Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64 was one of the first games I ever played. Certainly, it was the first Nintendo 64 game I played. My Nintendo 64 came with two games, Mario Kart 64, which I shared with my friends, and Mario Tennis, a game I played almost constantly. As a child, I found it nearly impossible to beat the Star Cup, my save file on the semi-final lingering as a reminder of my utter defeat. Against better players, I ended up becoming quite decent at the game.
I never played Mario Power Tennis. Even to this day, I've only played a handful of games with friends who own a GameCube. I played the campaign of the GBA's Power Tour to completion, and saw it as the only worthy successor to the magic of the original, my non-experience with Power Tennis withstanding. Mario Tennis Open for the 3DS caught a little of the glimmer with the customization of your Mii, and Ultra Smash for the Wii U was possibly the most disappointing game I've ever played outside of Mario Party 10. It's probably a tie.
So, after this long-winded anecdote about my experience with the games, or non-experience, in the case of the Game Boy Color and Gamecube games, what does this mean about Aces? Should I play the bloody game? Is it a worthy successor to one of my earliest, nostalgia-driven gameplay experiences?
That's for you to decide. I'm going to offer you a metaphor; Would you rather an experience that is 9/10, but is short and lacking in variety, or a solid 7/10, with great variety and replayability? Mario Tennis Aces is brand new, and as a result, I'm really happy with it. The gameplay is superb, the new mechanics are stellar, I can't recommend enough that you play some Mario Tennis Aces, because that will inform a purchase that you make. But... But. *sigh*
I hate saying this. I hate it, because Mario Tennis Aces is a game that continues to be a great consumer of my time. My go-to Switch game for the present moment. And yet the flaws are so astoundingly baffling that I can't wrap my head around them. Chief among them: You can't play a 6 game set, in any mode that I have experienced thus far. The actual game of tennis is... absent. You cannot choose a multi-set match, you must do either a tiebreaker or a 2 game, single set match. It's not that multiple sets aren't in the game, they are, in the offline tournament mode. But online, you are bound to a two-game structure. The art of learning your opponent is missing in Mario Tennis Aces. The AI is split between "can't hit a ball" and "fuck you, die" no matter what you do, so games in offline tournament aren't particularly fun. The court variety is minimal at best. The game is thinner than "soup" that consists of a bowl of salt water with a teaspoon of noodles. It's like eating the best thing you've eaten of its kind, a true moment, a fantastic breath of culinary perfection... in the form of a single bite. I'm expected to pay $60 for this? A game that has 5 hours of content, then an online mode?
It's probably going to sound rash of me to say this... Even though every experience I've had with this game is great, I can't personally recommend it to anyone but die hard fans of Mario Tennis. The game is excellent, through and through, but it's like a gold-covered truffle. It is excellent at every stage, but is expensive and short, with no lasting contribution. You need to play this game at least once, and if Nintendo pulls a Splatoon and adds new features to it, it's a no-brainer purchase.
But for now... Don't buy this game. Don't waste your hard-earned money on it. It's Ultra Smash with different gimmicks (that are great gimmicks!) and a weak, paint-by-numbers adventure mode that is just a series of matches with catches that don't alter the experience outside of the most shallow conceptual ways.
8/10 - Not worth $60, though.
I never played Mario Power Tennis. Even to this day, I've only played a handful of games with friends who own a GameCube. I played the campaign of the GBA's Power Tour to completion, and saw it as the only worthy successor to the magic of the original, my non-experience with Power Tennis withstanding. Mario Tennis Open for the 3DS caught a little of the glimmer with the customization of your Mii, and Ultra Smash for the Wii U was possibly the most disappointing game I've ever played outside of Mario Party 10. It's probably a tie.
So, after this long-winded anecdote about my experience with the games, or non-experience, in the case of the Game Boy Color and Gamecube games, what does this mean about Aces? Should I play the bloody game? Is it a worthy successor to one of my earliest, nostalgia-driven gameplay experiences?
That's for you to decide. I'm going to offer you a metaphor; Would you rather an experience that is 9/10, but is short and lacking in variety, or a solid 7/10, with great variety and replayability? Mario Tennis Aces is brand new, and as a result, I'm really happy with it. The gameplay is superb, the new mechanics are stellar, I can't recommend enough that you play some Mario Tennis Aces, because that will inform a purchase that you make. But... But. *sigh*
I hate saying this. I hate it, because Mario Tennis Aces is a game that continues to be a great consumer of my time. My go-to Switch game for the present moment. And yet the flaws are so astoundingly baffling that I can't wrap my head around them. Chief among them: You can't play a 6 game set, in any mode that I have experienced thus far. The actual game of tennis is... absent. You cannot choose a multi-set match, you must do either a tiebreaker or a 2 game, single set match. It's not that multiple sets aren't in the game, they are, in the offline tournament mode. But online, you are bound to a two-game structure. The art of learning your opponent is missing in Mario Tennis Aces. The AI is split between "can't hit a ball" and "fuck you, die" no matter what you do, so games in offline tournament aren't particularly fun. The court variety is minimal at best. The game is thinner than "soup" that consists of a bowl of salt water with a teaspoon of noodles. It's like eating the best thing you've eaten of its kind, a true moment, a fantastic breath of culinary perfection... in the form of a single bite. I'm expected to pay $60 for this? A game that has 5 hours of content, then an online mode?
It's probably going to sound rash of me to say this... Even though every experience I've had with this game is great, I can't personally recommend it to anyone but die hard fans of Mario Tennis. The game is excellent, through and through, but it's like a gold-covered truffle. It is excellent at every stage, but is expensive and short, with no lasting contribution. You need to play this game at least once, and if Nintendo pulls a Splatoon and adds new features to it, it's a no-brainer purchase.
But for now... Don't buy this game. Don't waste your hard-earned money on it. It's Ultra Smash with different gimmicks (that are great gimmicks!) and a weak, paint-by-numbers adventure mode that is just a series of matches with catches that don't alter the experience outside of the most shallow conceptual ways.
8/10 - Not worth $60, though.
