Control! series. It is the sequel of Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64. In this game, Mario and his various friends and enemies meet up to play a few rounds of tennis. Like previous Mario sports titles, all the playable characters have special Power Shots to make the game more interesting. Additionally, there are courts in the game that have special effects and events during the game. Also, there are special games for each court to play with.

The Game's Opening
The game's opening begins with Mario and Luigi playing a match against Wario and Waluigi. The Mario Bros. win the match and celebrate as Wario and Waluigi complain about their loss. The next day, Wario & Waluigi see a picture of the Mario/Luigi team on the "Peach Dome Tournament" board and are furious to see that their opponents have knocked them out of the running. Wario & Waluigi vandalize the Mario/Luigi team picture, but the Buckethead police catch them in the act and pursue a chase to arrest them. Wario & Waluigi attempt to run for cover and try to hide in what they think is a janitor's closet, but the closet has no floor, and the two fall into a training room. As Wario wonders, "What's this dump?", Bowser approaches them and offers an alliance to get revenge against the Mario Bros. After hours of training and seeing others playing their tennis matches, they carry out their plot to crash the "finals tournament" later that evening at the Peach Dome.

As Mario and Luigi are about to play a match against Yoshi and Donkey Kong during that time, Bowser takes the picture of Yoshi and DK and replaces it with Wario and Waluigi. Bowser shows up behind the picture. Peach, Toadsworth, and all the attendees are baffled as to why Wario, Waluigi, and Bowser invaded the Peach Dome to crash the tournament without warning. But Wario and Waluigi wasted no time catapulting Bob-ombs at the Mario Bros. However, Mario & Luigi reflect the same Bob-Ombs back at them with their tennis rackets. Bowser launches a Bullet Bill from his airship at them, and Mario knocks it back with his racket, causing a giant explosion. This revealed that the airship had an enormous amount of Bob-Ombs, and everyone couldn't believe the painful result to come - especially Peach who noticed the "massive Bob-Omb explosion threat" firsthand.

Bowser's airship starts to descend out of control, and unfortunately has Wario and Waluigi in its crosshairs. Wario and Waluigi try to get out of the way, but to no avail. The airship crashes down and creates the massive explosion with Bowser, Wario, and Waluigi being the "victims", as a result of their Peach Dome invasion attempt completely foiled.

Gameplay
Players participate in a tennis game, just like its precedents in the Mario Tennis series. To win, the player must score points by hitting the ball into the other side of the court and not making the opponent rebound the ball, just like the traditional way of playing tennis. Players earn 15 points for every shot that is successful and can win the game by earning set, game, and match points by earning 60 points on each game. The amount of set and game points can be set by the player in exhibition mode, but not in tournament mode.

Skill Types

 * All Around: A character that is a little bit good in all categories.
 * Speedy: A character that can get to the ball in time, but lacks raw strength.
 * Power: A character that can hit the ball with great force, but lacks speed.
 * Technique: A character that can place the ball on the corners of the net.
 * Tricky: A character that can curve the ball, which can confuse the opponent on where it's going.
 * Defense: A character that can easily hit the ball from any position.

Menu Screen Controls

 * Control stick: The player can use the control stick to scroll through menu items.
 * A: The player can select menu items
 * B: The player can cancel any action he/she took
 * Start/Pause: The player can return to game he/she was playing
 * L: Pressing the button once makes a selected character left-handed. Pressing it again makes the character right-handed.
 * R: Pressing the button once makes a star for the character. Pressing it again removes the star. Stars are only obtained by beating the Star Cup.

