Overall 8.6 Graphics 8.1 Sound 8.1 Addictive 8 Story 7.5 Depth 7.2 Difficulty 7.3
9.3
Tennis and RPG fans rejoice! gamerforlifefor..
Mario Tennis for the GBC is one of the most unique and innovative games in the series. Why is that you ask? Well for one thing this game has a storyline. A lot of the other games in the series don't have a story. The story starts off with your character entering the Academy which is a tennis school he or she gets a grand tour and eventually meets his or her doubles partner with your goal being to move up the ranks from the junior class to the senior class and finally the varsity class in hopes of going to the Island Open tournament in both singles and doubles. The story is pretty basic but the only other game in the series that actually has a story is Mario Tennis: Power Tour. For that reason I give the story a 7.
Another thing that makes this game so unique is the RPG elements that the game has such as leveling up. When you or your partner levels up you have the choice of improving one of their following stats: Power which improves serve, stroke, and volley; Spin which improves topspin and slice; Control which improves angle and placement; or Speed which improves speed (duh), dash, reaction, and stop. These options give the game a huge amount of replay value if you want to try out many different combinations. Even if you don't want to change your leveling up strategy the game still has big replay value and for that reason I give Addictiveness a 10.
The graphics are very good for a Gameboy Color game so I give them a 9. Also the soundtrack is very memorable and gives me that warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia every time I hear it. For that reason I give the sound a 10.
As far as gameplay goes the game starts out very easy but as you move up in the rankings it gradually gets harder and eventually some of the matches can take forever due to how difficult they are especially in doubles because your partner can make lots of really stupid decisions which makes it that much harder. I give the difficulty overall a 7 singles isn't too bad but doubles can be very challenging.
As far as depth goes for a gameboy color game while it's not the longest game out there it's most definitely not one of the shortest either. Also the minigames can take awhile to master and the training area has plenty of stuff to do in it and that can take awhile. For those reasons I give depth an 8.
Mario Tennis GBC should be played not only by Mario and tennis fans, but it should also be played by RPG fans as well. Story mode is something that should be brought back in future Mario Tennis games because it make the game much more likeable and fun. This game truly is one of the best games available on the gameboy color due to how unique and innovative it is. Please try it out. I give the overall score a 9.3 out of 10.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 8 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 08-23-14
Review Replies: 0
8.8
Mario Tennis Marcmoney
Overall - 8.8
Mario Tennis, a tennis playing game that includes Mario and friends. It is the very first video game that came out in Mario Tennis series. From the start, I played this and I had no idea what to do. I could not understand it, probably because of the way the sound was and the graphics. :S When I saw how the story went, it was the first time I have ever seen in Mario Tennis series that it was like an adventure game.
Graphics - 6
The graphics, like I said, were very confusing. I expected a regular tennis game, but it turned out to be a story mode tennis game where you walk around. It is not good looking, but it was a Game Boy Color game so that is part of the reason.
Sound - 6
The sound is okay. I just hoped that it would have some Mario themes in the game but it does not. It is still okay, but it is what you would not expect to hear in the game.
Addictiveness - 6
Playing this game was sort of okay. I would not say that I would play it constantly, but some of the time in a while. It is very fun if you have played it before, but I did not know what to do in this game so I just stop for a while.
Story - 9
The story was kind of like someone going to a tennis college and they participate in a tournament or something with their roommate that has to be their partner. I do not know the exact story of this, it is hard for me to explain cause I ignored everything that they were saying in the game.
Depth - 8
The game has some features. Like I said, it is an adventure game so it could take a while to beat and you can go around versing people. Pretty much it and the rest you can walk around and get to know the game more often.
Difficulty - 7
The game is quite hard. I am not used to the controls on a Game Boy Color, but I was not used to it at all. :P I could not find a match cause I am so stupid in this game, so I do not know how hard the players are in this game.
Wrap Things Up...
Playing this was pretty good, but never had a battle with anyone lol. :LOL: I loved the others out of this, except for the adventure part. This game is pretty fun, but probably not for me cause I might think it is boring, but it maybe fun if I did tried figuring out what I was stuck on. x_x Mario Tennis came out to be a great game with Mario Tennis 64 and Mario Power Tennis. These games were very fun and this game is fun too (hopefully). :) I recommend trying this game out, I would say its a 50/50 chance of liking it or not. Mario Tennis is very good and very fun to play with friends and family!!! :)
Graphics 6 Sound 6 Addictive 5 Story 9 Depth 8 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 05-12-11
Updated: 09-16-11
Review Replies: 2
9.5
Favorite gameboy color game ever. Juggahooves
This game was one that I got on a whim as a child and was my favorite for the gbc ever since.
