This title probably sounds familiar if you're familiar with tennis itself, and this is a review about a tennis game!

Tennis is a sport that I used to play when I was younger and I sometimes watch it on tv, but I had never tried a tennis game (unless you count Wii Sports) so I was wondering how this simple GBC game would be, especially since Nintendo had worked on it with Camelot. And I was surprised that it was so impressive for a GBC game, so impressive in fact that I thought 'well, I know now which game my next review will be about!'


Story: 4

Although the game has many good parts, the story is simple and doesn't make much sense. Most Mario games have the 'rescue Peach from Bowser' story but this is a tennis game so that would be unrealistic. Instead, you're some kid, either a boy or a girl who's about 8-10 years old and you go to a tennis academy, to get stronger and become the champion of the school... that's all. Oh wait, and you get a partner to play doubles with you who is around 18-19 years old because the male partner has a buff body and a beard and the female partner is longer than the female starter and has a more feminine body shape already. You enter the Junior Class, and once you beat 4 opponents in a singles team or 6 opponents in a doubles team you move up to the Senior Class, do the same there and then you have to do the same as well in the Varsity Class. But wait, what if you manage to beat all the members in the Varsity Class? Well, you get to play against the best players in the world!

Q : So that means I get to play against Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal for example?
A: No, keep in mind this game was made in 2001.
Q : Alright, so I'm up against Pete Sampras or Lleyton Hewitt maybe?
A: No silly, you're up against Mario and princess Peach of course!
Q : What the heck?!

Well, that explains the 'Mario' in Mario Tennis, but how is Mario suddenly the best player in the world for Singles and Doubles and Peach for doubles? This big plot hole is never explained and that's a big downpoint for me, I hoped there would at least be an explanation.

Even though this game has a weird story it's better than no story, but it would've been better if some things made more sense, that's all.


Graphics: 10

Some of the later GBC games that were made really could rival some of the graphics and animations of early GBA games, and Mario Tennis is one of them. The academy, courts and people have bright vibrant colours and the are diverse, and persons with the same gender and build have unique animations for when they get a point or when you get a point, not to mention that they have a close-up sprite for when the match is over. The Mario characters look very good on the court as well, and they are recognizable outside the matches as well.

On the court you get to see the best animations. The courts look really crisp and look like they have depth, which is not easy to show on a gameboy game. When you hit the ball in a certain way a blue, orange or purple aura glows around the ball and it's not something bad to look at.

The intro of the game looks pretty good as well, showing characters from the game up close, a ball being thrown up and the sun on the background are both visible, Mario is there with a determined look in his eyes and once you reach the title screen, the word 'start' will look like some kind of fluorescent bug crawls under it from the left to the right, making the word pop out. Overall, the graphics are really impressive.

Sound: 9

Because the game is mainly developed by Camelot, a lot of music won't sound like Mario music, which is good in my opinion considering most Mario music sets the atmosphere for places and battles right but sport events would need other music. The overworld music is pretty catchy and makes the academy sound like a more relaxed place, like every day is sunny and the night never falls. There are some sounds that sound alright, when you talk with characters, hitting balls during the matches, choosing between options and so on. They are minimal but they are nice to hear, and depending on how and how hard you hit a ball the sound changes as well. A lob and a serve sound different, and a charged shot has a louder sound than a normal shot of course. 

So does that mean you won't hear any Mario themes at all? Ho ho, don't worry, there are some Mario themes, otherwise this game couldn't be called Mario Tennis! Some courts and places in the game have Mario music. You will hear Peach's Castle as an overworld and court theme, there is a tropics court with a yoshi egg on the ground and a Yoshi's Story theme, a Jungle Court that can be unlocked after playing a certain minigame with Donkey Kong and at both courts you will hear a remix of the Donkey Kong intro theme from Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong the arcade game, Mario has a minigame with a remix of the well known Super Mario Bros theme, and there's even a Bowser theme for Bowser his own minigame!

Still, the last one I mentioned can only be obtained when you have the game on an original GBC system and can connect with the N64 version of the game, but the other themes can be heard from the beginning or can be unlocked!

I myself really like the Game/Break Point theme, it really gets you motivated and sounds like this could turn the whole game upside down. It's really catchy and can also be heard in the N64 version of this game and the 3DS Mario Tennis game.


Addictiveness: 7

I initially thought I would get totally hooked on the game but I actually didn't. Parts of the game that were really addictive for me are the minigames which aren't too hard but on the same side it's hard to get the highscore you need to get the next level. From the beginning of the game, Luigi, Baby Mario and Donkey Kong have their own minigames with just two levels, and if you beat both of these a third level opens up. If you get a score of more than 60 you open extra courts to play practice matches! And when you beat Mario and Peach in the storymode they get their own minigames as well. 

