The 'Shroom:Issue XXII/Good Game, Bad Game
Hello people of the wiki! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, but enough of that, let's get down to the games. This month, we'll delve into the most popular sport in fall and winter. You guessed it, tennis. Mario Tennis games are probably some of the greatest sports games, but they actually got of to a bad start in the gaming universe. So let's review these bad boys, shall we?
Good Game: Mario Power Tennis
SEEERRR-VICE!
For once, I'm not going to be favoring an N64 game. The Mario Tennis for N64 isn't bad or anything, it's just that I've never played it. Anyway, Mario Power Tennis was released for the GameCube as a sequel to the N64 game. It casted a lot of original Mario characters, which are all unique in their own special way. Each character has 2 special volleys, an offensive and defensive power shot. The offensive whacks the ball at a high speed and inflicts a status condition on the opponent (and no, this isn't Pokemon), while the defensive allows the player to hit the ball no matter where it is and negates the status conditions of an offensive power shot. The characters themselves are also unique as well. You have most of the people from the N64 game, and add people like Bowser Jr., Shy Guy, Fly Guy, Wiggler, and *Dramatic Drum Roll please* Petey Piranha. Epic. Each character is divided into their own class (balanced, technique, power, speed, etc.) The gameplay is also a real joy and is easy to learn. You can choose to play a singles match (1 on 1) or doubles (2 on 2). I prefer doubles because it's always reassuring knowing that you can blame the other player for your mistakes. In conclusion, characters rock, gameplay rocks, this whole game is a real winner in my book, so its definitely worth a gander.
Bad Game: Mario's Tennis
Red and Black, the colors of evil.
Contrary to fact, Mario Tennis for N64 was not the first Mario Tennis game. The real first game was released on the Virtual Boy under the name Mario's Tennis. How bad is this game? Well just think about it. It was released on VIRTUAL BOY! You know, the worst Nintendo console ever released! If you are unfamiliar with the horrors of this failure of a system, let me summarize. The Virtual Boy was released as a portable system, but was awkwardly shaped. You had to hold it up to your eyes, while also holding the controller. The games were also only in black and red, so it would be confusing to tell the images of the game you are playing. Before I get further into this review, I must say that I have not played this game before, but I have seen videos and it looks awful. To start of, you have your run of the mill characters (Mario, Luigi, Peach, etc.). But, there isn't anything different about these characters. So what was the point of having different characters? In fact, what is the point of making it a Mario game? It should probably just have been a generic Tennis game. They made a golf one, so why not Tennis?
The controls for this game are terrible. Whenever I see a video of this game, players continually miss the ball. It's not because they aren't good at this game, it's due to the faulty controls! Imagine playing any video game, but the A button only works half the time. You'd die alot and it would be near impossible to complete the game. That is what it is like to play Mario's Tennis. It's also short, boring, and repetitive.
This game was so bad that Mario fans ignored it and went on to the greatness of the Nintendo 64. So there you go, a good game and a bad game. Have a merry Christmas and STAY AWAY FROM THE VIRTUAL BOY!
