Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color)
- This article is about the game Mario Tennis for the Game Boy Color. For the Nintendo 64 game of the same name, see Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64). For the series as a whole, see Mario Tennis (series).
| Mario Tennis | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 For alternate box art, see the game's gallery. | |||
| Developer | Camelot | ||
| Publisher | Nintendo | ||
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Color, Virtual Console (3DS), Game Boy - Nintendo Switch Online | ||
| Release date | Game Boy Color: Template:Release Virtual Console (3DS): Template:Release Game Boy - Nintendo Switch Online: Template:Release[?] | ||
| Language(s) | English (United States) Japanese | ||
| Genre | Tennis | ||
| Rating(s) |
| ||
| Mode(s) | 1-2 players | ||
| Input | Nintendo Switch: Game Boy Color:
Nintendo 3DS:
| ||
- Everyone
Mario Tennis is a tennis game for the Game Boy Color. It is the second direct Mario Tennis game in the series, and the first handheld game in the series. The game features an RPG-like story mode, in which the player controls either Alex or Nina in a quest to become the top tennis player and beat the best player of all, Mario. It was re-released on the 3DS's Virtual Console in Japan on June 26, 2013, in North America on December 26, 2013, and in Europe and Australia on January 2, 2014.
Controls
Menu
- Select Option
- Confirm
- Back
Mario Tour overworld
- - Move/Select
- - Talk/Confirm
- - Run/Back
/
- Menu
Tennis match
- - Move Character
- / - Hit the ball in a very weak manner.
- + - Topspin Shot, a red, powerful, high bouncing shot.
- + - Slice Shot, a blue, defensive shot with side spin and a low trajectory.
- + - Smash, the most powerful shot, clad in purple.
- → - Lob Shot, a high shot that aims for the back of the court with very high bounce.
- → - Drop Shot, a low, weak shot that barely glazes over the net with little bounce.
Play modes
Mario Tennis has several different modes. The modes are Mario Tour, Exhibition, Linked Play, and Mario Minigames.
Mario Tour (story mode)
In Mario Tour, the player takes control of Alex or Nina. They are the new students trying to make their way up the ranks at the Royal Academy, a school for tennis. At the beginning of the game, the player gets to choose whether they are going to play singles or doubles matches, and can change between either whenever they want. Alex's doubles partner is Harry, and Nina's is Kate.
In Mario Tour, the player's character does exercises with coaches and plays against higher ranked players in order to get a higher rank for him or herself. Higher ranks mean they can challenge better players. As a new student, the player starts in the Junior Class. The goal is to advance to the Senior Class, and then to the Varsity Squad. Eventually, they can earn a spot on the academy's travelling team and enter the Island Open. After the Island Open the player can face Mario in singles on the Castle Court; in doubles, both Mario and Peach.
As the player progresses through the ranks and gains experience, the player gets to increase their characters ability in different areas (similar to an RPG). The four areas that can be improved are Speed, Power, Spin, and Control. Leveling each ability increases a series of related stats, while neglected abilities can have their stats decay.
Exhibition
In this mode, the player plays a single game of tennis. The player may choose what character both they and the computer uses as well as the court and computer's difficulty level. Both singles and doubles are available in Exhibition.
Linked Play
Linked Play is just like Exhibition Mode, except that the player plays against another human player instead of a computer. Linked Play requires two Game Boy Colors, two copies of Mario Tennis for the GBC, and a link cable. This mode was removed from the 3DS Virtual Console release due to multiplayer support being removed.
