Ed Jackson

Playing a match in Mario Tennis Aces is like challenging someone to an arm wrestle and a staring contest simultaneously. Muscling your opponent around the court with clever shot selection and proper baseline positioning during a rally is as essential as ever, but it’s the layer of fighting game-inspired mechanics applied on top that adds unblinking tension and strategy to each and every point you play. As a result, Mario Tennis Aces serves up some of the most refined and rewarding gameplay in the series to date, but passes up the opportunity to make the most of it with an underdeveloped single-player mode and slight customisation options. The nuanced play on the court comes from the depth of some smart new mechanics. Each player in Mario Tennis Aces has an energy gauge that can be filled by performing charged-up strokes or trick shots, the former requiring you to be in the optimal court position to meet the ball, the latter a riskier move that demands pinpoint timing when the ball is just out of reach. How you expel that energy has a substantial influence on the outcome of each point; do you gradually deplete it by using the slow-motion zone speed ability to chase down a drilled crosscourt passing shot and keep the ball in play, or do you keep banking energy until the gauge is full so that you can unleash a special shot to put an explosive exclamation mark on the end of the rally? And in the case of the special shot, do you aim it down the line for a likely winner or violently smack it right at your opponent in an effort to John McEnroe their racket into pieces and potentially end the match prematurely by knockout? Seemingly triumphant smash shots are swiftly countered with deftly timed blocks. “ It’s a system that does a lot with a relatively simple set of mechanics, facilitating dynamic swings in the momentum of a rally as energy gauges surge and drain, and seemingly triumphant smash shots are swiftly countered with deftly timed blocks. It’s further enhanced by the flexibility of its inputs. For example, if you plant yourself for a charge shot on one side of the court only for your opponent to drive a forehand to the other, you can cancel the charge and pull off a vaulting trick shot at the last second to nail a winner down the line. Moments like that demonstrate how Mario Tennis Aces is a far more fun, well balanced and less gimmicky brand of superpowered tennis than that of its disappointing Wii U predecessor, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash. Adventure Time Another big reason that Ultra Smash sailed well wide of the service box was that its single-player features were almost non-existent. Mario Tennis Aces’ takes some steps to remedy that complaint, albeit not nearly to the extent of making itself viable as a single-player only game beyond the short term. In Adventure mode, Mario travels around a world map taking on challenges and bosses in a variety of vivid locales, such as batting back fireballs at Piranha Plants in a jungle setting, or playing a match against a Shy Guy on a snowy train platform while sidestepping in and out of a stream of passengers hustling across the court to make their departure. The boss fights, in particular, make smart use of Mario Tennis Aces’ special moves, with the Madame Mirage mirror in the haunted mansion requiring the reticle-based zone shot to blast the ball through the gaps in a wall of floating furniture, and the tentacle swipes of the huge Gooper Blooper sea monster which must be hurdled with a well-timed trick shot.