Mario's Tennis is a tennis game that was released as a launch title for the Virtual Boy. It is the first tennis-related Mario game, and would later be followed by the Mario Tennis series. You get to choose from seven different characters, all with different ability levels, to play against each other in either singles or doubles matches. You can also play in an exhibition or tournament mode.
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very simple and barebones in terms of gameplay, yet a groundbreaking use of 3d technology way ahead of its time
Add that one to the list of “Virtual Boy game impossible to play on emulation because the 3D somewhat matters”
Mario Tennis is cool on paper but terrible in practice, I tried playing this game without the 3D effect and it’s IMPOSSIBLE to know when to hit the ball, maybe it make more sense with the 3D on or maybe it’s just really fucking bad in general
I can’t say much about this game other than “It’s not Wario Land Virtual Boy but at least Mario is in it though Wario isn’t.”
Mario Tennis is cool on paper but terrible in practice, I tried playing this game without the 3D effect and it’s IMPOSSIBLE to know when to hit the ball, maybe it make more sense with the 3D on or maybe it’s just really fucking bad in general
I can’t say much about this game other than “It’s not Wario Land Virtual Boy but at least Mario is in it though Wario isn’t.”
Extremely simple tennis game. The 3D helps a lot with ball position and is a novel idea for the hardware, but after 5 minutes the game starts to feel stale.
You can do a normal shot with A and a lob with B. If the opponent lobs the ball at you, you can press A or B while the ball is directly overhead to smash it back at them. That's it. Mario Tennis (the N64 one) introduced plenty of unique mechanics that set the series apart from other video-tennis games, but Mario's Tennis (this one) proceeds the N64 release by 5 years and has no unique spin on the game. It's literally tennis. If you still want to try Mario's Tennis I highly recommend playing as toad or koopa, as they have an automatic lunging move to hit tough shots.
I restored a virtual boy recently, and this was my go-to testing game since it was quick to start and was a simple game. However, if you own a modded 3DS, an emulator was released recently that allows you to play VB games with proper 3D support. The 3D effect is indistinguishable from the real thing IMO, and it also allows you to change the palette to whatever grayscale you prefer. If you're interested in playing any VB games at all, I highly recommend the Red Viper emulator!
Anyway, Mario's Tennis is boring. Go play the later entries.
You can do a normal shot with A and a lob with B. If the opponent lobs the ball at you, you can press A or B while the ball is directly overhead to smash it back at them. That's it. Mario Tennis (the N64 one) introduced plenty of unique mechanics that set the series apart from other video-tennis games, but Mario's Tennis (this one) proceeds the N64 release by 5 years and has no unique spin on the game. It's literally tennis. If you still want to try Mario's Tennis I highly recommend playing as toad or koopa, as they have an automatic lunging move to hit tough shots.
I restored a virtual boy recently, and this was my go-to testing game since it was quick to start and was a simple game. However, if you own a modded 3DS, an emulator was released recently that allows you to play VB games with proper 3D support. The 3D effect is indistinguishable from the real thing IMO, and it also allows you to change the palette to whatever grayscale you prefer. If you're interested in playing any VB games at all, I highly recommend the Red Viper emulator!
Anyway, Mario's Tennis is boring. Go play the later entries.
I’m just so bad at hitting a ball in video tennis/baseball. Even with eye-popping 3D I’m always whiffin’.
Mario sports matter is weird. There were games that actually uses iconic Mario characters on them while still feeling they were generic NES games not acting as proper Mario spin-offs, like Famicom Grand Prix or NES Open Tournament Golf.
This game was ofc experimental on using Virtual Boy effects but on the gameplay it doesn't play that great at all.
Mario Tennis 64 started to do things right and awesome. I wouldn't return to this, history sake aside.
This game was ofc experimental on using Virtual Boy effects but on the gameplay it doesn't play that great at all.
Mario Tennis 64 started to do things right and awesome. I wouldn't return to this, history sake aside.
I do think something is lost playing it without 3D (though perhaps it would still be hard to see in 3D), but it's actually a passable tennis game. Granted...it's tennis; kinda hard to screw it up.