Mario Minigames
This is a group of minigames presented by various Nintendo characters. Minigames are unlocked when their respective characters are unlocked, meaning that four of them need a Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak to be unlocked and as a result cannot be unlocked on 3DS Virtual Console. The minigames include:
| Name | Image | Character Used | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boo Blast | 
|
Mario | This minigame sees Mario rallying a ball with Luigi, trying to hit Boos that hover above the net. The score doubles with each hit for a maximum of 128 points per hit. |
| Shooting Star | 
|
Luigi | This game involves playing as Luigi to smash stars. More points are collected for each consecutive hit. |
| Perfect Shot | 
|
Princess Peach | |
| Target Shot | 
|
Baby Mario | In this game, Baby Mario must hit the ball into the targeted area. Hitting the appropriate shot will deliver more points. |
| Banana Bunch | 
|
Donkey Kong | Donkey Kong must bounce a ball on a wall with Banana panels on it. The panels give out points based on the amount of Bananas on it. |
| Fruit Fantasy | 
|
Yoshi | Yoshi must aim the ball at various panels of fruit. Different fruit give different points. |
| Treasure Box |
|
Wario | |
| Medallion Match |
|
Waluigi | |
| Two-on-One | 
|
Bowser | Bowser must go up against two opponents, Wario and Waluigi, at the same time. |
Nintendo 64 transfer
With a copy of Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64, a Nintendo 64, a Transfer Pak, and a copy of Mario Tennis for the GBC, it is possible to transfer information between the two versions of the game. Characters from the Game Boy Color game can be transferred to the Nintendo 64 game and vice-versa. This is not possible in the Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo Switch Online versions of the game, but the Nintendo Switch Online version makes all content that would been unlocked via transfer already unlocked.
Characters
Playable characters
All characters have different statistics, making each of them unique. Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Baby Mario, as well as new characters Allie, Joy, and Brian are available from the start, but most characters need to be unlocked by beating them in the Mario Tour. Some characters need to be unlocked by a N64 Transfer Pak. In total, there are 29 playable characters available in the game, with all new characters to the Mario Tennis series also making their first appearances in any game. Below is a full list of all of the characters in the game. Notably, Mario can only be played as after completing the Mario Tour, making this the first of the few games in the Super Mario franchise where he is unlockable. Also, this is the only appearance of Waluigi in a Game Boy Color game.
Characters and courts in this game, along with Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64, can no longer be transferred while playing the Virtual Console release, as the Nintendo 3DS is not compatible with the Nintendo 64/Game Boy Color Transfer Pak. The Nintendo Switch Online version features the transfer-only characters unlocked by default, which therefore allows the Warehouse Court to be unlocked.
Default characters
| Character | Skill Type |
|---|---|
 green |
All-Around |
 brown |
Power |
 red |
Speed |
 green (new) |
Speed |
 green (new) |
Technique |
 Brian (new) |
All-Around |
Mario Tour members
These characters must be created before they are usable.
| Alex | Nina | Harry | Kate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
| ||||
| Bonuses: | +1 Stroke +2 Dash | Bonuses: | +1 Placement +1 Reaction | Bonuses: | +1 Top +1 Angle +2 Serve +1 Speed | Bonuses: | +1 Slice +2 Angle +1 Serve +1 Dash |
| Story Role | Player | Story Role | Player | Story Role | Player's Partner | Story Role | Player's Partner |
Unlockable characters
| Character | Skill Type | Unlock Condition |
|---|---|---|
 red |
All-Around | Beat in Singles |
 Peach |
Technique | Beat in Doubles |
 blue (new) |
All-Around | Complete the Singles championship in Junior class |
 orange (new) |
Power | Complete the Singles championship in Junior class |
 magenta (new) |
Speed | Complete the Singles championship in Junior class |
 orange (new) |
Power | Complete the Singles championship in Senior class |
 blue (new) |
Tricky | Complete the Singles championship in Senior class |
 Mark (new) |
All-Around | Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Varsity Squad |
 green (new) |
Technique | Defeat her in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open |
 green (new) |
All-Around | Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open |
 Spike (new) |
All-Around | Defeat him in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open |
 orange (new) |