Game Controls

 * Control Stick: The player can move around and also aim direction of ball he/she just hit.
 * A: The player executes a topspin shot (if the player hits the button twice, he/she will execute a strong shot). Topspin shots are stronger than slice shots and the ball's trail will be colored red when a topspin shot has been taken.
 * A when ball is on the other side of the court: The player will taunt at the opponent. If the animation finishes, the glow around the opponent's racket will grow smaller.
 * B: The player executes a slice shots (if the player hits the button twice, he/she will execute a strong shot). Slices are weaker than topspin shots and the ball's trail will be colored blue when a slice shot has been taken.
 * A -> B: The player can lob, which can send the ball flying up in the air. It can fly over the opponents heads.
 * B -> A: The player can perform a drop shot which is a very weak shot that goes barely past the net. It is performed to deter players who like to go far away from the net.
 * A + B: The player can perform a flat shot. When the ball is lobbed, a smash point appears and the player can perform a smash shot instead of a flat shot. Flat shots' trails are colored green while smash shots' trails are colored purple.
 * R + A (or X): The player performs a powerful offensive power shot if power shots are turned on and if the player's racket glows to a certain amount of intensity. The power shot depends on the character. The player also must be in a certain distance or he/she will perform a defensive power shot instead. Note that any offensive power shots that occur before this will still have an effect on the player who will use the power shot.
 * R + B (or Y): The player performs a defensive shot, which can cover the ball to great distances if power shots are turned on and if the player's racket glows to a certain intensity. This power shot also depends on the character, but not as much as offensive power shots. Any offensive power shot that has been execute before this will not have any effect on the player if he/she uses the defensive power shot.
 * L: The player can cancel charge shots.
 * L + A or B: The player can jump towards the ball.
 * Z: The player can change the camera view. The options are stationary, player, and dynamic.

Exhibition
Up to four players can participate in this versus mode. The players can choose their characters, a court, and what type of game that they can play. The player can also adjust rules in versus match, such as turning power shots on and off, setting the numbers of games and sets, and choose which character to pair with when playing in doubles. Computer levels can also be set by the player, and they range from easiest to hardest: novice, intermediate, expert, pro, and the unlockable ace difficulty. There are three types of games that the player can play.


 * Standard Court: The player and the opponent participates in a chosen course with no gimmicks of any kind. The only gimmicks present are the bounce intensity, speed of the ball, and the power shots, if turned on.
 * Gimmick Court: The player participates in the same game as in the court, but with gimmicks that can help or hinder the player, unique to each court. The Peach Dome is the only court that cannot have gimmicks of any sort whatsoever.
 * Item Battle: The player can use special items to help him/her win against the opponent. To do so, the player must hit an Item Box with the ball and receive a random item, very much like in the Mario Kart series, except that the item received isn't dependent if the player is losing or not.
 * Green Koopa Shell: 3 shells zoom out in straight lines. If the player gets hit by one, he/she will stumble and lose time, possibly going as far as help the opponent gain a point.
 * Red Koopa Shell: One Red Shell comes out and chases after the opponent. The effect is similar to that of a green shell if contact has been initiated.
 * Mushroom: The Mushroom increases the player's movements for a brief moment of time. It also grows the player back into normal size quicker if he/she had been shrunk by Lightning.
 * Banana: A stationary Banana gets shot out and if it hits the ground, the banana will remain there. Slipping in a banana peel also has the same effect as shells.
 * Star: The Star increases the player's abilities and it makes the player invulnerable for a short period of time. It also grows the player back to normal size quicker, if the player was shrunk by Lightning.
 * Lightning: The Lightning strikes the opponents of the court and shrinks them to a tiny size. The opponents speed, stature, and power will also decrease.

The content and number of the item boxes depends on the court being played on.


 * Peach Dome Courts: None
 * Luigi's Mansion: 10% higher chance of lightning bolts.
 * Delfino Plaza Court: 10%  higher chance of mushrooms.
 * Wario Factory: Twice as much item boxes.
 * Gooper Blooper Court: 10% higher chance of red and green shells.
 * Donkey Kong Jungle Court: 10%  higher chance of bananas.
 * Bowser Castle Court: Same as Bowser Castle Gimmick Court.
 * Mario Classic Court: 10% higher chance of stars.


 * Ring Shot: The player scores points by hitting rings to win the game. The player earns the points in the rings by winning the point in the game, which depends on how many rings the player has shot. The losing player will give half of his/her points to the winning player in charge amount. The amount of ring points needed to win the game ranges from 100, 200, and 500.

