Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash features 25 different unlockables in the game, with them being able to be unlocked in two different ways. It’s latter-half namesake, for instance, comes as a power shot when your opponent mistimes or misplays a volley. There’s Mega Ball, which is Single or Doubles tennis with Mega Mushrooms being thrown around, Classic Tennis which is the former minus Mega Mushrooms, Mega Ball Rally where you simply see how many times you can rally an oversized tennis ball, and Knockout Challenge where you face opponent after opponent, with the option of having an amiibo companion to level up and compete alongside you. amiibo take a more linear approach to learning than in Super Smash Bros., with every five or so games giving your pal a stat-increasing badge. For example, slice shots curve drastically around opponents, while chops die nearly after the first bounce.
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The biggest change is the Mega Battle mode, where players have the chance to become huge versions of their characters by collecting mega mushrooms throughout a match.
Here’s the most challenging task of the four characters. You’ll get through this the fastest. Quirky mini-games of past titles are also disappointingly absent; with only a weak “longest rally” challenge where twitch-finger boredom is your enemy, being on offer.
In a press release, Nintendo confirmed new features and details on Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, releasing in North America for the WiiU on November 20th, just in time for the holiday shopping rush. Ultra Smash unleashed! Point for Mario and Luigi (and a few much-needed revenge). You can even take your skills online and partner up with one of many compatible amiibo in online doubles matches. It’s tough for me to understand why Mario Tennis leans so heavily into this feature when it stumbles so staggeringly. The first mindset revolves strictly around how the game plays; amicably. The game runs smoothly at 60fps. This lets you select between Relaxed and Serious play styles, which can be interpreted as unranked and ranked. Switch off the power-ups and turn this into a standard tennis game that happens to have Mario and friends in it, and you’ll have a blast for a little while.
Even the presentation lacks a few of the usual Nintendo flair. Because most button inputs are simple, there is no need to waggle for the Nintendo Wii controllers.
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash supports online play, but it faults here as well.
No options for private games or playing with friends online. I don’t know which party is most responsible, but Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash is an embarrassing, unfinished mess.
Despite the relatively small roster of characters available locked at 16, there aren’t any intros when the characters take to the courts. For crying out loud, the announcer doesn’t even denote which character wins a point; players are called “server” or “receiver”, depending on their position within the game.
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash performs very well on the Wii U, with fluid gameplay that makes movement on the court a breeze. All aspects of audio design are lacking, including the game’s very limited selection of musical tracks. It would be great, for example, if amiibos unlocked additional costume choices. It’s laziness, through and through, and it’s a theme that plagues the game’s major criticisms. If his ventures on the golfing green benefit from stripped-back play and his football-outings soar knee-deep in Mushroom Kingdom insane, Mario Tennis often sits uncomfortably in the middle; either dialing the Nintendo-isms too far (Mario Power Tennis) or not doing enough to separate itself as a unique offering (Mario Tennis Open). For christ’s sake, it’s 2015.
Outside of standard tennis games are three modes that put a different spin on traditional play, such as the aforementioned Mega Mushroom-centric Mega Battle option.
It sets up weird gameplay scenarios, including the Mega Battle + doubles format. There’s also no offline rankings and there’s no trophies or cups for winning per se, but your progress is rewarded with the quirky courses and a couple of characters unlocking as you meet certain play time criteria. The gameplay balance is so skewed towards the bigger players that its removes the enjoyment and necessity of teammates, inherently devaluing the experience.
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One thing Ultra Smash has going for it is that it’s definitely gorgeous. It would be so easy to write it off as an aggressively bad monstrosity, worthy of nobody’s time. But, at a barely-not-full-price game, it serves as an effective way for Wii U owners to get the pure, unadulterated “Nintendo characters, plus tennis” experience. As a result, motion controls have been left out of Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash entirely, which allows for a little more preciseness in the gameplay.
