Mario Tennis: Power Tour

"Tennis gone handheld? An iffy concept, at best.."

Mario Tennis: Power Tour is an interesting game. I've always been the firm believer that there're some genres that shouldn't show up on handhelds. For those curious, those are first-person shooters, racing, and sports games. However, Mario Tennis: Power Tour is a curiously good game.

Graphics: 6/10

Interestingly enough, the graphics are half-way decent. The game keeps it relatively simple by keeping it all 2-D, while paying attention to minor details. There's so much detail in the game that, at first, it's overwhelming. As you get more into the game, you realize just how simple it all really is, and it just sort of.. meshes together nicely.

My only gripe in this area is the quality of the emotions the characters convey. They convey them in a bubble, anime-esque style that makes me nearly cringe. Not only is this method of emotion conveyance totally unnecessary, but also happens so fast, and generally for stupid reasons.

Gameplay: 6/10

For a sports game on a handheld, especially tennis, Nintendo managed to translate it very well. If you want to learn about tennis, and have fun doing it, Nintendo has ironed out all the details.. from personalized lessons from 'coaches', to a whole dictionary of tennis terms. As interesting as that may sound, you will likely NOT look at these things. If you know how tennis works in a basic sense, then you will learn what you don't know through trial and error and have no problems figuring out the rest.

In addition, the difficulty level in the actual game is ridiculously easy. Of the many, many opponents you will face, only five of them will be an actual challenge during the main storyline. You have to actually drift off into other modes of play to receive an actual challenge, and even then, it can take a while to get just that. Not to mention, but the doubles matches are so very, very easy. Laughably easy. A lot of your games will be won just by pegging your hapless opponent and his partner right in the face with tennis balls when you play doubles.

Your characters will level up throughout the main storyline, and as you do, there're a ton of different options to choose to enhance. If you want a well-rounded character, there's a small chance to keep your stats the same throughout the entire game. As a rule, it is often best to have your character specialize in two or three stats on each side, as you get points for your main stats, and points for other, sometimes meaningless stats. Even with max in various stats, I don't see a whole lot of difference.

The most unique feature, however, is the ability to gain Power Shots. It's generally not until you get into the Senior Class in either Singles or Doubles, and only when you train specific PS stats, like PS ESP, or PS Muscle. The mini-games are very inventive, though the powershots you get differ from PS stat to PS stat. Since you can equip two powershots (one you can activate at certain points in the actual match by holding R and pressing A or B), you get an aggressive, often overwhelming-seeming attack powershot, and a recovery powershot.

Powershots range from either completely and utterly useless, to extremely cheap/overpowered, and the ones that are half-way interesting are generally completely useless. In fact, now that I think back, almost all of them are completely useless. Anyone with decent stats in speed will be able to recover from any adverse effects of the powershots, and save the ball. The recovery powershots, however, are extremely cheap in many instances, though all they really do is save the ball.. but it seems that way only at first glance. There're several that allow you to launch the ball at a relatively fast speed, even if you completely miss the ball and it's an inch away from hitting the ground.

Of course, the same goes for your opponent. However, the AI is sometimes so senseless, they will miss 60% of their opportunities to save the ball and make the matches somewhat challenging: a reason as to why the game lacks a challenge factor.

Music/Sounds: 4/10

What do you expect from a sports game? Amusingly, there're grunts and such, unique to each character, and the sounds in the actual game make you feel like you're hitting a tennis ball. However, for those that lack any sort of idea what the sound of someone hitting a tennis ball with all their strength sounds like, they will be lost with the 'THWACK' noises that are heard each time you or your opponent hit the ball.

The music isn't anything special, either. Though it fits in most of the time, it's just very.. bland. Save yourself the battery power; turn down the sound, and turn up your favorite tunes.

Final Score: 5/10

Though the game is interestingly good, it really only achieves this by taking the game and throwing in simplicity and predictability. Those learning the game to play in real life will LOVE this game to death, while those that know nothing about tennis (or have been living under rocks the majority of their lifetime), will be in the dark. Coupled with a lack of any true difficulty, the lack of rewards in the game (outside of unlocking a new playing field or two, characters that are laughably horrible compared to your home-grown characters, and PS Training mini-games), and a sadly mediocre soundtrack that fails to get you pumped up for actual matches, Mario Tennis: Power Tour scratches up a meager five out of ten.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/05