Mario Tennis: Power Tour

"Also getting the feeling you've seen it before?"

Introduction

Well hello there. A a true Mario Tennis fan (got the N64 and GBC versions too), I bought Mario Power Tennis for the GBA. The first time I ran it, I was like WOW, it looks almost like a port from Gamecube to GBA but only the graphics are gameboy advance quality. But more in a minute!

Game Play

Mario Power Tennis plays almost the same as on your Gamecube. But first: Why that title (of the review) you ask? Simple, play the previous game, Mario Tennis for GBC, and you'll see the game has A LOT in common with it. The areas you can walk are almost exact copies from that game.

Anyway, for those who haven't played the other game (yet) and only the GC one you'll see you can start as a newbie tennis player in the "Academy" and work your way up to Peach Tournament and crush the elite (Mario, Peach, Bowser, ...). But before that you'll have to practice, practice and practice some more. There are three different divisions: Juniors, Seniors and Varsity.

If this is your first tennis videogame, (and also if it isn't) you should visit the coaches and let them explain tricks such as drop shot, lob, a perfect server and so on. Same as the old Mario Tennis you gain experience points at the end of every match/practice event, if you level up you can send your earned points on power, speed, serve, stroke, ...

That's not all! Tired of playing tennis one on one? Go back to your lounge and ask your doubles partner to come with you and you can start all over again on doubles matches.

Last but not least is the training centre. Here you can practice regular training and when you're the Senior champ you can start learning so called "Power Shots" that the all-stars learned the regular people. In the training centre are more than 6 different mini-games to strengthen your character.

Story

Not much of a story: you're Max or Tina, a rookie. One day masked men come to the school and talk to the Varsity champ, you have to work your way up to Island Open champ to unveil the secret. It's kinda lame because EVERYONE knows who those masked guys are. But maybe you don't, so I won't tell you so you can have fun with it.

Graphics & Music

Camelot, hmm *Ding!* there is the lightbulb! Indeed, Golden Sun, I'm pretty sure they used the same "engine" to create this game as for the Golden Sun games. The graphics, the emotion balloons, the movements, the music, it's soooooo similar that you can almost change the title to Golden Sun Tennis.

But that's not bad, not at all! The power shots are EXACT the same as on the Gamecube which is very nice!

Play Time

Well, I've unlocked everything in the game at about 8 to 9 hours. So it's quite long for a tennis game. Don't forget there's a multiplayer capability with the link cable. Too bad this game isn't released for DS too else we could play online, that would own!

Overall

This is a pretty good tennis game, maybe a bit too similar to the gameboy color version. You'll have over 10 hours fun with it (although it can be frustrating at some times). Too bad you can't link with a gamecube. Anyway, it's a nice addition to your games collection.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/23/05