Mario Tennis Aces

Mario Tennis Aces is probably the best episode in the series: easy to start, challenging for veterans, visually excellent and, above all, incredibly fun.

Should you pick up Mario Tennis Aces? If the answer wasn't immediately obvious already, that's a resounding yes. It's the best the series has seen in years, and that's saying something for this tennis fan. If you're looking for one of the best sports games the Switch has to offer, look no further. You've found it.

Mario Tennis Aces is a great game which everyone can enjoy. Even for those who do not game that often. It is great that there is a Story Mode, though it actually still feels a bit unbalanced. You can play with a bunch of characters and there is a great deal of content to enjoy.

Put everything together, and Mario Tennis Aces is a great addition to the Switch lineup. For hardcore tennis fans, there's lots of authenticity to the shot selection and special moves. If you like an RPG-style Mario adventure, there's a deep and well-written mode that will keep you interested. The game could do better to prepare you for unexpected moments of difficulty, but that doesn't change the fact that Mario Tennis Aces is a really fun game and another essential title for any Switch owner.

Mario Tennis Aces is a thrillingly magic tennis game which feels like a combat game because of the energy gauge management and K.O. rule. Its features are easy to learn but hard to master, and it's friendly to both newcomers and experienced players. What's more, it's extremely fun when you play with friends. The biggest issue of the game is that it's lacking in the variety of multiplayer gameplay while the Online Tournament is the only valuable multiplayer mode. What's more, the competition might be too intense for newcomers.

Point, set and match for Mario Tennis in Nintendo Switch. Aces marks the successful comeback of Camelot Software to the road of high quality games.

A surprisingly challenging tennis title with great story mode and multiplayer, but sometimes the gameplay seems overloaded.

Mario Tennis Aces is a great and complex game that mixes tennis and beat'em up mechanics very effectively. Differently from other Nintendo titles, it isn't so fun to play before mastering it.

I think the reason that Mario Tennis feels like it’s been out of the picture is because Nintendo hadn’t tried to seriously get it online and into the modern era. It seems like this time the game feels fully online with no gameplay issues that I found. It also helps that Aces has the best gameplay of the series so far and if you like party sports games, you really can’t go wrong with this one. The court variety, character selection, and ability to go online with multiple players on one console make Mario Tennis Aces out to be a game with lasting value. If you’ve been waiting for a series return to form well here it is.

A great return for one of the most beloved sports franchises. Mario Tennis Aces has a great single player mode and a functional online multiplayer mode.

With a solid roster of characters (and more yet to come), a robust online Tournament mode alongside Swing mode, the game is already pretty fun. The addition of a silly Adventure mode and extra trimmings and unlockables makes this a standout in the series and another great addition to the Switch’s growing library of Nintendo exclusives.

Mario Tennis Aces may well feature the best mechanics the series has seen to date, its new Zone manoeuvres and Trick Shots adding an exciting, madcap layer of depth to the sport. While Adventure isn’t the big single player hook I’d have hoped and some options feel a little too stripped down, it’s the game’s multiplayer that will keep this title a firm favourite for months to come. Golf next please Camelot.

Brisk pace, easy control, good gameplay, lots of ideas and game modes. This is the new Mario Tennis Aces which is a wise purchase for your Switch. [Issue#288]

I’m pleased that we finally got a new full-fledged game by Camelot. What’s more, it will appeal to a whole lot of different people ranging from hardcore fighting games fans to your grandma and grandpa, though the difficulty level can be painful at times. The most important thing is that Waluigi begins his special move with a rose between his teeth, which puts Mario Tennis Aces dangerously close to the GOTY territory. [08/2018, p.64]

Mario Tennis Ace is another must have for the Switch library. With various forms of play, it appeals to different types of players of different ages and genres, for hours and hours . The main issue: we have a great competitive game, but with a poor online performance, leaving a bitter taste of having bought an incomplete game.

Mario Tennis Aces is a fine addition to the series and a far cry from the bare-bones offering from the Wii U. The single player mode offers up plenty for solo players while the online and local play will keep me coming back.

With its stylish and inventive courts, Mario Tennis Aces proves that Camelot has returned to its successful form. Although it’s not without flaw and frustration, the title’s variety of modes offer entertainment for the whole family. There’s something for everyone in Mario Tennis Aces, and that’s particularly tricky to accomplish. Some might call that an Ace.

