Mario's Tennis

The Good
The music is simple yet catchy; most of the tunes will get stuck in your head. The different players add a small level of depth to the game, which gives it some replay value and makes each match different, which helps the game from getting too stagnant. Finally, some graphical aspects of the game are neat, such as the different backgrounds. Each player has their own background and while most are nothing but static displays a few are animated, which is a nice touch. Sometimes I’ve found myself spending more time looking at the backgrounds than match itself.

The Bad
The AI seems to go crazy towards the end of some matches, well above the difficulty level it is set at. For nearly the entire match the AI will stay at the difficulty you’ve set it at, but then about ¾ of the way through the AI turns into Pete Sampras. I’ve played plenty matches where I’m up by a large margin only to watch it vanish in a few serves. Also, the overall presentation is a little bland. There’s nothing but empty, black space around the court which is a shame considering the various backgrounds. A few rocks, trees or even weeds would have made it look better. The menus have the same problem as well. I understand that it’s a tennis game but still, they might have been able to add something to the menus to make them a little more interesting. Finally, the collision detection between the racket and the ball seems to be off at times, especially when you attempt an overhead smash. You “feel” that you’re in the right spot for a hit but when you swing the ball seems to sail just over the top or side of the racket. It’s frustrating when you think you have a great shot lined up only to see the ball fly right past your racket. All in all, though, it’s just tennis. For some people that’s just fine but I found that for myself, I can only play one game before I have to set it down.

The Bottom Line
A tennis game with Mario characters.