Mario Tennis Fever Review: A Grand Slam for the Series

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The Mario Tennis games are consistently enjoyable among all of Mario’s sports titles. While Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash on the Wii U wasn’t a home run, most Mario Tennis games offer fun, fast-paced arcade tennis with the classic Super Mario charm. Mario Tennis Fever is the newest installment, and it delivers exactly what fans expect from the series – but with more content and a refined experience. Considering everything it offers, Mario Tennis Fever could be the best game in the series yet.

Mario Tennis Fever offers quick, fun, and accessible tennis action. The controls are simple, letting players quickly master shots like drop shots and top spins. You can enjoy a classic arcade-style tennis experience and easily spend hours playing. However, like other Mario Tennis games, it also includes unique and over-the-top features that set it apart from typical sports titles.

In this installment, Mario and his friends have access to special Fever Rackets that add a lot of unpredictable fun to the gameplay. For instance, one racket creates a spinning fireball that, when used with a Fever Shot, drops a classic hazard from Super Mario Bros. wherever the ball lands. This creates an obstacle for players and forces them to change their strategy to avoid it. There are also rackets that cover the court in ice or create a tornado, and these are just a few examples of the exciting new options available.

Image via Nintendo

The Fever Rackets in Mario Tennis Fever are a fantastic addition, making each match more thrilling and unpredictable. Any character can use them, allowing for lots of customization. While some traditional players might not like them, you can easily turn them off. I personally love the chaos they create! Although they seem powerful, skill still matters because you can return Fever Shots. In competitive matches, a back-and-forth exchange of Fever Shots can be incredibly tense – the player who loses the rally will have a tough time recovering.

Mario Tennis Fever is $70, But Don’t Worry, You Will Get Your Money’s Worth

Okay, so I’ve been playing Mario Tennis Fever, and honestly, they’ve really nailed the basic gameplay – it’s super fun and exactly what you want from a Mario Tennis game. But what really got me hooked is just how much stuff there is to do! They’ve got a ton of characters from the Super Mario universe, and after waiting forever, Baby Waluigi is finally here! Seriously, there are 38 characters total, and you can customize your game even more with 30 different Fever Rackets. Every match feels fresh because you can mix and match everything to find what works for you.

Image via Nintendo

Rather than letting players use everything right away, Mario Tennis Fever cleverly unlocks characters, rackets, and courts as you progress. The game clearly explains what you need to do to unlock each item – whether it’s simply playing a few tennis matches or finishing tournaments – so you always know what you’re working towards.

Image via Nintendo

Mario Tennis Fever offers a variety of ways to play, including special tournaments with rewards and challenging Trial Tower gauntlets. For a more relaxed experience, the Mix-It-Up mode features fun mini-games. All of these modes support local multiplayer, with most accommodating up to four players (though some are limited to two). The Switch 2 already boasts great local multiplayer games like Kirby Air Riders and Mario Kart World, and Mario Tennis Fever is a welcome addition. If you’re searching for an enjoyable and engaging local multiplayer game for your Switch 2, Mario Tennis Fever is an excellent choice.

Image via Nintendo

Yes, Mario Tennis Fever includes online multiplayer, and I’ve had a really good experience with it. You can play casually or in ranked matches, and I found it easy to find opponents quickly with a stable connection. While I still believe this game is best enjoyed in person with friends, the online features are solid and offer plenty of fun, even if they aren’t as comprehensive as some other sports titles.

Mario Tennis Fever’s Single-Player Mode is a Letdown

Nearly every game mode in Mario Tennis Fever is incredibly fun, and constantly unlocking new content keeps players motivated, no matter how they choose to play. It’s the best Mario Tennis game yet, but a single issue prevents it from being truly exceptional.

Okay, so I played through the Adventure Mode in Mario Tennis Fever, and honestly, it was a bit of a drag. It felt less like a real adventure and more like a really long tutorial. There are some cute cutscenes, yeah, but most of the time you’re just stuck at tennis school learning all the different shots. By the time anything actually happens, the mode is pretty much finished. It wasn’t a terrible experience, but definitely not the exciting single-player campaign I was hoping for.

Thankfully, the game is relatively short, so Mario Tennis Fever players won’t spend a ton of time unlocking everything. It took me around three hours to finish, but it could be much shorter if unnecessary parts were removed. For instance, you often have to talk to Toad and follow a talking flower just to get to a mini-game, then walk all the way back before starting another one. If the game let you complete mini-games one after another, it would be a lot less tedious.

You can play Mario Tennis Fever with motion controls if you want, but they aren’t as good as using the standard button controls.

Okay, so playing Mario Tennis Fever, I noticed a lot of stuff from Super Mario Bros. Wonder popping up! Those Talking Flowers are everywhere in Adventure Mode, and they even commentate on your matches, which is pretty cool. There’s this one mini-game that’s totally based on Wonder, where you hit Wonder Flowers and collect Wonder Seeds while playing tennis! As someone who loved Super Mario Bros. Wonder last year, I really enjoyed seeing those little references – it was a nice touch.

Image via Nintendo

While the single-player mode in Mario Tennis Fever isn’t very impressive, the game as a whole is excellent. It’s visually appealing with a great soundtrack, offers lots of enjoyable game modes, and gets the fundamental gameplay just right. Mario Tennis Fever is the best Mario Tennis game to date and raises the standard for future Mario sports titles on the Switch 2.

Mario Tennis Fever is out now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2.

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2026-02-14 01:42