Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color)

Mario Tennis, known in Japan as Mario Tennis GB (マリオテニスGB), 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 Virtual Console.

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. The player's partner can be either Harry or 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. Eventually, they can get a high enough rank to 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, the player gets to increase their characters ability in different areas (similar to an RPG).

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
 * Fruit Factory
 * 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.

Characters
All characters have different statistics, making each of them unique. Most characters need to be unlocked by beating them in the Mario Tour. Some Mario characters need to be unlocked by a N64 Transfer Pak. The N64 Transfer Pak characters are not usable in the 3DS version. Below is a full list of all of the characters in the game. The nine Mario characters were taken from the N64 version while six playable characters need to be unlocked.

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

Species members

 * Allie (Speed)
 * Joy (Technique)
 * Brian (All-Around)

Species members

 * Pam (All-Around) (Unlocked by completing Singles in Junior Champ)
 * Bob (Power) (Unlocked by completing Singles in Junior Champ)
 * Beth (Speed) (Unlocked by completing Singles in Junior Champ)
 * Fay (Power) (Unlocked by completing Singles in Senior Champ)
 * Curt (Tricky) (Unlocked by completing Singles in Senior Champ)

Notable members

 * Mark (All-Around) (Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Varsity Squad)
 * Sammi (Techinique) (Defeat her in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open)
 * Sean (All-Around) (Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open)
 * Spike (All-Around) (Defeat him in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open)
 * Elden (Speed) (Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open)
 * Emily (Speed) (Defeat her in Mario Tour by Singles in Island Open)
 * A. Coz (Tricky) (Defeat him in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open)
 * B. Coz (Power) (Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open)

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

Trivia

 * Daisy, Boo, and Toad make supporting appearances at Peach's Castle. They are not playable, however.
 * Yoshi, Bowser, Wario, and Waluigi are unlockable by linking the game up to the N64 version of Mario Tennis using a Transfer Pak. Bowser, Wario, Waluigi, and Luigi are unlockable in the same method in Mario Golf: Advance Tour by linking with Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour.
 * Despite being the title character, Mario can only be played as after completing the Mario Tour. This makes the Game Boy Color version of Mario Tennis the only game in the Mario franchise where Baby Mario is a starting character while Mario is unlockable.
 * This is Waluigi's only appearance in a GB/GBC 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.