Mario Tennis Aces has more in common with Street Fighter than Mario Kart. And that's a good thing.

Sure, the controls are complicated. And the special move types feel a little unnecessary. But this is Mario. The man was made to be over the top. I was foolish to expect anything less.

If you really crave a nice game of tennis, this is the game to play. Especially if you appreciate the party game influences. The adventure mode is pretty repetitive and frustrating, but as you can play online it can also be a ball.

Having the ability to change from a split screen to a shared screen in single-console multiplayer would have been nice too. Other than that, Mario Tennis Aces looks and sounds great, and is something any Mario Tennis fan will enjoy.

A game that is a definite improvement over its predecessor, welcomes the addition of a Story Mode after a 13-year hiatus and offers an addictive and hardcore gameplay that is hard to miss. Despite its problems, Mario Tennis Aces should be tried by tennis and Mario lovers alike.

I imagine that it will be one of my preferred little distractions for the summer.

I would have liked to have seen a more smooth difficulty ramp in the Adventure Mode, and more options when it comes to multiplayer matches. However, those are things that can be fixed with patches, and fundamentally Mario Aces Tennis gets things right much more often than it gets them wrong.

Mario Tennis Aces may have you bashing your head against the wall but Nintendo brings another great game to the Switch. Adventure Mode is a bit underwhelming; despite its infuriating difficulty spike, the story can be completed in just a few hours. Adventure Mode and COM Tournament mode are great precursors to the real highlight, the online tournaments.

Mario Tennis Aces is awesome and a must-have if multiplayer experiences are your thing. It blends silliness with seriousness really quite brilliantly, and is a testament to Nintendo’s efforts within this space. No one else would ever even comes close.

Mario Tennis Aces is a lot of fun and probably the most technically sound arcade tennis ever. I only wish its options and modes were as deep as its mechanics.

Mario Tennis Aces brings an improved Mario Tennis formula to the Nintendo Switch, adding new elements of gameplay and good multiplayer options as well as some fun and interesting ideas for a game plot, even if they are not groundbreaking but they help adding fun to the single player campaign.

Aces delivers as a competent arcade tennis game, and the new mechanics are fun and important enough that I would be surprised to see them removed in a future Mario Tennis. The difficulty spikes in the campaign are frustrating, but not impossible to overcome. Leveling Mario even as you fail makes the losses sting less (though I would have killed for a quick retry option) and I was always eager to see what I would be doing next.

If Mario Tennis Aces is a herald of what’s to come in sports games for Nintendo Switch, then fans of golf, baseball, soccer, and other sports have reason to get excited.

Mario is back with a great game, that lacks content and more online options. Still, the core gameplay is so good you’ll have hours of entertainment.

Mario Tennis Aces has brought Mario sports titles back up to where they belong. The single player isn't the second coming of the RPG modes from the Game Boy titles like we had hoped but that's not the full story here. Aces has a complex and fun Tennis system with mechanics more like a fighting game than a sport one. There's tons of content here and more than enough to keep you going for months. Smashing.

Mario Tennis Aces is without doubt the best tennis game to come out in the last five years.

Mario Tennis Aces looks fine and plays even better. But its single player story mode is a real disappointment.

Colorful, intuitive, deep and incredibly fun, Mario Tennis Aces is truly something for everyone, from casual newcomers to seasoned hardcore gamers. You'll certainly love its unique arcade soul and its rewarding gameplay (especially in multiplayer), yet you'll also regret its disappointing single player components.

Mario Tennis Aces is an important title for the Nintendo line-up. A new and fresh game able to transmit the philosophy of Switch in an solid and funny way. Too bad for a series of single player variants that are a little disappointing.

A bizarre coming together of Smash Bros. and Mario Tennis that strangely works, even if the Adventure mode occasionally frustrates.

We’re used to seeing Wii U games transfer to Switch, but for Ultra Smash to have moved across without a substantial makeover would have been disastrous. Aces, wonderfully, is anything but that – it’s a superb arcade sports game that’s generous with its suite of player options and only occasionally guilty of being a little cheap in its Adventure Mode. The presentation is spot on, and the core tennis action is absorbing whether you’re trading simple strokes or firing off special shots. Some animations and voice overs are identical to Ultra Smash’s, but everything around them has been overhauled to quite splendid heights. This is something of a Switch Port Plus, then – not quite a whole new experience, but so improved as to be near unrecognisable next to its preceding title.