The fact that it said MARIOTENNIS on the front told me that you'd play as Mario or one of the characters there of, but only on the vs. Mode and at the end does any of these characters come into play. instead you start as a newbie kid at a prestigious tennis academy with dreams of someday making the tippy top of the charts. You name your character and then go on the grand tour and meet the staff. Then you meet your room mate, tennis partner, and friend.
the graphics for this game were give and take, but the fact that you free roamed the whole academy and could move further out than the court it's self went was cool as well as navigating the whole court and changing sides. They pretty much incorporated the whole rule book for a real game of tennis into this game.
you have rivals and people who want to make it even harder for you. You have challenges such as target shot where you have to aim at a small area about 1/16 of the court's size, ball return where you return a number of balls from 15 to about 90 without missing one or hitting the net or shooting it out, wall ball, serve matches, etc.
when you've become this great tennis player you get shipped out for the ultimate tital match against the all reigning champion (or champions if you chose to play doubles) Mario and/or Peach. Both of which are the biggest characters in the game.
my favorite thing about this whole game though has to be the avatar strength. I love games with this feature and the fact that you leveled up after every, if not every other match, made you feel like you accomplished something besides just making some girl cry. (opponent 3 of the game) and you got to upgrade to an extent, your stats to make yourself a better tennis master.
Graphics 8 Sound 7 Story 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3.8/5
Submitted: 09-11-12
Review Replies: 1
9.2
So Much Fun Margann
I have been coming back to this game each and every day since I started playing it in the Retro Game Room. I do not know what it is about Mario Tennis but it is very relaxing and quite enjoyable. The graphics are very good and sharp for a GBC game. The sound is a bit loud but that's okay. It can get difficult if you do not know what you're doing but, once you get the hang of it, it is really fun!
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Depth 6 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.7/5
Submitted: 06-26-13
Review Replies: 3
7
Mario Tennis (GBC) Popeye116
Mario Tennis. This game used to be my favorite childhood game (techically i still AM in my childhood, but whatever XD) I used to play this all the time. I lost it one day, and I was devastated. When i found i could play it on this site, I was so happy. Anyway, time for my review.
Graphics: 5
Honestly, these graphics aren't very good. Some of the faces even don't look like faces! They really could've done more work on the graphics. I know it's a game boy color game, but compare this to pokemon gold or pokemon red, or toy story 2, and you'll see where i'm coming from. I would give the graphics a 4 1/2, but i can't, so i'm giving it a 5
Sound: 7
I suppose the sound on this game is good. It's pretty much just like any other game boy color game's sound. The music is pretty catchy, though. I give the sound a 7.
Addictiveness: 8
This game can get pretty addicting. Playing tennis on this game is REALLY fun :). Also, there's a singles and a doubles option, so once you beat one, you want to do another. I give this game's addictiveness an 9.
Story: 7
This game's story is pretty good. surprisingly, this game has nearly nothing to do with mario (until the end). The story is that you (and your partner) go to an academy in a tennis scholarship. you rise up in ranking, and eventually challenge mario (mario and princess peach if you do doubles). The story i give a 7
Depth: 8
This game takes a long time to beat. The matches can get very, VERY hard after you beat the seniors champ. Also, mario is very hard to beat in singles (i never beat him). There are 2 modes in this game, so it will take a long time to beat. You can also beat minigames, you can beat other people at the training course, and try to get a highscore in the training facility near the academy HQ.This game takes much time to beat. Altogether, the depth is an 8.
Difficulty: 9
As i stated before, this game is very hard. The matches at the beginning are fairly easy, but when you get to varsity, the real challenge begins. It can take more than 5 tries to win a match (it doesn't sound like much, but each match takes about 20+ minutes). This game can get very hard, and i give the difficulty a 9.
Anyways, this is a very fun game. i love playing it. I reccomend that you play it. This is the end of my review.
~Popeye116^_^
Graphics 5 Sound 7 Addictive 7 Story 7
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 01-03-13
Review Replies: 6
8.2
Game, Set, Match! juuldude
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!
Graphics 10 Sound 9 Addictive 7 Story 4 Depth 9 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 06-30-15
Review Replies: 18
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