Something else I really like is that you can play practice matches with the Mario characters all the time, which is also the only way to play on those unlockable courts. The Mario characters aren't the same in terms of skills as well, Baby Mario for example is really fast while Donkey Kong is very powerful, and Luigi is your typical allround human. This really makes you feel like you're playing with different people instead of the same person over and over again.

The storymode however isn't that addictive. All you can do is play matches to get better and to rise in rankings, playing minigames to get more experience points or just talking to people. At first it sounds like fun, but since most matches and training minigames take a lot of time, doesn't this make the storymode as addictive as the minigames or practice matches, which you can play in under ten minutes, while everything in the storymode takes longer than that.


Depth: 9

For a GBC game this game is surprisingly deep. Like I mentioned, you have Mario minigames, training minigames, there's a whole overworld with people to talk to, single and double matches, practice matches and if you ever get confused about terms you can always look at a tennis dictionary! It can be said that there is a lot to do.

On the other side, most of the depth comes from the time you spend playing matches. Most matches take between 15-20 minutes to compete and when you completely want to clear the storymode you will be playing more than 20 matches already, so you can guess where all the time you spent playing the game goes to. The game will take a long time to complete that way, so you need to have free time and patience to complete it. 

Still, if you're looking for a game you can spend a lot of time playing, then this game is definitely worth mentioning, and your knowledge of tennis can increase (it did at least for me) and maybe you will like the sport more after playing this game!


Difficulty: 8

I find it hard to say if I find this game difficult. When it comes to practice matches and singles matches that can be played in the storymode, I can definitely notice they get a lot harder every time. Doubles matches and some minigames on the other side give me the feeling like they barely get any harder at all, or they even get easier! But that's probably because you get experience points during the game, which you can use to make you and your partner strong in terms of speed, control, power, technique et cetera. And the doubles matches are probably easier because your partner saves your butt the whole time by almost making himself break some bones to just hit a difficult ball. 

That doesn't mean this game is hard at all, I really have trouble beating the singles opponents, and I spent a good two hours to complete level 3 of Donkey Kong his minigame because that ape is so darn slow, and I've spent countless hours on minigames just to get a few experience points needed to beat those singles opponents. Seriously though, the singles matches are really difficult, even when you've played tennis games before or tennis in real life. I have serious respect for everybody who has unlocked Mario in this game. 


Well, that wraps up my main sections, so now for pros and cons!
+Pros                                                                                                                           -Cons
* Great music and graphics                                                                                    * Matches can get boring after a while
* Practice matches and most minigames are awesome                                   * Singles and doubles greatly differ in difficulty
* Tennis dictionary and people who give you tips                                             * Experience points system is hard to understand  
* Easy to learn, hard to master                                                                              * Lots of great content can only be unlocked by connecting with                                                                                                                                        the N64 version of the game


And that's it for this review, I had a blast writing this and I'm still not done playing this game at the moment, there's lots I still want to do. 
Thanks for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed it and if you have questions, feedback, opinions or anything else you want/need to share/mention/tell then go ahead and do so! This was juuldude with his latest Mario Tennis review, juuldude out!

It's time for the summoning!

Zlinqx : Fellow reviewer, I missed your summon for me in your latest review! But don't worry, sinc you're on my friends list I see the review anyways
Boxia :
sonicthehedgehog57 :
A user of this :
imamonster :
greenluigi :
TornadoMudkip :
Sword legion :
gamerforlifeforever2 :
Laian :
DylanMcKaig :
ghostfishy :
Gamin'Gal :
supernerd117 :
Barathemos :
kramer4077 :
TheReaper7290 :
latias900 :
MysteryMan007 :
rebelyell :
F. Starr :
Singelli :
Bintsy :
janus :

juuldude : Not a big fan of the series of Mario Tennis, but that's a good review, my friend! I started to play Tennis two years ago, and still am! So, I enter a Tennis Academy to become the very best, huh? Well, I would rate this a 5... for a Mario game, lol.

Anyway, nice job!

I'm just going to be completely honest with you, I didn't like this review all that much. Why? Mainly cause I'm bias with this game. I freaking LOVE this game, it is one of the greatest games I have ever played, and I love the story so much. For you to be bashing the story like that, I understand you get your own opinions and all, but it makes me think that you didn't read all of the story, or these kinds of games just aren't really for you. 

Other than that, the review was well written and you really did give a lot of information about what you thought and everything, just you confused me while I was reading it, as my opinions aren't the same as yours. And I also normally read a more straight forward kind of review (ya know, in order of the format it suggests) and you put them in different orders, which was new and fairly interesting. 

And for me, the doubles matches got hard when they introduced power shots. Those are really hard to block and hard to do yourself correctly. 

But good review, it was just my opinions that made this kind of hard to read, I was going against what you said as I read it  

Oh well  

As far as the story category goes, I completely agree with what Barathemos said. I almost stopped reading the review once I saw that score. However, I think you did a great job with the graphics and sound categories. I also really like the Game/Break point theme and also the tiebreak theme. Those 2 are great examples of how great a soundtrack for a sports game can really be.

