Funny to think this was the first Mario Tennis released, I have bad depth perception at the best of times so emulation is not helping my case I did not score once in the one game I played of it. Its intresting I can say that
One has to scratch their head and ask why Nintendo never re-released any Virtual Boy games on the 3DS. Yeah the console itself might’ve been hot doodoo, but this lovely piece of kit had the stereoscopic 3D to improve at least a few of its games by a landslide, purely on the merit of not having to play ‘em on an actual Virtual Boy, ironically.
Heck, I’d take this over Mario Tennis Open on the same handheld, cause at least the VB game isn’t automated to the point of tedium.
Heck, I’d take this over Mario Tennis Open on the same handheld, cause at least the VB game isn’t automated to the point of tedium.
very simple and barebones in terms of gameplay, yet a groundbreaking use of 3d technology way ahead of its time
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.
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.
Ok
Looks phenomenal, but the Virtual Boy's 3D is nowhere near good enough to support what they're trying to do with it here. Ball position is extremely difficult to read which obviously tanks the whole thing.
I played Mario Tennis for the Virtual Boy back in 1995 via the Blockbuster console rental system along with some other games. I remember being blown away by the "virtual' red and black graphics and enjoying the game despite not being the best tennis game in terms of gameplay. I enjoyed the Mario/Mushroom Kingdom-themed backgrounds and the 3D effect that Virtual Boy provided.
I now own this game (Japanese version) as a collectible and cherish my time playing this back in the day.
I now own this game (Japanese version) as a collectible and cherish my time playing this back in the day.
The very first Mario Tennis game!
As the first game in the series I think it does it's job well and plays a good solid game of tennis. The camera is pulled down to a lower level than your usual tennis game to make the 3D effect stand out more. Because of this, it can be hard to adjust to following the ball and timing your hits at first but once you get used to it, you'll get into the swing (sorry!) of things.
Shots are pretty limited in this with a basic shot on A and a lob shot on B. Smash returns are available if your opponent tries to lob you. Movement is on the d-pad and you have to be fairly accurate in your position and timing of your swing to hit the ball.
Mario's Tennis unfortunately suffers in a way similar to many of it's fellow Virtual Boy title - lacking in content. You've got 7 characters (the Super Mario Kart roster minus Bowser), singles and doubles modes and a tournament mode but without any trophies to win.... and that's it. It's quite telling how little content there is when the tournament brackets are uneven and doubles teams can't be filled out in a tournament without doubling up on a character. It's a shame because the core gameplay is solid, it would just be nice if there was a little more meat on the bones.
Mario's Tennis is a solid first entry in the Mario Tennis series, playing a solid game of tennis that is enjoyable in 3D. A lack of content however means there's little to keep you coming back to this for replaying which is unfortunate
As the first game in the series I think it does it's job well and plays a good solid game of tennis. The camera is pulled down to a lower level than your usual tennis game to make the 3D effect stand out more. Because of this, it can be hard to adjust to following the ball and timing your hits at first but once you get used to it, you'll get into the swing (sorry!) of things.
Shots are pretty limited in this with a basic shot on A and a lob shot on B. Smash returns are available if your opponent tries to lob you. Movement is on the d-pad and you have to be fairly accurate in your position and timing of your swing to hit the ball.
Mario's Tennis unfortunately suffers in a way similar to many of it's fellow Virtual Boy title - lacking in content. You've got 7 characters (the Super Mario Kart roster minus Bowser), singles and doubles modes and a tournament mode but without any trophies to win.... and that's it. It's quite telling how little content there is when the tournament brackets are uneven and doubles teams can't be filled out in a tournament without doubling up on a character. It's a shame because the core gameplay is solid, it would just be nice if there was a little more meat on the bones.
Mario's Tennis is a solid first entry in the Mario Tennis series, playing a solid game of tennis that is enjoyable in 3D. A lack of content however means there's little to keep you coming back to this for replaying which is unfortunate
Virtual Boy Complete - Game #9
I feel nothing towards this title. It has less depth than a Cool Math Game. Only two shots despite the VB being twin-D-pad, and no multiplayer. Doubles is fine enough I guess? but singles feels barren. It's not "bad" per say, as much as it is a null void that it's impossible to feel positively or negatively towards, so I think I have to give it a really low score. Gets an extra half a star for 1. not being 3D Tetris, and 2. Yoshi serving with his tongue, which is cute.
I will say there's a fun novelty to a major, multi-generational Nintendo IP like Mario Tennis having its roots on VB, and I do like the outfits, glad they brought that back for Aces.
I feel nothing towards this title. It has less depth than a Cool Math Game. Only two shots despite the VB being twin-D-pad, and no multiplayer. Doubles is fine enough I guess? but singles feels barren. It's not "bad" per say, as much as it is a null void that it's impossible to feel positively or negatively towards, so I think I have to give it a really low score. Gets an extra half a star for 1. not being 3D Tetris, and 2. Yoshi serving with his tongue, which is cute.
I will say there's a fun novelty to a major, multi-generational Nintendo IP like Mario Tennis having its roots on VB, and I do like the outfits, glad they brought that back for Aces.
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.”
I’m just so bad at hitting a ball in video tennis/baseball. Even with eye-popping 3D I’m always whiffin’.
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.
Lembro de ter experimentado numa feira de vídeo games e o 3D no hardware original é bem impressionante.
It operates as intended, however there’s much better tennis games out there that don’t cause migraines just from playing them as well.
somehow Ultra Smash is worse