Tournament
The player pits against simultaneous matches against computer opponents to win the trophy in a cup. The higher the cup level, the harder the computers will get. The player can also compete in Star Tournaments if he/she completed Star Cup, which is considerably harder than World Open Tournament. The player can also participate in a Gimmick Tournament, which, as the name implies, enables the player to participate in Gimmick matches in courts against the computer.

Special Games
Players have the option to play special games besides going in tournament or exhibition mode. Up to 4 players can participate in the special games, but some games requires one player to play. All courts have specific special games that are unique from one another.


 * Artist on the Court: Players must color a design using paint balls on a wall in order to complete the minigame. In order to progress and achieve harder levels, the player must complete the designs within the time limit. Designs include from easiest to hardest: Mario, Luigi, Diddy Kong, Bowser and Bowser Jr., and a rainbow of Yoshis.
 * Balloon Panic: Players must prevent Klaptraps from puncturing their balloon by hitting balls at panels to make them change direction. The game ends when the Klaptrap puncturing the balloon.
 * Chain Chomp Challenge: Players must feed a hungry chain chomp with balls. Bob-ombs make the Chain Chomp turn red and get two points for every ball, but hitting it with another Bob-omb will let the Chain Chomp out and wastes the player's time by having to activate a switch. Water balls place angry Chain Chomps back into their normal position, but place normal Chain Chomps into sleep. The player can wake the Chain Chomp by smacking a Bob-omb into them. Players can also tamper with another player's progress.
 * Gooper Blooper: Players must rebound hits from a Gooper Blooper in a regular tennis game. However, the player also must avoid rebounding his/her ball into the gray zone that changes constantly throughout the game. Messing up ends the game.
 * Mecha-Bowser Mayhem: Players must face against a Mecha Bowser using beams of light produced by swinging the tennis racket to defeat Mecha Bowser. Mecha Bowser can attack the player by breathing fire and shooting Bullet Bills. The game ends when either the player or Mecha Bowser is defeated.
 * Terror Tennis: The player must prevent ghosts from coming out of the painting and attacking him/her. The player has to earn a certain amount of points before the time runs out in order to proceed to more difficult levels. The player gets more points if he/she hits the ghost that is just about to come out of the painting.
 * Tic-Tac-Glow: The player must get three Shines in a row in order to earn points. The player can do this by hitting balls in the other side of the court, while hitting the FLUDD icons in order to spray goop away from the site.
 * Coin Collectors: The player must earn coins that come along the court while avoiding fireballs. The player can only move left and right, but he/she can hit tennis balls to hit the POW block for more coins or the destruction of the fireballs. The player with the most coins wins the game.

Other Modes

 * Continue: When the player selects this option, the player can resume a previously saved game. The player can save a game during the middle of a match or before a tournament is started. However, any midgame points gained will reset to 0-0. The game can hold up to three continue files.
 * Records: The player can view records on all types of game modes played. If the records are on Exhibition, the player can view what character he/she played and who he/she won against. Note that this only applies to beaten computer players by the player shown in a table. The shape of the win depends on the difficulty of the computer (a triangle means novice, a circle means intermediate, a circle with a dot in the middle means expert, a moon means pro, and a star means ace). If the records are on Tournament, the player can view the trophies won in a singles or doubles match with the character the player chosen. In Special Games, the player can view how long and/or how many points the player achieved. He/She can also view what difficulty the player played on.
 * Options: The player can adjust in game settings, such as setting the sound system to mono, stereo, or surround, turning music on and off, turning rumble on and off, and control options. Control options can be set to easy, normal, and technical, which differs the the controls the players must use. The player can also choose to delete his/her save data, but once it's deleted, it's gone.

Non-Playable Characters
During the game, Toads, Piantas and Nokis are in the audience. During the intro, the crowd contains Piantas, Nokis, Birdos, Ukikis, Goombas, Paragoombas, Bumptys and Lakitus, and notably, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi.