This was a fantastic review. I love how you divided it up and gave loads of detail for each section. I also like how you put in that dialogue with Q :/

I've never played Mario Tennis, actually, but for a tennis buff such as myself and looking at this review, maybe I ought to pick it up....

greenluigi : Well, that also depends on if you like tennis or not And hey, it's not that bad!

Barathemos : To be honest, I don't know the full story as I have to complete the game yet, plus I couldn't find the full story online. So if there's something missing then you may say so, as I can always change it in my review.

Well, where did your opinion differ? I have to see the powershots yet but I'm curious how they will affect the game. And yeah, I always put the story first since I think that's an important part to read first.

gamerforlifeforever2 : *Gulp* I start to get the feeling now I messed up big time there  
Sorry for both of you, but this is my current opinion on it. And hey, cool you like those themes as well!

Boxia : Yeah well it was something that puzzled me from the very beginning, so I wanted to do that.
It's worth trying, I'm not sure if you will like it but it's fun.

juuldude : I wouldn't worry about it too much. Everyone has their own views on certain aspects of games. Like I said, I enjoyed the rest of the review (especially the graphics and sound parts) and I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into making this review.

juuldude : I initially thought you were gonna talk about Wimbledon at first since it has just started but Mario Tennis is good. Honestly I am not a fan of the story either and I have beaten the game. Maybe I missed something but the story never did anything for me. It was to me very basic and simple. The graphics are very bright and colourful and pleasing to look at especially the Mario sprites (I don't know what to call them but I think you know what I mean). I can't remember the music very well as it has been ages since I have played this game. The gameplay was sooo addicting to me. I couldn't get off it till I finished it completely which was annoying as it wasted a good chunk of my weekend. (this was back 3 years ago when I first played it) so that is probably why I didn't realize how long the game actually is and just passed it as a short game. The game can be very difficult on singles but doubles to me wasn't a challenge and only got beat twice and I wouldn't say I am that good at the game. For singles however I did lose quite a few times (Mario demolished me a lot. I reckon it was probably 50 plus times to my lousy 1 win which to me is good enough). I liked this review and I would recommend playing the sequel Mario Tennis Power Tour (it is a direct sequel to this game in terms of story) Must get back to watching Muarry playing against Kukushkin.

Very well done, Juul!

I've always been  semi-fan of Mario Tennis. It's a fun game in short busts. But I always liked playing around with them every now and then. The story is a bit weird, especially for Mario. I much prefer Power Tennis' story of Wario and Waluigi trying to sabotage the whole thing.

But great job dude! I liked the review a lot. Keep up the good work!

Great job my friend. I never really liked tennis for Any game console but your review was great.

gamerforlifeforever2 : Thanks, and yeah, there are always some reviews that are the complete opposite of your opinion.

DylanMcKaig : Well, I now and then watch Wimbledon, and my dad watches all the matches. It's cool to see your opinions are pretty much the same as with me. And I've tried the sequel but I didn't like it as much, but maybe I should give it another try. I didn't see an option to play with Mario characters so that disappointed me.

A user of this : Haha, I've seen the intro of that game and it was really funny It's cool to play now and then yeah.

rebelyell : That's okay, everybody likes different stuff. Thank you

I've never been into the Mario Tennis series. Not a fan of tennis games, nor sports games actually. I could try it, just for five minutes but that's pretty much it. Anyhoo, nice review, juul

Omg this game, it's so amazing. Though it  made me rage quit like a million times when I was 6, haha.

And as for the review, I know I always say the same thing, but there is literally nothing else I can say about, them, they're pretty much perfect and I definitely loved reading it.


So keep it up, mate.

EDIT: Just wanted to mention, Q gets so many summons.

This is a pretty decent review! Lots of details, excellent structure and even a touch of humor. I also like your comparisons to other games, which always enhances a review in my opinion

Laian : So, did you try it? I'm not much of a sports game type as well, I rather do sports in real life.

imamonster : Haha, was this one of the first games you've ever played? And thank you!
Yeah, I noticed that after I posted it. Well, Q didn't get mad at me so far

janus : Thank you! Yeah, it is hard to give a good opinion but when you can compare to other games it can be easier to explain aspects of the game.

juuldude :
Not yet. Since I played Track'n'Field, my fingers and my hands don't want to play sport games anymore (exception to Inazuma Eleven, of course. It's a mix of soccer with spectacular techniques and RPG) but five minutes won't hurt, right?

juuldude : Actually, I started playing games at age 2 or 3 (Yes, I know very early.) So it actually wasn't. But I still have great memories of it!

Amazing review! You were very descriptive and you knew how to keep me reading! You really made it so that I could understand the points you were trying to make to the point where it felt like I wrote the review from my own perspective. You really know how to relate to the audience! I can't wait to hear what you have to say about other games!