Review: Mario Tennis Aces (Nintendo Switch)

Mario steps onto the court in classy tennis garb for intense rallies against a variety of characters in full-blown tennis battles.

Pros:

• Crisp graphics.
• 1.9GB Download size.
• Tennis gameplay.
• Opening tutorials for the first few matches.
• Pro controller support.
• Variety of moves- Slices, Lobs, Backhands, Then your Nintendo special moves like slowing down time, Star move and an ultimate move.
• Four modes- Adventure, Tournament (online/offline), Free play and swing mode.
• Swing mode is VS AI or local player. You use the Joycon like a racquet ala Wiimote style. Works really well. has options like change ball size and AI difficulty.
• Your goal in the story mode is to find five power stones.
• Controls- Left/right handed, Invert axis, Gyroscope controls, and set MPH or KMH.
• Four players local multiplayer support on one Switch.
• Adventure- Story mode with a world map level select. You can unlock new courts in here, Do challenges and earn EXP and level up to increase your stats.
• KO-Win by a knockout. When you do a star move or ultimate swing your opponent needs to time their block perfectly otherwise their racket takes damage. Too much damage and it breaks forfeiting the game.
• Replays after each point.
• Game stats breakdown.
• The ultimate move needs to be powered up, You do this by doing rallies in game.
• Challenges in adventure mode are basically mini-games. Do these for rewards.
• You get EXP in adventure mode even if you lose.
• Block- You sometimes get a powerful shot comes your way, Usually a different color, You must time your block or else the racket takes damage.
• Online tournaments- Standard and simple class. Full rankings leaderboard. Playing here will allow you to have early access to new characters.
• 16 Default characters- Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Peach, Daisy, Rosalina, Toad, Toadette, Boo, Bowser Jr, Bowser, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Spike and Chain Chomp.
• Fast loading times.
• Commentary, Mixture of voice and text.
• Tournament AI- Three cups. You have to beat one before you can do the next one.
• Freeplay- Single console 1-4, Local 1-2 and online 1-2 So you can do 2 players playing online against another 2 players. Also, this mode has solo or doubles.
• Easy to pick up and play.
• Cheerful happy game.
• Courses from classic locations like Luigi’s Haunted Mansion and the Jungle form DK.
• Mario quality soundtrack.
• MP has the challenges system. You get 3 and this allows you to review a call on the court.
• Each character falls into a category like fast, Powerful or tricky.
• Characters all have unique ultimate moves complete with a short animation skit.
• Very precise controls.
• Adventure mode sets you up nicely for online play.
• Some courts have interactions or distractions if you will that can obstruct and ruin your game. Honestly, it just makes it better but hey.
• Star moves are very easy to pull off, Just stand in the star icon on the court and press a button. Ultimate move is charge the bar then hit the button!
• Everything is no-nonsense with its speed and clear UI.

Cons:

• The trick shot can be triggered in two ways, The less common way is by pressing a button and a direction twice, Well unknown to you, You pull that combo off quite easily meaning you trigger the ultimate move usually to devastating effect.
• Only one camera angle.
• Cannot change buttons or controls.
• Gets difficult very quickly in adventure mode.
• A lot to take in outside of the basic moves.
• Grinding pops his nasty head up. Needed to increase your stats and thus progress through the game.
• Takes a bit of getting used to how it all plays as its quite loose, Players move when taking a hit.
• Slow paced story cutscenes.
• Cant skip cutscenes.
• Ultimate animation cannot be skipped.
• No way to strip everything out and just p[lay basic tennis without all the “magic”.