Mario Tennis

"Whoda thunkit..."

I will start this review off saying that I am not very fond of sports games at all. If you ask me, I think that sports are just organized ways to get hurt. Well, Tennis and Golf are okay considering the most you have to worry about is tripping on the court or being hit on the head with a golf ball, as well as the ifnamous Tennis Elbow. While we're off topic, I didn't really expect it to be very good, but considering that you hardly see any games that aren't about obscure sports like Tennis or Golf, you wouldn't really excpect to buy them. But when I saw that it's not all about Mario, I decided to rent it. I later bought it.

The graphics are far too good for your GBC-The way these graphics are done, you'd almost forget these are 8 bit. Wow-And I'll say it again-Wow. I've never seen such very much realistic motions like these on the GBC-Well, except for in the Game boy Color's version of The Prince of Persia , which looked like they made a sprite out of someone literally walking and jumping and taking out a sword and swinging the sword.

While we are off topic, the music is some of the best music I've ever heard on a GBC. Heck, the music featured in this game pretty much defeats almost everything heard on the Nintendo and the early Super Nintendo games. The music for the Semifinals in the Tournament is some of the best music I've ever heard. EVER But the sounds could use a bit of improvement. The Characters make those little ''Blibidee blibidee blibidee'' noises while they are talking. That's one of the errors that Golden Sun suffered from, and this kind of explains where it came from. Nontheless, the ''Blibidee'' noises are easy to ignore.

The gameplay is quite ingenious. Leveling up is pretty dang ingenious here, and I will dedicate a paragraph to that later on. You run around and knock the ball into the oponent's area and then keep playing a basic net game until you win. Running is a good place to get around pretty quickly.

Leveling up is something quite unusual for a Sports game. Your characters gain EXP after matches, Mini Games, and other stuff. Also, your characters use the EXP to gain levels and with each level, you get to improve one of your stats. Wow, that's all I have to say about it-It's got just about everything some RPGs need (The character you play as is also mute! Your character doesn't say a word throughout the whole entire game!)

The game has a LOT of replay value. After you beat it, you will want to replay it. And replay it again. And again.

Overall, this game is one of those rare games which completley revolutionizes the way we think of video games-Mario Tennis for the GBC is one of them. It even knocks the socks off of its N64 cousin, and if you have a Gameboy Color (Or a Gameboy advance SP), then get this game if you don't have it. It rests among the best games of all time among some games like Myst, The Sims, Dark Cloud, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, Super Mario Brothers 3, Phantasy Star IV, and Pokemon Gold and Silver . This game, simply put, is a must have. 10/10

Buy or Rent?
(Jedi Mind trick) You will buy this game.

Best part?
Kicking Mario's Arse in his own court.

Worst part
''Blibidee blibidee blibidee blibidee. Blibidee blibidee blibidee? Blibidee Blibidee blibidee!'' (In other words, characters talking_

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/03