Toad and Toadette are listed on the tournament board, though they are not playable in the game. Toadsworth presides over the tournament alongside Peach, but unlike the Princess, he isn't a participant.

"New Play Control!" Series
For the Wii version of Mario Power Tennis (via the New Play Control! lineup), the controls are not like the Nintendo Gamecube version, since the game makes use of the Wii's motion controls. This version includes a tutorial movie to demonstrate how to use the Wii Remote in this game. It is also possible to play this game in 16:9 widescreen mode. Players can choose to play with the Wii Remote only, or with the Wii Remote/Nunchuck combination for advanced control of playable character participants.

References to other Games

 * Mario Bros.: A stage titled the Mario Classic court is unockable. It features Shellcreepers and Sidesteppers on the sidelines and the gimmick court feaures a POW Block and a Freezie.
 * Super Mario Kart: The item boxes are identical to the ones in the Mario Kart (series). The items are also used in Mario Kart games.
 * Super Mario World: Mecha Koopas and Magikoopas watch on the sidelines of Bowser's Castle Court.
 * Donkey Kong Country: In DK Jungle Court, the theme of this game is played.
 * Luigi's Mansion: The stage Luigi's Mansion Court is from this game. It features Ghosts who slow down players in the Gimmick Court.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: Petey Pirhana appears as a playable character. Two stages, The Delfino Plaza Court and the Gooper Blooper Court, are taken from levels on this game.

References in Later Games

 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: One of the stickers portrays Bowser as he is in Mario Power Tennis.

Bloopers
This is the only Mario game so far that has blooper-reels in the credits. If the player wins the Star Cup or Thunder Cup, the player will see a blooper reel of the first half of the Opening Movie. These bloopers are as follows:
 * When returning the ball, Mario accidentally smacks it against Luigi's nose, to which Mario apologizes.
 * Wario and Waluigi trip and fall to the ground when leaving the tennis court.
 * While defacing the Mario Bros. poster, Waluigi hits the camera with his pencil, taking it down. He then apologizes to the cameraman.
 * One of the Buckethead officers falls down while giving chase to Wario and Waluigi.
 * Wario and Waluigi find the door in which they will hide from the Bucketheads, but it slams shut before they can enter, making them smash face-first against it.
 * In the same scene, they manage to enter through the door; however, Waluigi's leg gets stuck as the door closes. Also, one of the Bucketheads says, Stupid!.
 * When Bowser activates his ball-serving machine, a malfunction sends the balls hurtling against him from somewhere else off-camera. He runs off, frightened, slamming against the cameraman, as Wario and Waluigi, offscreen, laugh their hearts out.

If the player wins the Planet Cup, a second set of bloopers will continue where the last set left off. These bloopers are as follows:
 * When Bowser turns on a switch, it breaks off in his hand. He laughs.
 * In the same scene, the switch electrocutes Bowser, and he faints. Waluigi rushes to aid him, but not before warning Bowser, Don't expect mouth-to-mouth! [resuscitation]
 * Wario is weightlifting, and seems to make a huge effort with the massive weights. Suddenly, his cell phone rings and he picks it up with his left hand, without dropping the barbell in his right hand. It is seen that he was just pretending his effort, as he talks nonchalantly at the phone. Waluigi, displeased, calls the cut by placing his hand on the camera lens.
 * Wario's and Waluigi's Bob-omb launching device gets jammed by a stuck Bob-omb.
 * Bowser's Bullet Bill Cannon explodes in his face when he fires.
 * The Bullet Bill falls just ahead of Mario before he can return it at Bowser's Airship. Mario shrugs at the camera, laughing.
 * When Wario and Waluigi jump down to the court to escape the damaged launching device, Wario falls head-first into the ground, getting stuck in a hole, prompting Waluigi to laugh (even though Wario's falling body nearly missed him).
 * When Bowser, Wario, and Waluigi appear on the big screen behind Mario and Luigi after the threesome's defeat, a Paratroopa goes across the screen and they all start laughing.