Mario Tennis: Power Tour

"Camelot does it again with an Amazing game of Tennis."

After playing Mario Golf on the GBA for hours on end, I was looking forward to another outing on the GBA from Camelot. This developer has worked miracles on the GBA, and this game does not disappoint.

Story

Once again, just like in Mario Golf, you start out as a girl or boy player working your way through the ranks in singles and then doubles. You meet and play against, yes, Mario after you have gotten into the Island Tour. The story is actually pretty engaging, but the next few areas are what really make this game shine.

Gameplay

I was not optimistic about the gameplay. After the disappointing Virtua Tennis on the GBA, I wasn't sure Camelot could pull off the gameplay found in the Gamecube game. I was wrong. The play control enables a backspin or topspin shot along with a dive and other moves that you can either select as Auto or Manual. When you have enough power, you can execute a Power Shot. Now I am not a big fan of the Power Shot because on the Gamecube, the animations were just too much and broke up the gameplay. This has thankfully been taken down to a more acceptable level. You can turn the Power Shots off in modes other than Story, but now that they fixed it, disabling is not necessary.

You build up your player through ranking matches and mini-games that give you points to to raise your stats and abilities. Like Mario Golf, you have to balance these attributes and also spread the points to level up your doubles partner. There is some strategy to doing this, which really makes the game much deeper.

What I really like is the button holding you do as the shots are approaching, and then hit the button again at impact to give a more powerful shot. This technique becomes easier as you go and really gives the gameplay a deeper feel than just hitting the ball. I did not figure this out at first and just hit it when it got to me, but as your stats grow, you can get more powerful and stratrgic hits like curves, etc.

Graphics

This game looks just great. The characters animate well, and the game flow is very smooth. Colorful Golden Sun type graphics once again just like Mario Golf. The courts and backgrounds look very nice. The ball travels most times with a power trail that makes it easy to see. You can also play from the same side of the screen even when switching courts by using the options menu. I found this handy.

Re-playability

I will most likely finish the game and build my character to the highest level and then do it again. I did this on Mario Golf to level 99 and am going at it again as well. I didn't think this game would be as good as Mario Golf, but if you like Tennis or not, this game will keep you going for weeks.

Purchase or not

If you own a GBA, you need this game. It stands as one of the best Tennis games on any system and one of the top games in the GBA library.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/06