Tennis

"The presuccessor to Mario Tennis"

This, like many other games with simple titles like this, was one of the first Gameboy games to come out. They were usually fun but lacked something harshly which brought them down. Along with pretty much every Nintendo made sports game Mario serves some purpose. Here he is the referee. Although, this one was actually pretty good.

Graphics: 8/10
Very pretty graphics for a Gameboy launch game. Mario's head looks very detailed when he moves it and when he says ''Out!'' or ''Fault''. The sprites themselves look pretty good and the backrounds are nice and detailed. All and all, good graphics.

Gameplay: 7/10
The gameplay of Tennis is fun and very addictive. You move around and either serve or defend. You press the A and B buttons to do different types of swings. Usually they do about the same, but it's stil there. Your character is relatively fast, but if you miss a ball you have little chance of a rebound, although it is possible. When you score it goes from 0-15. Then 15-30, 30-40, and finally 40-win. If both people get 40 there is then a deuce in which a player must get two consecutive points to win. It is enjoyable, although the computer gets quite hard on level 4.

Sound/Music: 6/10
The sound and music are both good, but nothing special. the music gets annoying very shortly and slowly gets to the point where you want to smash your Gameboy because you don't think a complete mute is enough to get it out of your head. The sound although is the opposite. It is very good especially for an early Gameboy game. The crowd sounds real and the ball pats also sound real.

Control: 7/10
The control really has no problem except that your character is a bit slow. It's very easy to move around and pretty easy to guide the ball when you serve or rebound.

Replay Value: 7/10
As with most sports games, playing with your friend is a real joy. Here it is very fun, especially when you are both going as hard as you can to win the deuce.

Overall: 7/10
Well, here you see the ancestor of the great Mario Tennis. It's may not have super hits and RPG elements to train your character, but the idea is still there, and thus, the game remains good.

Pros:
Fun

Cons:
Your character is slow

To Buy or Not To Buy:

Nah....instead of getting this old version of a good Tennis game, get Mario Tennis, which has all of this and more. Trust me, you're not missing anything.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/28/02, Updated 01/28/02