Tennis

"Yet another game with Mario, but not in the way you may think."

You ever try Tennis in real life? It's a really physically demanding sport. You have to have quick reflexes, speed, and not to mention good hitting ability. I've tried Tennis on several occasions, and can honestly say speed is the only criteria I meet. So after being humbled I turned to video games for my Tennis action. Where am I going with this? Well, I'm simply stating I highly enjoy the sport , but games is the only outlet that I can turn to due to my lack of real life skills. Sad isn't it? Tell me about it.

Gameplay: Upon first boot up you'll realize just how sparse the game options are. Tournament? nope, court options? sorry, player choices? Don't count on it. Rather, Tennis comes equipped with two options: single player exhibition match, and secondly two-player. Sadly,the cut backs don't end there. While many main stays such as lobs, smashes, and forward/backspin are represented, I quickly missed the wide variety of moves I could perform on Mario Tennis for GameBoy Color. Then again Mario Tennis is a much more recent title, so I've tried to keep it in perspective. The two player mode is decent, but I can't help but feel that under the table dealings are going on. Honestly, I've been both the witness and victim to unfair calls at the hands of Mario. Note to Mario: Not to throw mud on your ivory tower, but the saying goes cheaters never prosper. To further lower the replay value there is no un lockable goodies. I mean even a new court would be nice, but sadly this is not the case.

Graphics: Being such a old GameBoy title, (1989-The first year of the system) it obviously won't knock your socks off. Then again not too many GameBoy titles will. (Excluding Advance) However, I must give props to the umpire. The little pictures that pop up when Mario makes a call are very well done. Plus watching the squatty little players running around the court is just plain fun to watch. Only Nintendo can get away with representing Tennis players as having the proportions of a cube.

Sound: Thank goodness the music can be turned off! It boggles the mind but for reasons beyond explanation Nintendo saw fit to only include one song on the cart. One song! Granted it's a decent little tune, but after a while it gets tiresome. Sound effects are decent, and most importantly varied. All things considered the audio isn't half bad for a GameBoy game. Heck, if they had their way with Lara Croft.... On second thought, maybe I shouldn't go there.

Control: In single player the responsiveness of the controls largely hinges on the difficulty setting. On level 1 the players move around like they have lead in their shoes, whereas on this highest setting they move around the court at the blink of a eye. Multi-player seems to run in between. The moves themselves are easy enough to perform, and should be accessible even to the newest of Tennis game players.

Tennis is an enjoyable plug in and play game. It won't hold you attention for hours on end, but is nice to pop in when you are waiting for the bus or something. Plus this game goes for quite cheap on the second hand market. Still if you have yet to experience Mario Tennis, I highly advise you check there first.

Score:7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/06/02, Updated 09/06/02