Another Nintendo Direct has come and gone, and as usual, it’s left several new games
behind in its wake, and of those games just happens to be Mario Tennis: Aces on Nintendo
Switch.
And unlike the barebones Ultra Smash on Wii U, there’s actually stuff worth analyzing
here.
So it’s time to boot up the ol’ analysis machine and see what secrets it might be hiding.
And right off the bat, or racket I suppose, we can see this is a major upgrade over the
Wii U in pretty much every way, not the least of which is the attention to detail.
In fact, this is the first time in Mario Tennis history that the characters have worn appropriate
Tennis attire, including polo shirts with visible buttons, shorts, tennis shoes, and
even visors leaving the character’s hair visible.
Waluigi has never looked so dapper, and Wario’s somehow looks exactly what I expected it to
be.
And the main characters aren’t the only ones dressed for the occasion, as the audience
members now dress up to support their player of choice, as we can see here with the matching
Mario and Wario hats and shirts, as well as occasionally waving flags.
It’s a neat ARMS-like touch.
And that audience is a lot more diverse than in Ultra Smash too.
Sure, Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Spike, Shy Guys, and Toads are all back--and in multiple colors
in the case of the latter two.
But on top of that, you can now also find Paragoombas, Paratroopas, Adorable little
Penguins, Bigger Penguins, Hammer Bros, and Sumo Bros.
Now granted,.
Most of that audience still look like cardboard cutouts, but closer to the court, you’ll
find some fully 3D characters cheering you on, as well as the support crew, including
Cameratoads, Boom Mic operators, the line judges, Lakitu acting as the ball boy or girl,
and of course, the Chair umpire, once again being a Toad in this case.
Although he’s lost his automatically swiveling chair from the last game and now has to exert
actual effort into the game..
And speaking of the court, the one in this stadium appears to be especially high-tech,
as it seems to be made of a giant screen, as the boundary markings light up and a quick
animation plays at either end featuring the player’s name up before the match begins.
In fact, screens can be found all around the court too, displaying various things depending
on what’s going on.
For the most part, they seem to function as colorful Graphic equalizers.
But they also display some other pertinent information, such as if you’re caught in
a tiebreaker.
Or at the start of a match, the closer ones will display your character’s name, while
ones farther back play an animation during your character’s entrance--which we’re
guessing is unique to that character since the one for Mario here is an old-school 2D
version of himself running.
Neat!
And speaking of which--yeah, characters seem to have actual intros now, ala the Mario Strikers
series, which is something we haven’t in the Tennis games up until now.
Although it’s possible these only show up at part of the game’s new Story mode--but
we’ll have more on in a little bit.
For now though, let’s talk about the gameplay--or as much as we can anyway.
I mean, it’s Mario Tennis, so you kind of already know what you’re getting.
So from the looks of it, the basics are all still there, such as how the color of the
ball’s tail still shows which shots are being used.
Purple shows a Flat Shot, Red Topspin, Blue a Slice, and Yellow a lob, all of which we
see here.
Oh, and Charge Shots are clearly back too--except this time with a much more obvious glow effect
when you do.
But what about the controversial Chance Shots?
You know, those colored glowing spots that appear randomly on the ground and power up
specific shots--that first appeared in Mario Tennis Open, and made their return in Ultra
Smash?
Well, I have good news and bad news--because it seems Chance Shots are back--but barely,
because we only ever see a single type appear here, being the Purple Smash ones.
Now that doesn’t mean the others are gone for sure, but it does seem unlikely that we’d
see no sign of them if they weren’t.
So it all seems pretty similar so far, but the announcer does say that there are “new
wrinkles that will challenge your ability to read an opponent’s position and stroke
to determine which shot will give you an advantage.”
Now we’re not entirely sure what that means, but we have a sneaking suspicion it’s related
to the brand new meters that each character has.
We can see them fill up a bit upon a successful serve--but that’s it.
Unfortunately, there’s just not enough gameplay here to see what else affects them.
However, we do get a glimpse of what might happen in the Piranha Plant mission scene,
where we can see Mario’s meter is maxed out and glowing blue.
Unfortunately, it’s still not clear exactly what effect it’s having example--if any.
Because maybe it’s something you have to activate once you have a full meter?
We did notice that the blue glow of a Charged Shot does look pretty similar to the glow
of that meter, so maybe they’re related somehow?
Or maybe this is where the final shot of the trailer, where Mario smashes the ball from
a Purple Chance Spot so fast, it breaks Wario’s racket in half--look, you can see see him
holding onto the handle as the head goes flying.
Now this seems way too powerful to be an ordinary move, so maybe this is what happens when you
fire a shot from the Chance Spot with a fully charged meter?
Well, whatever’s going on here, the screens even instantly change to mark the occassion,
displaying Mushrooms and Question Blocks.
And that’s all we can tell about the core tennis gameplay, so for now, let’s turn
our attention to the Stadium itself.
Because, unlike the game’s predecessor, Aces appears to have more than one Tennis
Court, it’s worth taking a broader look at the stadium which, which has a split roof,
through which you can see the night sky, as well as a blimp floating by.
In addition, there’s a big-screen TV at one end, and a giant spinning Tennis ball
at the other . Wait just a second...does any of this look familiar.
Yep, this arena is remarkably similar to the one and only from Ultra Smash, with the same
split roof, big-screen TV, and spinning statue Tennis Ball.
Aside from some tweaks and the night theme, this is pretty much the exact same stadium,
as you can clearly see from this angle.
Hmm, so either it’s seen some major investment in the last couple of years, or the developer
simply decided to reuse the basic design to save time & money
In fact, if we take a look at the zoomed-out version of the Stadium in the Story mode,
we can see some hot air Balloons surrounding it which--yep you guessed it--have the same
designs as those that appeared in Ultra Smash.
