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Some of these outstanding, and highly recommended Special Games (I'm being sarcastic here, for the clueless) include the imaginatively titled "Short Game" (5 Points) , Tiebreaker (7 Points), Ring Tournament (you have to enter a code to compete; don't ask me where to find the codes, since I never came across one), and Demo Mode, wherein you face the ultimate challenge (to your patience, anyway), as the computer plays...and you watch! I imagine this function would be ideal for stores (though every one I visited which had Mario Tennis on display left it in the normal, playable mode), but why someone would want to watch this at home is beyond me. And the real kicker? You CAN'T exit out of the demo mode. You're forced to shut off the game entirely or hit reset. The real fact of the matter here is that unlike most other systems, which often send separate demos to the stores to promote their games, Nintendo (who never loses a chance to nail its youthful audience for another buck by requiring forced add-ons and extra components for a number of its games (each sold separately!)) was too cheap to do this, instead sticking what should have been a store-only promo on what ultimately ends up being the take-home version of the game itself. This is really unbelievable, considering the abovementioned "required extras" issue so prevalent in N64 games. Perfect Dark and Castlevania are just two examples of this marketing cheap shot (more blatant a crime considering that these are among the best games for the system). I'm sure everyone remembers how you had to buy (at extra cost, of course) an otherwise useless "memory pack" to play Castlevania; and could there really be a gamer out there that hasn't heard how in Perfect Dark you only get 35% of the game (and that doesn't even include the solo missions you played in stores!) without buying a rather costly (and with one exception noted below, otherwise useless) "expansion pack". The amusing thing about this is that for a few dollars (literally) more than the price of said "expansion pack" alone, you can get the pack as part of a package deal bundled with some crappy Donkey Kong game no self respecting person over the age of 8 would ever dream of buying. The genius of this marketing ploy is that the two games are practically mutually exclusive: either the preteen Donkey Kong fans are going to take up guns to play the Quake-style shooter, or more mature gamers are going to change their wicked ways and take up kiddie games. Does anybody else out there hear a "not likely!" right about now?
Continuing with the fun, let's remind everyone for the record that all the aforementioned "Special Games" are for 2 or more players, only. "Play Mode" includes Exhibition, Tournament, Ring Shot (where you aim for rings and get all the flags), Bowser Stage (which requires you to use items on a topsy-turvy court) and Piranha Challenge (where you face a barrage of balls from Piranha Plants). Exhibition mode allows you to play a game against the computer or against your friends (if you still have any after forcing them to play this game more than a few times with you). Tournament Mode allows you to climb the tennis ranks and win tournaments in the game. Ring Shot is one of those "fake extras" in the game where I didn't quite understand the purpose. There are four sub-games in Ring Shot: "Game", "Time", "Balls", and "Points". Essentially, all of these games are exactly the same - one long volley with the computer. There is only one variable: the amount of time, balls, or rings you have to collect. Why a person needs to spend so much time volleying the ball back and forth with the computer is something somehow beyond my limited powers of comprehension. As I understood it, the game of tennis was always about trying to win the point, not simply volleying back and forth. Watching a smash return is what people want to see, not a long overdrawn rally between two players. The Bowser Stage was an odd change of pace. Here you get to play tennis on a topsy-turvy stage filled with multi-colored cubes. Banana peels, lightning, and other obstacles could (supposedly) be called upon to make things tough on your opponent. Once again, however, I found that I had quite a bit of trouble calling up said items, but the computer had no trouble at all in utilizing them against me. The Piranha Challenge, despite its misleading title (it's really referring to a venus flytrap-style plant that spits tennis balls at you), is the only mode with any practical purpose whatsoever - namely, it offers good practice in returning serves. Unfortunately, you have to hit all of the 50 balls the "piranha plant" spits at you, and without letting whoever else is on the court alongside the plant return it. This is a great way to practice returns but the prospect of returning all 50 (without getting the balls volleyed back at you) makes beating this mode almost impossible. As you may have inferred at this point, most of the "Special" or "Extra" modes and games in Mario Tennis are anything but. They come off as "fake extras" placed there solely for the purpose of filling space in the game and to justify the high price of cartridge based games by attempting to fool the player into thinking there are many options to choose from, when in reality, there aren't (sort of like America these days, isn't it?). Ultimately, Mario Tennis is a bit of a bummer. While the goofiness of the characters (a few of whom are actually enjoyable and somewhat endearing) gives this a different angle from the average tennis game, the awkwardness of some facets of gameplay keep it from being as fun as you might expect. And too many aspects of Nintendo's increasingly cynical marketing strategies (padding the game with useless and pointless "extra" games, the presence of the store demo, etc.) shine through on or are brought to mind by this release for the adult, more worldly-wise gamer to ignore; leaving at least one dissatisfied game reviewer unable to just sit back and enjoy playing this very silly, overly expensive game. Highs: Two player mode is the game's one high point, and the place where you have your best shot at having fun with the game. Easy to pick up and understand, which should be a good selling point for the kiddies (or the very lazy). Lows: Mario. Characters that become corporate symbols are always lousy, but this one takes the cake. Once upon a time, he was a fun character who appeared (and later starred) in a few good arcade games, but somewhere along the way, Nintendo's favorite boy became the demented, somewhat offensive clown (with accompanying grating entourage) he is today. Character selection is rather limited, unless you're familiar with (and like) the usual cast of characters from Mario Bros games. For some unknown reason, the characters tend to "charge up" a lot, which freezes them in mid-dash (or mid-swing), indubitably causing the irritated gamer to miss returning the ball. Not only is this an essentially pointless "function" in the first place, but the sort of "mishap" I am referring to here occurs far too often during gameplay for my taste. More, it seems that once you commit yourself to moving your character in one direction, you're locked in: turning around mid-run doesn't seem to be in the vocabulary of the Mario characters, which makes playing anything approximating an actual tennis game nigh impossible. Final Verdict: Mario Tennis is a fun, if simple game for the tennis lover or for those few diehards who actually enjoy the characters from the Mario Bros. series. The controls are simple, but stick at times. The game doesn't have a lot of replay value. Definitely worth a rental, but the decision whether or not to purchase is totally up to you (if you don't mind competing against Mario and Luigi in EVERY tournament). Like most N64 games, Mario Tennis should be great for the kiddies; but unfortunately, there's not a hell of a lot for the rest of us to dig into here. Overall Score: 5.5
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