Mario and friends have a knack for spinning real-world sports into accessible, pick-up-and-play videogame experiences that can light up a loungeroom and offer something even to the least sports-minded players. I am one of those people, and Mario Tennis Fever achieves that perfectly appealing mashup of technique and chaos with just one new feature – Fever Rackets.
These paradigm-shifting paddles are at once the most elaborate and equalising addition to Nintendo’s long-running franchise in ages, giving less tennis-savvy players a more party game-like avenue for play while also adding a fiendish strategic layer for the more competitive contestants to exploit. Land a Fever Shot with something like the Volcano or Mud rackets and you create pockets of your opponent’s side that are harder to defend, or you could simply overwhelm them with a Bullet Bill or Fire Bar to quickly turn a rally one-sided.
There are 30 of these to unlock and choose from, some of which are admittedly better and more useful than others, but they represent a huge variety of tactical options that radically move the needle on what’s important to win a match of Mario Tennis. It’s a best of both worlds scenario as well – play without Fever Rackets and the core tennis game underneath it all is one of the most mechanically detailed and punishing Nintendo takes on the sport – or wimp out like me and just enjoy throwing fireballs, turning invisible or summoning a doppelganger.
Coupled with an incredibly healthy roster of 38 characters, each with their own playstyle and unique benefits, you’d be hard pressed to play two matches that play out the same, or run out of player and racket combinations that feel distinctly different in the hand. I’m especially fond of the little freaks in the line-up, like Goomba, Wiggler and Chain Chomp, which move and behave unlike anyone else and have given myself and friends some good laughs (and astonishing plays in the right hands). The character models are a visual highlight as well, putting the Switch 2 to work to render Mario and friends in probably the highest detail we’ve ever seen outside of static renders and the feature films. Being able to see every hair in Mario’s girthy ‘stache or the stitching in Waluigi’s tennis shorts really is something else.
Fever’s mode selection is similarly robust, with the standout being Trial Towers and its subsequently-unlocked All Trials Mode offering the most immediate fun for solo players. The default Trial Towers mode puts players through a series of remixes on the typical play, with quirky match-ups, extra hazards, tests of your reflexes and accuracy and other fun surprises, and only three chances to mess up before you have to start again at the bottom. I enjoyed these immensely, and there’s a ton of longevity in trying to 3-star all of the individual challenges once you beat the three towers and get access to play them all freely. It’s also a great way to get acquainted with just about every character and Fever Racket, and to prepare you for just about anything that might get thrown at you in a proper match.
These trials certainly do more to prepare you for competitive Mario Tennis than the handful of hours you’ll spend having the basics repeatedly drilled into you in the Adventure Mode. This is Fever’s biggest disappointment, only really living up to its title in the back half, assuming you have the patience to slog through a glacially-paced hour of singular tutorials and practice matches that gives big “this meeting could have been an email” energy. And once you do get to the adventure part of the equation, your “reward” is a sprint through a series of themed areas that occasionally throws up a tennis match or boring mini-game. It’s entirely forgettable, and I’d go as far as recommending a skip if it weren’t for the unlocks you only get for rolling credits.
Elsewhere, the staples you’d expect are here from a pretty standard and decently challenging Tournament Mode, the Joy-Con 2 motion-controlled Swing Mode and a Free Play where up to four players can duke it out with a healthy suite of custom rules. I quite liked that Free Play includes the ability to equip two different Fever Rackets and switch between them, which adds an even bolder layer to the action. Mix It Up showcases some of the court and rules variants that pop up during Adventure Mode, like the fun Pinball Match or the god-awful Forest Court Match, and even a Super Mario Bros. Wonder-themed offering.
Of course, the most fun you can have in a game like this is with friends (or anonymous enemies), and the suite of multiplayer options present ticks the majority of boxes. Aside from Adventure, you can play all of the modes with up to either two or four players, and there are also a number of options to play online or via local wireless play – including Nintendo’s handy GameShare feature where others can join in on their Switch 2 or even Switch 1 console without needing to own a copy of the game.
Almost my entire run of multiplayer in Fever has been locally with my partner or friends, as I’m afraid to report that I am not skilled enough to bout with the folks I’ve come up against online, but I can absolutely see Ranked play having a healthy tail based on how intense it is over there. Hopefully Nintendo chooses to support these options long-term with a decent amount of new content and updates.
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 | Review copy supplied by Nintendo
Great
- Fever Rackets add a heap of frantic fun
- Great roster with some truly goofy inclusions
- Super slick presentation
- Trial Towers are an addictive aside
Not great
- Adventure Mode is not great
- Actual tennis is sometimes lost in all the chaos