Speed | Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open |
 orange (new) |
Speed | Defeat her in Mario Tour by Singles in Island Open |
 blue (new) |
Tricky | Defeat him in Mario Tour by Singles or Doubles in Island Open |
 blue (new) |
Power | Defeat him in Mario Tour by Doubles in Island Open |
Transferable characters
| Character | Skill Type |
|---|---|
 lightgreen |
Speed |
 gold |
Power |
 purple |
Technique |
 darkgreen |
Power |
Non-playable characters
Super Mario characters
N64 status icon cameos
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Notable members
Courts
| Image | Name | Ball Speed | Bounce | Area | Unlock Condition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Grass Court | Fast | Weak | Island Open | Available Initially |
|
Hard Court | Normal | Strong | Royal Tennis Academy | Available Initially |
|
Clay Court | Slow | Weak | Royal Tennis Academy | Available Initially |
|
Composition Court | Fastest | Normal | Royal Tennis Academy | Available Initially |
|
Castle Court | Normal | Normal | Peach's Castle | Beat Level 3 of Shooting Star |
|
Tropics Court | Fastest | Weak | Mario World | Beat Level 3 of Target Shot |
|
Jungle Court | Fast | Strongest | Mario World | Beat Level 3 of Banana Bunch |
|
Star Court | Fast | Strong | Mario World | Have everything marked with a star on the Clear Status menu. |
|
Warehouse Court | Slow | Strong | Mario World | Beat every Mario character in exhibition with a Mario character. This court is not unlockable on Virtual Console since this requires characters transferred from the N64 version with the Transfer Pak. |
Reception
| Reviews | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release | Reviewer, Publication | Score | Comment |
| Game Boy Color | Frank Provo, GameSpot | 8.2/10 | "There is no doubt going to be a minor debate over which of the two games, Mario Tennis or Virtua Tennis, is better. Thanks to quality gameplay and Nintendo's rich stable of character designs, Mario Tennis goes toe-to-toe with Sega's game in every conceivable way. To discuss which is better is a moot point. Nintendo comes at you with familiar faces and more unique modes, while Sega's game counters with real tennis pros and slightly more accurate gameplay. Don't let its happy looks and age-appropriate gameplay fool you. Mario Tennis hits hard and fast." |
| Nintendo 3DS | Tim Latshaw, Nintendo Life | 8/10 | "Some may call fault with Mario Tennis's stripped multiplayer functionality and chopped roster, but those who never knew what was possible to be unlocked in the original version might never even realize the possibilities are missing. Mario Tennis still provides an amazingly tight and fun portable experience with a skillful shot system and an engaging RPG-like motif. So what if Mario doesn't register as much? He'll just have to make do with golf, baseball, football, every Olympic sport." |
| Aggregators | |||
| Compiler | Platform / Score | ||
| GameRankings | 90.78% | ||
Staff
- Main article: List of Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color) staff
Gallery
- For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color).
Media
 Jungle Court | File info 0:30 |
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | マリオテニスGB[?] Mario Tenisu GB |
Mario Tennis GB | |
| Chinese (traditional) | 瑪利歐網球GB[1] Mǎlì'ōu Wǎngqiú GB |
Mario Tennis GB |
References
- ^ Official Chinese website for the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
| Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Playable characters | Default | Luigi • Baby Mario • Donkey Kong • Allie • Joy • Brian • Alex • Harry • Nina • Kate |
| Unlockable | Mario • Peach • Yoshi • Wario • Waluigi • Bowser • Pam • Bob • Beth • Fay • Curt • Mark • Sammi • Sean • Spike • Elden • Emily • A. Coz • B. Coz | |
| Non-playable characters | Ball Bot • Bob-omb • Boo • Daisy • Edgar • Ellis • Frank • Great Fairy of Victory • Headmaster • Kevin • Toad | |
| Courts | Hard Court • Clay Court • Grass Court • Composition Court • Castle Court • Tropics Court • Jungle Court • Star Court • Warehouse Court | |
| Schools | Empire • Factory • Royal Tennis Academy • Union | |
| Minigames | Shooting Star • Target Shot • Banana Bunch • Boo Blast • Perfect Shot • Fruit Factory • Treasure Box • Medallion Match • Two-on-One | |
| Game Boy Color games | |
|---|---|
| Super Mario franchise | Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (1999) • Mario Golf (1999) • Mario Tennis (2000) • Mobile Golf (2001) • Mario Family (2001) |
| Donkey Kong franchise | Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong (2000) • Donkey Kong Country (2000) |
| Wario franchise | Wario Land II* (1998) • Wario Land 3 (2000) |
| Other | Game & Watch Gallery 2* (1998) • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX* (1998) • Game & Watch Gallery 3* (1999) |