Despite some original minigames and clever boss battles, the story mode falls short, since it strictly serves to teach the new gameplay mechanics. Mario Tennis Aces introduces "zone" tricks that prove both spectacular and powerful, offensively as well as defensively, thus creating a singular, radical timing approach to tennis, yet rather adequate for such competitive ambitions online. However, more risks should have been taken, particularly through the evolution of the double tap system in order to play closer to the lines, and increase the errors potential, which would add not only consistency, but also authenticity. Therefore this episode reaffirms the series' legendary accessibility underlined by the discrete motion mode à la Wii Sports, a classical ace of conviviality on the whole from Camelot.

Mario Tennis Aces offers up plenty to keep single-players busy, but playing with friends takes everything the game does well up a big notch.

Mario Tennis Aces is one of the best Mario Tennis games, and well worth it for gamers who love to sit back with groups of friends. If you appreciate a good game of tennis with some whacky rules to spice it all up, you'll surely enjoy this.

Mario Tennis Aces is the definitive series entry. Camelot has firmly established what it means to Mario-ize an already solid tennis foundation.

Mario Tennis Aces gives the arcade tennis series a massive injection of depth, turning this family friendly sports title into a tactical, fast-paced chess game that is a thrill to play against other people. Its depth is well explained in a limited story mode that has some interesting ideas, but it’s a tougher sell if you’re not looking to lose yourself in hours and hours of online play.

Mario Tennis Aces excels as a feisty multiplayer game. [Issue#333, p.67]

The core of Mario Tennis was always good but by adding fighting game-like mechanics the game has turned out even better and more competitive. Even though Mario Tennis Aces lacks a few small details its core gameplay is strong enough to keep the franchise alive.

Mario Tennis Aces retains the enjoyable core gameplay of the series while ushering in plenty of fresh and exciting mechanics. It could definitely use more content outside its cool Adventure mode but what's here is still a racket-smashing good time.

If you play locally this is a perfect party game, while the story-mode is short but sweet. Online on the other hand Nintendo is still playing catch-up.

Mario Tennis Aces is not the greatest of the saga, but it’s not the worst at all. The control system has been perfected to be as fun as it is addictive, opening the door to new mechanics that put it at the level of, for example, Mario Kart.

Every kind of shot from flat to backspin, various environmental objects and special abilities of characters – Mario Tennis Aces might very well be the most complex and difficult Nintendo game of this generation. [Issue#232, p.64]

A fantastically arcade styled single and multi-player tennis experience offering fun for those who are fans of the sport or not.

There is only one reason to play Mario Tennis Aces: it's versatile gameplay. If you do not consider playing this game online or co-op on your couch, you'd have to reconsider buying it. This really is made to be competitive.

Mario Tennis Aces is an improvement over its predecessor with the long-awaited return of the story mode and exciting new mechanics which make for much more intense and enjoyable matches. The limited scale of the story mode and lack of additional challenges, especially in regards to the mini-games, do hurt its appeal. The online mode is solid, if not a bit sparse, so your mileage may vary depending on your affinity for multiplayer. It’s not quite at the level of earlier installments, but Aces shows that the Mario Tennis series is back on the right track.

As long as the online keeps running well, Mario Tennis Aces will be worth revisiting. I still have my concerns of the new mechanics being a little too focused on the ability to block, but Mario’s grand sports return has more than enough good in it to make up for smaller miscues like that. This is an encouraging return to form for Camelot.

Mario Tennis Aces is innovative, well-balanced and deep, which makes it a pretty cool game. That’s why it is so sad the adventure mode is so short, even though it can be surprisingly difficult at times.

Not perfect yet, but far better than it's Wii U counterpart, Mario Tennis Aces is a worthy addition to the IP, with an enjoyable Adventure mode and the introduction of the energy system which enriches the gameplay. With solo, local and online multiplayer, this game is guaranteed to provide plenty of hours of entertainment.

A game that is almost great but manages to forget everything about the details required to become a masterpiece. Mario Tennis Aces could have been much better with a ton more possibilities, but as it it's a great game to play with friends.

Mario Tennis Aces has fantastic gameplay held back by barebones content and not much customization.

Mario Tennis Aces has some of the best gameplay mechanics that we have ever seen in a tennis game. It’s fun, balanced and fair, making this game a potential multiplayer success. However, the lack of single player content and a dedicated competitive system makes this launch relatively incomplete.