Mario Tennis Fever: Incredible Tennis Buried Under Tedious Filler
Mario Tennis Fever is the latest sports outing from Camelot and Nintendo, built specifically to showcase the power of the Nintendo Switch 2. You’ll be hitting the court with a massive roster of 38 characters, including the debut of Baby Waluigi, as you compete across 14 unlockable locations. Whether you are working through the deep Adventure mode story or jumping into local and online tournaments, it’s all about high-speed rallies and over-the-top special moves.
Specs & HUD |
Gameplay Review |
Performance & Fidelity |
Settings & Controls
Mario Tennis Fever Nintendo Switch 2 Review: Specs & HUD
- Developer: Camelot Software Planning
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: February 12, 2026
- Genre: Sports / Arcade Tennis
- UK Store Link: Official Nintendo Store
- Download Size: 7.3GB
- Save Data: 3 save slots for the adventure story mode.
- Game Modes: Six modes – Adventure, tournament, trial towers, free play, mix it up, and swing mode.
- Courts: Fourteen courts to unlock and play on across the various modes.
- Collectables: Earn stickers in the adventure mode and fill in the sticker book to unlock the next level of opponents.
- Progression: Adventure mode is the single-player story mode where you unlock new characters, earn experience, and level up.
- HUD: On-screen text gives instant feedback with shots and serves as good or OK, plus a medal bar that shows milestones and rewards.
- Achievements: Features its own in-game achievements system.
Gameplay Review & Mechanics Breakdown
The actual playing of tennis is excellent, I just don’t like all the Mario Party-esque additions, it’s me, I know. I do like how lenient the controls are for registering hits; the game is very arcade. You start as Baby Mario in the adventure mode, and then level up and grow up to get better and progress. Adventure mode has a huge hub world, and you can freely run around, interact with people, take on mini games, and challenges. You can and will unlock new players all the time, and it can be as simple as going into a menu for the first time or as tricky as beating a certain character on a certain difficulty.
Rackets are all unique in looks and abilities. You charge them up and unleash a special move. The moves are better than ever, freeze the court, drop fireballs, so many cool game-changing ones. One cool thing is if you manage to return a fever shot (special ability shot) before the ball hits the ground, you transfer the badness to them instead of you. Star Shot can appear on the court, so get in it and press the button to do a one-off special. It is possible in doubles to get taken out or take out an opponent for a short time by getting their stamina bar down. The AI Luigi character in adventure mode (as you play in doubles all the time) is really good and can help a lot.
Trial towers is a floor-based mode where you have three lives to clear ten floors, a local player can join in and help you (they play as a shadow character), and there are three towers to unlock and play – Growth, Resolve, and Trickery. Free play lets you play singles or doubles, and you can set match length, fever rackets, choose the court, change the camera, and balls. Mix it up mode is basically mini games, and they are split into two categories: special and score challenges. Each event will show the total number of players you can have and any special conditions.
Mario Tennis Fever Nintendo Switch 2 Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Visuals: Beautiful graphics that you come to know and love from Nintendo games.
- Cutscenes: The cutscenes in the adventure mode are just stills and text, which you can click through, with some animated in-game sequences.
- Online Support: Online play support for the ranked and room browser.
- Multiplayer: Local play and games are supported, meaning you can play locally with another console with just one copy of the game.
- Replays: Every winning shot will show an optional replay.
- Feedback: I love going back to the main menu after playing, as it will bring up new unlocks and what you did for it, as it does in Super Smash Bros.
Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Control Support: Pro controller support, motion control support (optional), and you can play with a single Joycon.
- Swing Mode: Joycon play only. Settings include hand (left or right), camera (raised or standard), and ball (standard/high speed/slow).
- General Settings: Music, commentary, vibration, and ball speed.
- Amiibo: Full Amiibo support included.
- Stat Tracking: Earn exp for your level, and then stats go up: topspin, slice, flat, lob, and drop. Depending on the mini game or match, depends on what stats go up.
- Upgrades: You get the ability to upgrade your health bar, shot speed, run speed, and agility.
- Tutorials: Opening tutorial where you learn the basics; any mini game or challenge will have a pre-game tutorial for you.
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Mario Tennis Fever Nintendo Switch 2 Review
Summary
GOOD STUFF
The tennis action on the court is excellent, offering a really arcade feel with controls that are nice and lenient for hitting the ball. It looks great, with those beautiful Nintendo graphics popping on the screen, and the menu layout is clean and snappy like Smash Bros. I love the huge hub world in the adventure mode, where you can run about as Baby Mario, levelling up your stats and upgrading things like your health and shot speed. The new Fever Rackets are a blast too; charging them up to drop fireballs or freeze the court adds a massive game-changing layer, and the ability to transfer that special shot “badness” back to your opponent if you time it right is a cool touch. Plus, having 38 characters and 14 courts to unlock keeps the rewards coming thick and fast.
BAD STUFF
It is a real shame that the adventure mode starts off so slow and tedious, forcing you through filler story and world walking between basic mini games that just drag on too far. The camera angles are a letdown and don’t give you much control, and having that annoying fire plant guy constantly giving grating feedback when you miss is enough to do your head in. The adventure mode eventually gets better, but then it throws in those pinpoint precision shots in mini games that feel more like a chore than a match. I also hate the body shots; they feel cheap and always result in an instant point. To top it off, if you accidentally click into swing mode, you’re stuck there unless you use a Joycon, which is a massive pain for such a clean-looking game.
FINAL VERDICT
The core tennis is a total winner, but the tedious adventure mode and cheap body shots make this a rally of mixed emotions.
