Starting February 12, Mario Tennis Fever will push a lot of couples into an existential crisis. As we slowly approach the fateful date on which you will throw one-handed backhands screaming in your living room, we try to answer a crucial question: are we looking at the best Mario sports game?
For what seems like forever, Nintendo has been delighting us with arcadey and extremely fun “sports simulations”. Sometimes RPG, sometimes competitive, these software have shaped the different licenses of this multi-sport universe. Today, we look at Mario Tennis Fever and its competitors.
To find in this article:
- The best Mario sports games
- What makes Mario sports games benchmarks in this area
- The highlights of the new Mario Tennis Fever
- Mario Tennis Fever roster
- Mario Tennis Fever game modes
- The new gameplay mechanics of Mario Tennis Fever
With the release of Mario Tennis Fever on Nintendo Switch 2 on February 12, casual fans and hardcore gamers alike will be able to take another spin on the tennis courts. Whether in the shoes of Waluigi, Mario or Luma, the title has serious arguments to make everyone agree. But before we talk about Mario Tennis: The Fever, let’s discover the best Mario sports games of all time (yes, just that).
The contenders for the title of best Mario sports game
Since Golf, released in 1984 on the NES, the most famous mustachioed man in pop culture (yes, ahead of Freddy Mercury and Salvador Dalí) has never stopped showering us with sports games. Football, Baseball, Auto Racing, Olympic Games… everything goes. But which are the best of them? We tried to answer it, with our legendary objectivity.
Mario Tennis – 2001 – GameBoy Color
We start this ranking with a rather particular game. Mario Tennis from 2001 offered a single-player game mode that was both great, but also a little removed from the world of the mustachioed plumber: Mario Tour. Contrary to its name, this mode put us in the shoes of a young player. Over the course of the matches, we gained experience, and we could allocate points in different categories of our game. Power, speed, spin, ball control, serve, volley… casually, all of that was super complete and offered hours and hours of solo play. Above all, and this is where it’s quite special, apart from the sometimes crazy effects of our balls, there was no question of electrocuting the opponent or drilling holes in the net. It was the Mario universe, but without the totally cartoonish aspect.
Mario Strikers Charged Football – 2007 – Wii
Quite frankly (and this is valid for many licenses), when it comes to Mario Strikers, you are spoiled for choice. If you prefer Mario Smash Football or Mario Strikers Battle League, we won’t blame you (promise). Strategic, enjoyable, perfect in co-op… with its special strikes, its metal ball, its goalkeepers who don’t hesitate to go out like Amel Bent (“and always with their fists raised”) it’s the game that the rest of the world was waiting for, unlike Mario Baseball rather designed for the Japanese and Americans. RIP EA FC, at Nintendo, we tended to dig into FIFA Street.
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour – 2003 – Nintendo GameCube
“Oh, a Mario golf game must be relaxing.” So yes, yes that’s right, we can launch Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour in the afternoon for a short session. But you could just as easily spend hundreds of hours there. Toadstool Tour, like Mario Tennis Aces for example, shines with its simplicity, but also the depth of its gameplay. With the ability to activate automatic fire or 3-part fire, you could really control your shots. If we add to that the presence of wind and/or rain which did not modify the preview of the shot, we understand why the game found itself cited in “Golf for Dummies”! Oh, and of course, it was still fun.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – 2009 – Wii
We admit, combining Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics was a pretty crazy idea. And yet, at Nintendo, we managed to find the right recipe to offer a very cool software (and then a bunch of others behind it). We didn’t know it in 2008, but seeing Bowser figure skating was on our bucket list. The single player was really not the strong point of the title, but as a party game, there was plenty to do with no less than 27 distinct events.
Mario Kart World – 2025 – Nintendo Switch 2
Not enough modernity at the top of the ranking? Make no mistake, this is the most recent game of all these franchises. We talked about it all over the placebut Mario Kart World is a huge risk-taking, and a concept that has found its audience with its gigantic open world, its challenges and its different multiplayer modes. A gem that fully deserved to be the Switch 2’s signature game upon its release.
Now that we have mentioned some of the games that constitute the elite of Marie-Sports gaming, here are the weapons with which the new kid is advancing: Mario Tennis Fever.
A monstrous roster
On this new Mario Tennis, we will be entitled to a pool of… 38 playable characters. Yes, that’s a lot, and it’s actually a record. Suffice to say that whatever your hand, you have a way of finding the right shoe for you. Speed, ball control, power, spin… they all have their specialty.
- Mario
- Luigi
- Peach
- Daisy
- Rosalina
- Pauline
- Wario
- Waluigi
- Toad
- Toadette
- Luma
- Yoshi
- Bowser
- Bowser Jr.
- Donkey Kong
- Boo
- Mask
- Cave Troop
- Kamek
- Spike
- Diddy Kong
- Chomp
- Bird
- Paratroopa
- Flora Piranha
- Plant Piranha
- Apple Apple
- Bloups
- Bowser Skeleton
- Ossec
- Baby Mario
- Baby Luigi
- Baby Peach
- Wiggler
- Carottin
- Goomba
- Baby Wario
- Baby Waluigi
New mechanics for deeper gameplay
With the arrival of the 30 frenetic rackets, a new layer of gameplay is added to the special hits and moves that already delighted players on Mario Tennis Aces. From now on, we are entitled to around thirty mechanics which impact the court and make each match even a little more unique.
We will be able to freeze part of the court, miniaturize the opponent, duplicate ourselves… there are a lot of possibilities, but that doesn’t mean that you are doomed to lose the point when your opponent pulls out his favorite racket! There is also a way to send it back and make it eat its effect. As always, Nintendo strives to create a software that you can quickly get to grips with, but which can be pushed (and sanded) to reach the heights.
Game modes to satisfy everyone
Even if we’re not surprised, it’s still good news, so we’ll take it: Mario Tennis Fever will be playable for 4 people on the same console. In addition, two online modes are present, one casual for training, and the other ranked for sweating.
Tournament Mode
Don’t want to play against humans? Tournament mode is perfect for getting your hands on the AI while thinking you’re at Roland Garros. Important detail: your friends can also be part of the draw for semi-finals that smell like powder.
Tower of Trials
Otherwise, the Tower of Trials provides access to many special challenges that help you master each timing and mechanic. You will have to return Balles Balles, adapt to unique courts… in short, it’s a melting pot made to toughen you up in fun and good humor. In a similar genre, quite a few matches with very special rules are available (court which expands as the match progresses, rings in which to hit to score points, frenzied rackets which fall from the sky, there is everything).
Adventure Mode
Finally, adventure mode puts us in the shoes of our heroes, but in a baby version. Basically, it’s like Space Jam, and they have to relearn how to play tennis. We currently know very little about the rest of the plot, except that baby Waluigi will be playable, and that we will face a lot of bosses. In a nutshell: the content promises to be very substantial.
So, what mode will you go into once you have your Mario Tennis Fever in hand? With us, the usual strategy consists of sanding down part of the software before inviting friends for a “balanced” tournament.
Mario Tennis Fever is available on Nintendo Switch 2.
Mario Tennis Fever
