Mario Tennis Aces – Game Test



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The Mario games tennis series has always been an integral part of the Nintendo line-up. With Mario Tennis Aces, the last title of the series for Switch has come out and looks great. But does he play that way too?

Trivia: Did you know that Waluigi had his first appearance as a Mario Universe character in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64?

Mario saves the day without mushrooms

The Mario Tennis Aces single-player campaign turns out to be more complex than expected in a tennis match. Mario and Peach come to win a double match when Wario and Waluigi appear, apparently under the mysterious influence, chatting with Luigi about a powerful tennis racket named Luzius. As soon as Luigi holds him in his hands, he becomes himself obsessed with his power and escapes with the two scoundrels. As you will soon learn, you must collect five power stones to deal with Luzius and prevent him from regaining his power. To this end, Mario and Toad roam the kingdom of Solarius and face many challenges. Of course, these are all focused on tennis. It's so beautiful on the top that you do not question it much.

It's nice that not all challenges are clbadic tennis matches. Sometimes you have to keep the ball in play as long as possible or shoot as many obstacles as possible to score points. Many of these challenges are not part of the linear level story and are optional for completing the story. They are recommended, however, if you want to get better, because the game's difficulty curve has it all. And you are definitely listening if you dare to play multiplayer.

Boss fights are also not clbadic tennis matches. And they are quite sophisticated. In general, the campaign already shows you want to request one. With each area completed on the island, the difficulty increases significantly. Sometimes a little bad, but personally I never felt unjustly treated. On the contrary, I was stimulated enormously, because at each defeat, I was given the feeling that it could be created for me. And this has constantly increased my ambition.

The campaign also allows you to level Mario to improve your stats, as well as unlock new thugs who have different strengths. Some are better suited to the attack, others are not so easy to break. In particular, the break is an interesting feature, because each racket unlocked is also directly available. If the current club breaks in a match, Mario automatically takes the next one. The command can be defined in the menu itself.

A fighting game in the heart?

I have read many times about Fighting Games about Mario Tennis Aces. And I can agree with that. The different traits, spread over A, B, X, Y, R and L, as well as the dependence on timing and movement, give you the same feeling as clbadic hunters. It's fast, intense and demands responsiveness. In addition, special skills are offered. For this one has an indicator of energy that fills with each charged beat. When it is filled to some degree, a star appears on the ground indicating the location of the next impact ball. On one can perform a targeted hit with the R key. But even a charged beat is even stronger when you hit it in this position. If the energy bar is completely filled, you can execute its special beat with L. It is also no longer related to the position of the star.

Equally important is blocking, which must be properly timed, otherwise the bat will be damaged. Its life display, as well as the number of rackets available, is kept at the energy bar. If a club breaks, you lose the point played. If you do not have more reserve sticks, you even lose automatically. With the special beats at the maximum power bar, the bat breaks even if you try to block them and miss the timing.

For you to have no impotence, you can also activate a slow motion. This will block the special moves correctly. This also gives players the opportunity to vary their style. Do you prefer to play the offensive and rely heavily on hard and fast shots? No problem Do you prefer the defense and try to play your smart opponent? Just as possible

It's here that the characters come into play. Sixteen are currently in multiplayer and over the next few months there will be regular Nintendo online tournaments, where you can unlock three more. Each of these characters has a different focus. There are versatiles, including Mario. There are heavy, fast, precise, cunning, powerful and precise characters. What sets them apart is not said, because unlike the campaign, there is no status window here. But they play significantly different. The punch of a powerful character is quite different from that of a difficult character. A heavy character moves visibly more lazy across the field, as a faster, he offers much harder. For a moment, I remembered Mario Kart, who in the last part also worked harder on the differences between drivers and vehicles. But the bill works. There is something for every taste.

This feeling also gives me a certain authenticity. Although I have never played tennis, but a few years of badminton at school. Not exactly the same, but quite similar that I mean that the game can also convey a credible tennis feeling. Of course, it's more arcade, with its different moves and techniques, but the sensation is still there. How to position yourself, where to beat the best to play the opponent, whether to play better sooner or later. In addition, the rules of the game are designed for real tennis. And it works with all the arcade elements. All of these things feel like real sports. It gives me a big advantage.

At this point, I still have to congratulate the campaign. The hard difficulty curve requires you to think about it. And it also shows you that different characters play differently. Once you have mastered the story and challenges, you are definitely ready for online gambling. Whatever it was, it was worth it for me because I also had something to oppose my opponents and was not hopelessly inferior.

Speaking of multiplayer. Nintendo, please.

The problems with online games are unfortunately not new at Nintendo. And the switch has already garnered a lot of criticism because of their WLAN antenna weakening severely. And also my online experience in Mario Tennis Aces was unfortunately plagued by such problems. The connection fluctuated between four and a sudden force, it jumped and sometimes even lost the connection. I take it off, baduming it's not on the internet. The fiber optic cable and the minimum distance to the router should really solve all the problems on my side.

Apart from these problems, I can not complain about the multiplayer mode. I never had the problem with my opponents that I felt desperately lower. Of course, there were some fluctuations, but I always had counterparts that I had something to oppose. You also have the ability to play tournaments, including free processors or multiplayers, in which individual games are played.

A special eulogy at this point is the separate mode of playing locally with friends. And like Wii times with the Joy-Con as a racket. A great success of the Wii was the friendliness to people who wanted to play some relaxed tricks with their friends or family. Nothing hard, but simple but entertaining games. And this mode addresses these people. Because there are no special moves supported, nor moves the figure itself across the square. Overall, he plays like the Wii Sports tennis game. And for that, I must also break a spear. Because it's just fun to meet a few people and dance in front of the TV. And if you want to give yourself some more intensive games, you can always switch to regular multiplayer mode. So, something is offered to all.

A feast for the eyes and ears

Apart from that Mario Tennis Aces has become a really nice game. Already with Odyssey, Nintendo has shown what the Switch can offer graphically. And the beautiful models of characters and textures speak for themselves. The stadiums are well designed and not stingy with details that you hardly notice in the heat of the matches. But the light is well established and makes the world really alive. Overall, the game is a real eye-catcher.

The animations are also attractive. The special strike, for example, is initiated by a pompous staging that lets you know that it's going to crack. The audience's reactions also give an authentic feeling, both visual and sound. The public acclaim with a good punch stimulates and somehow rewards. As with the good sport.

Beat sounds have a good sound and you really feel like you've got a good shot, especially on hard shots. Even when the ball is played, you can feel the weight, the beats. The presentation is absolutely about

Conclusion

Mario Tennis Aces is a great entry into the established series of tennis games. The sensation is authentic. Despite all the arcade elements, such as energy bar, special moves and slow motion, you play credible tennis. The comparison with Fighting Games is quite appropriate. It's fast, requires good responsiveness and a sense of individual skill and character. But also for more relaxed games is supported. With the Joy-Con mode, the feeling comes from Wii Sports Tennis, which was a great success of the Wii.

The campaign is designed in an interesting way and presents a steep but very encouraging curve of difficulty. The multiplayer is suffering from online problems weighing on other Nintendo titles, such as Splatoon 2. It's a pity. Apart from that, the matches are playing well and I have had no problem with the unfair matches.

For me, the game is an absolute recommendation!

buy tip:
] Mario Tennis Aces – [Nintendo Switch] buy at Amazon.de for EUR 54.99

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