Mario Power Tennis

Mario and Co. power up tennis with wild moves and crazy courts!

JP release: 28th October 2004
NA release: 8th November 2004
EU release: 25th February 2005
Developer: Camelot
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 91%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

Just like Mario Golf, the jump from N64 to GameCube has expanded Mario Tennis from a really great but fairly standard tennis game into the crazy tennis that you’d expect from a tennis game. The core Gameplay is still solid, there’s just a few more things on top.

Power moves are one of the new additions. If you get in place and start preparing a shot, you’ll charge up your power meter (represented by your racquet glowing) and you can perform one of two moves. One is a powerful or crazy shot while the other lets you hit the ball from anywhere on the court. The power shots aren’t actually that difficult to defend against and if you don’t like them, you can turn them off.

The other big new feature are the courts themselves, while you can play regular versions of all the courses, they all have a gimmick version. Bowser’s court tilts, Ricco Harbour has sliding panels activated by the ball and there’s a classic Mario Bros one with enemies that get in the way. Adapting your game to suit these courses is what makes Mario Power Tennis so special.

On top of this are a large amount of minigames that are varied enough to feel like a Tennis themed Mario Party. There’s a lot to do in this game, and plenty of ways to play.

Great

Mario Power Tennis is the game that gives as good as it gets, and if you’re prepared to live with the initial inconvenience of Power Shots for as long as it takes to use them properly, you’ll find it a considerable improvement over the N64 original. Or any other tennis sim you could name.
Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #104

Remake or remaster?

A remastered version would be great.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Mario Power Tennis.