Mario’s sports spin-offs during the Switch era have been mostly decent, but also, largely unsurprising. There have been few frills and largely anemic single-player modes, and the occasional experiment like Mario Golf Super Rush have been divisive. Mario Tennis Fever is the first in the sport spin-off genre on Switch 2, and a chance to set a new course for the company. After a hands-on with it at a recent Nintendo event, I can’t say whether it has course-corrected on the single-player, but the multiplayer is so chockablock with options and game-changing effects that I’m intrigued.
In fact, the main hook of the new game–the titular Fever rackets–have such wild impacts on the court that at times Fever felt more like a party game than a sports title. Our couch competitive experience was frequently interrupted by raucous trash talk and surprised screams as new effects totally changed the match mid-volley.
But first, the basics. A short tutorial explained the mechanics of Mario Tennis Fever, which are largely unchanged from previous tennis titles. You serve and volley just as you’d expect, and you hit the button early or double-tap for charged and powered-up effects, respectively. Mario and the gang look especially great here, thanks to the enhanced power of the Switch 2 and relatively limited scope of what’s on screen.
