With just a month before the Mario Tennis Fever release on 12th February for Switch 2, Nintendo has shared a gameplay deep dive to reveal a bunch of the details to the latest Mario sports game.
Mario Tennis Fever is built, of course, around the core rules of Tennis with basic shots like Top Spin, Slice and Lobs, with slides and leaping shots to reach the ball… but this is a series that always brings something pretty extra. This time around it’s Fever Rackets, which can unleash all sorts of special shots and wild effects.
Having charged up your Fever gauge with a long enough rally, you can pull off a Fever Shot, with each of the game’s 30 rackets having a unique effect. These include:
- Ice Racket – Freeze a patch of the court
- Pokey Racket – Summon a Pokey
- Shadow Racket – Summon a shadow double to play alongside you
- Golden Dash Racket – Get a burst of speed to reach the ball
The tricky thing is that you can block a Fever Shot, so long as you reach and return the ball before it lands on your side of the court – Sneaky! The various Fever Shots that deal damage can also reduce your HP until you’re forced to take a time out. Oh, and in doubles, you can both unleash a Fever Shot at the same time.
There’s 38 characters in total, including all of the usuals and with a special shoutout for Baby Waluigi, Goomba and Nabbit. The full list is:
- Mario
- Luigi
- Peach
- Daisy
- Rosalina
- Pauline
- Wario
- Waluigi
- Toad
- Toadette
- Luma
- Yoshi
- Bowser
- Bowser Jr.
- Donkey Kong
- Boo
- Shy Guy
- Koop Trooper
- Kamek
- Spike
- Diddy Kong
- Bow-Wow
- Birdo
- Koopa Paratroopa
- Petey Piranha
- Piranha
- Boom Boom
- Blooper
- Dry Bowser
- Bry Bones
- Baby Mario
- Baby Luigi
- Baby Peach
- Wriggler
- Nabbit
- Goomba
- Baby Wario
- Baby Waluigi
Each has particular stats, but you can match them up with any racket.
There’s a bunch of modes to play in, from a standard tournament (now with commentary), to the tricky Trial Towers and Mix It Up mode, where you’ll have to play minigame modes like Ring Shot, Forest Court Match, Pinball Match, Racket Factory Match, Wonder Court Match (with Super Mario Wonder effects).
And then there’s the Adventure mode, which sees Mario, Luigi and chums all turned into babies. Now running around without your previous tennis abiliites, you’ll have to learn and train them all up again through the journey.
Of course, there’s a ton of multiplayer. Up to four players can play on a single system in split-screen, while there’s local wireless multiplayer, and support for GameShare (which also supports streaming to the original Nintendo Switch, even though this is a Switch 2 exclusive). Turning to the online, there will be both casual online rooms and ranked matches, while the more casual amongst you might like the motion controlled Swing Mode.
Mario Tennis Fever also has amiibo support, with various Mario amiibo changing the design of the ball used within play, but not actual gameplay effects.