I’m onto you Camelot...
Anyways, this is the map for the game’s new Story mode, where you’ll travel across
the land engaging in different Tennis-based missions and boss battles.
The dots mark the path you’ve unlocked so far, and since we can see they start at the
stadium, it’s probably safe to assume that’s the starting point of the adventure.
Althoguh we can’t help but wonder, since it’s day time on the map, but night time
when we see the match inside the stadium, is it possible the time of day can change?
From there, you’ll cross a bridge to a larger dot--which could possibly be a mission that
the player’s already completed, but we think it may actually just be a Blank Spot to rest
on since it not only looks inactive compared to the dot seen at the Stadium, but also that
there’s nothing interesting around here--except for that rock behind the tree.
Anyway, even though we don’t see Mario finish crossing the bridge, we do get a glimpse as
to where the rest of the adventure might take him.
Because just ahead, the path branches off in a couple of different directions, one of
which leads to some ruins among these mountains.
The other path extends through a forest, where we can see some Piranha Plants awaiting Mario,
the first of which is right next to a Mission marker.
And we’re guessing that might be where this scene takes place, where Mario has to rebound
fiery tennis balls back at the Piranha Plants that are spitting them at him.
There are at least 7 Piranha Plants to deal with, but it seems a single hit will take
them down.
Now although the visible path stops here, we’re pretty sure you’ll have to take
on the Piranha Plant just ahead to in a similar battle.
But beyond that, well we can see some kind of stone structure right here, which we’re
pretty darn sure is another Mission Stop.
In fact, that’s probably where this boss battle against Petey Piranha takes place,
on account of the very similar stone-looking structure just behind him.
As for how you win, we’re not quite sure--this isn’t a typical tennis match after all.
So maybe you have to keep returning the ball until he misses, thereby taking damage?
Or maybe you need to land it in his mouth or something.
Whatever’s the case, there are a lot more plants here besides just Petey.
Along the sidelines, we can see normal sized Piranha Plants, Piranha Creepers--including
the sleeping one here on the left--and finally, these little guys, being the more rarely seen
Muncher enemy.
Now here’s something cool.
Even though this appears to be just a boss arena, you can actually see the outline of
a tennis court on the ground--which we think could indicate that this arena will also be
available for exhibition matches.
And that’s it for the boss, so let’s return to the map to explore where else the adventure
might take us.
And if we look just past that stone structure, there’s this odd looking peninsula that
also seems just the right size for another Mission marker--perhaps one involving a water
based challenge?
But heading back inland, we can see some kind of building with a tower near some creepy-looking
trees far off in the distance--perhaps an old creepy haunted mansion?
Maybe a...Luigi’s Mansion?
Unfortunately, that’s about as far as we can see before the giant mountain cuts off
our view--but hey, wait a section, there appears to be a depression inside that mountain.
So yeah, we’d be shocked if you don’t end up inside there.
Perhaps that’s where Bowser awaits?
And that covers it for Story Mode...except for this match against DK, which also takes
place during the Story section.
And based on the fact that it clearly takes place within a forest, well we’re guessing
you’ll find it somewhere within the forest on the map.
Shocking, right?
Now this arena’s quite a bit different from the other two, featuring a grass surface as
well as a net built around 3 Wrap Pipes.
And we’re pretty certain something’s going to pop out of them to interfere with the match--Piranha
plants perhaps?
Beyond that, we can see some a variety of creatures in the background, including Biddy
Buds in Yellow, Purple and, Red varieties.
Then we have a few different Yoshis, including a yellow one in a tree and another on a log,
and then a Pink one acting as the Chair umpire.
Oh, and right next to him is one of those white birds we see it all kinds of Mario games.
On the other side of the court is a white Rabbit, and a Goomba hiding in the back.
And finally, we can see a Toad hanging around in the far corner.
And with that, we’re just about done here.
But there are just a few more things I wanted to talk about.
So if we go back to the World Map, we can see some banner ads for various fictional
companies.
Now it’s hard to make them all out entirely, but it’s the one down here that says something
about “Boo” that got us wondering as to what other playable characters could be in
the game.
After all, so far we know of 5, being Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and DK.
So could Boo be a possible 6th?
Probably, considering he’s been in every other Mario Tennis game--but hey, I suppose
it could be related to that creepy looking building too.
Other obvious inclusions are Yoshi and Toad, both because they already have characters
models in the game, but also because they too have a history of appearing in these games.
I know, shocking stuff.
In fact, with all the similarities to Ultra Smash, we’d be surprised if most of that
game’s roster doesn’t return here as well.
Next up, based on the ruins on the map, we wonder if that could hint at some character
returning that’s often associated with ruins, such as Dry Bones.
And finally, we can’t help but wonder if boss characters might be unlockable as playable
ones too, such as Petey Piranha.
Granted , they’d have shrink him down a lot, but he was playable in Mario Power Tennis
on the GameCube--in addition, we do see him using Charged Shots just like the normal characters
too.
Now a possible point against this is that he uses his petals in place of Tennis Rackets,
but hey, DK uses his fists to punch baseballs, so who are we to judge.
And that's it for the characters, but there is just one more silly thing I wanted to now.
Now we already established that Camelot reused the stadium for Ultra Smash here, just with
some tweaks.
Look, it’s fair, I get it...but is there really any excuse for using artwork of Mario
on the TV that’s originally from Mario Party 6, nearly 15 years ago?
Really?
And with that, we’re finally done covering everything we could dig up on Mario Tennis
Aces.
But let us know if we missed anything by posting in the comments below.
And with that, thanks for watching and make sure to stay tuned to GameXplain for more
on Mario Tennis Aces and everything else Nintendo Switch as well