Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color)

This article is about the game Mario Tennis for the Game Boy Color. For the Nintendo 64 game of the same name, see Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64). For the series as a whole, see Mario Tennis (series).

Mario Tennis
For alternate box art, see the game's gallery.
Developer	Camelot
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Game Boy Color, Virtual Console (3DS), Game Boy - Nintendo Switch Online
Release date	Game Boy Color: November 1, 2000 January 16, 2001 February 2, 2001 February 2, 2001 Virtual Console (3DS): June 26, 2013 December 26, 2013 January 2, 2014 January 2, 2014 Game Boy - Nintendo Switch Online: March 12, 2024 March 12, 2024 March 12, 2024 March 12, 2024 March 12, 2024 March 12, 2024
Language(s)	English (United States) 日本語
Genre	Tennis
Rating(s)	ESRB: - Everyone
Mode(s)	1-2 players
Media	Nintendo Switch: Digital download Game Boy Color: Game Pak Nintendo 3DS: Digital download
Input	Nintendo Switch: Joy-Con Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Game Boy Color: Gamepad Nintendo 3DS: Gamepad

Mario Tennis is a tennis game initially released for 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. The game has seen later releases on Nintendo 3DS as a Virtual Console title and Nintendo Switch through Game Boy - Nintendo Switch Online.

Controls

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 four of them need a Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak to be unlocked and as a result cannot be unlocked on 3DS Virtual Console. The minigames include:

Name	Image	Character Used	Description
Boo Blast		Mario	This minigame sees Mario rallying a ball with Luigi, trying to hit Boos that hover above the net. The score doubles with each hit for a maximum of 128 points per hit.
Shooting Star		Luigi	This game involves playing as Luigi to smash stars. More points are collected for each consecutive hit.
Perfect Shot		Princess Peach
Target Shot		Baby Mario	In this game, Baby Mario must hit the ball into the targeted area. Hitting the appropriate shot will deliver more points.
Banana Bunch		Donkey Kong	Donkey Kong must bounce a ball on a wall with Banana panels on it. The panels give out points based on the amount of Bananas on it.
Fruit Fantasy		Yoshi	Yoshi must aim the ball at various panels of fruit. Different fruit give different points.
Treasure Box		Wario
Medallion Match		Waluigi
Two-on-One		Bowser	Bowser must go up against two opponents, Wario and Waluigi, at the same time.

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. This is not possible in the Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo Switch Online versions of the game, but the Nintendo Switch Online version makes all content that would been unlocked via transfer already unlocked.

Characters

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. 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 Super 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. The Nintendo Switch Online version features the transfer-only characters unlocked by default, which therefore allows the Warehouse Court to be unlocked.

Default characters

Character	Skill Type
Luigi	All-Around
Donkey Kong	Power
Baby Mario	Speed
Allie (new)	Speed
Joy (new)	Technique
Brian (new)	All-Around

Mario Tour members

These characters must be created before they are usable.

Alex		Nina		Harry		Kate
Bonuses:	+1 Stroke +2 Dash	Bonuses:	+1 Placement +1 Reaction	Bonuses:	+1 Top +1 Angle +2 Serve +1 Speed	Bonuses:	+1 Slice +2 Angle +1 Serve +1 Dash
Story Role	Player	Story Role	Player	Story Role	Player's Partner	Story Role	Player's Partner

Unlockable characters

Character	Skill Type	Unlock Condition
Mario	All-Around	Beat in Singles
Peach	Technique	Beat in Doubles
Pam (new)	All-Around	Complete the Singles championship in Junior class
Bob (new)	Power	Complete the Singles championship in Junior class
Beth (new)	Speed	Complete the Singles championship in Junior class
Fay (new)	Power	Complete the Singles championship in Senior class
Curt (new)	Tricky	Complete the Singles championship in Senior class
Mark (new)	All-Around	Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Varsity Squad
Sammi (new)	Technique	Defeat her in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open
Sean (new)	All-Around	Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open
Spike (new)	All-Around	Defeat him in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open
Elden (new)	Speed	Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open
Emily (new)	Speed	Defeat her in Mario Tour by Singles in Island Open
A. Coz (new)	Tricky	Defeat him in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open
B. Coz (new)	Power	Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open

Transferable characters

Character	Skill Type
Yoshi	Speed
Wario	Power
Waluigi	Technique
Bowser	Power

Non-playable characters

Super Mario characters

Daisy's appearance at Peach's side

• 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
• Ball Bot

Courts

Image	Name	Ball Speed	Bounce	Area	Unlock Condition
	Grass Court	Fast	Weak	Island Open	Available Initially
	Hard Court	Normal	Strong	Royal Tennis Academy	Available Initially
	Clay Court	Slow	Weak	Royal Tennis Academy	Available Initially
	Composition Court	Fastest	Normal	Royal Tennis Academy	Available Initially
	Castle Court	Normal	Normal	Peach's Castle	Beat Level 3 of Shooting Star
	Tropics Court	Fastest	Weak	Mario World	Beat Level 3 of Target Shot
	Jungle Court	Fast	Strongest	Mario World	Beat Level 3 of Banana Bunch
	Star Court	Fast	Strong	Mario World	Have everything marked with a star on the Clear Status menu.
	Warehouse Court	Slow	Strong	Mario World	Beat every Mario character in exhibition with a Mario character. This court is not unlockable on Virtual Console since this requires characters transferred from the N64 version with the Transfer Pak.

Reception

Reviews
Release	Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Game Boy Color	Frank Provo, GameSpot	8.2/10	"There is no doubt going to be a minor debate over which of the two games, Mario Tennis or Virtua Tennis, is better. Thanks to quality gameplay and Nintendo's rich stable of character designs, Mario Tennis goes toe-to-toe with Sega's game in every conceivable way. To discuss which is better is a moot point. Nintendo comes at you with familiar faces and more unique modes, while Sega's game counters with real tennis pros and slightly more accurate gameplay. Don't let its happy looks and age-appropriate gameplay fool you. Mario Tennis hits hard and fast."
Nintendo 3DS	Tim Latshaw, Nintendo Life	8/10	"Some may call fault with Mario Tennis's stripped multiplayer functionality and chopped roster, but those who never knew what was possible to be unlocked in the original version might never even realize the possibilities are missing. Mario Tennis still provides an amazingly tight and fun portable experience with a skillful shot system and an engaging RPG-like motif. So what if Mario doesn't register as much? He'll just have to make do with golf, baseball, football, every Olympic sport."
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
GameRankings		90.78%

Staff

Main article: List of Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color) staff

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color).

• 

  Mario

• 

  The Royal Tennis Academy

• 

  A. Coz and B. Coz

Media

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Jungle Court

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Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	マリオテニスGB Mario Tenisu GB	Mario Tennis GB
Chinese (simplified)	马力欧网球 GB Mǎlì'ōu Wǎngqiú GB	Mario Tennis GB
Chinese (traditional)	瑪利歐網球GB Mǎlì'ōu Wǎngqiú GB	Mario Tennis GB