As a kid, this was easily my favorite Mario Sports outing, even over Mario Superstar Baseball (which, like I mentioned before, I only recently came to appreciate). Revisiting it really hammers in that, yes, there really is something to Power Tennis.

Revisiting this around my Mario Tennis 64 playthrough really hammers home how much has been improved. Gameplay overall feels a lot tighter, and I feel like I have way more control over where the ball's going. Characters feel markedly different from one another, even within the same character class. This is in large part due to the Power Shots, that high concept that the original game sorely needed to keep things interesting. Power Shots are often character-defining, but they're far from the only unique thing each character has going for them - think of them more as your inroad to each character.

The unlockable characters most clearly exemplify this, so let's run through them. Petey Piranha is a fairly standard Power character, with low movement and high volley speed, Petey is so huge that he barely needs to move around. Paratroopa this time around is a Technique character, but he has a ridiculously fast lunge that lets him catch tricky shots from his opponents. Fly Guy can fly like a helicopter, so he always faces forward - no need to account for turnaround time when chasing the ball. Wiggler is my favorite inclusion - he's a very inspired character pull/redesign, whose long body means he has little trouble keeping on top of the ball. There's a strong sense that who the characters are factors into their individual styles, on top of the classes they slot into.

I also have to say, I'm extremely impressed by what the game is as a celebration of the extended Mario franchise. This is definitely something I didn't catch as a kid; before, I saw that there were TWO dumb Mario Sunshine courts and thought they were just giving the new game needless lip service. And, like, I'm not gonna pretend that the Ricco Harbor (oh, sorry, Gooper Blooper) Court doesn't seem excessive to me.

But, like, lookit the other courts! The Luigi's Mansion Court is to be expected, perhaps, but what about that Donkey Kong court, with Klaptraps and Kritter models pulled from Donkey Kong 64? A Wario court themed after WarioWare but with Wario World music? A court themed after arcade Mario Bros., specifically? Oh, but you might think, that's all well and good, but there's no Yoshi court. True, but Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Story get their due. Shy Guy turns into a Spear Guy for his Power Shots, Wiggler turns into Flutter, Fly Guy exists... heck, Thunder Lakitu of all enemies shows up on the Donkey Kong court! The team could've picked any number of enemies for the desired effect, but no, they went with such a specific Yoshi's Island character. The game sort of presents this vision of what a greater Mario series celebration could look like, and all this exists in some random tennis spin-off, not a tentpole anniversary title.

...Wario Land 3 music plays at one point! Would've thought for sure that game was on the fast track to obscurity at this point.

I think these days I do ultimately prefer Superstar Baseball, for the sheer depth of mechanics at play. But this is an easy runner-up! My favorite turn at the wheel Camelot's had with these characters, at least of what I've played. Would love love love to see another game like this someday.

...a new OC would've been fun for this game, like when we got Waluigi in Tennis 64. Walpeach would explain a lot of stuff here, but I also like that rejected Potato character, she coulda been fun.

I blame the podcast "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" for this playthrough. Mike Nelson and Conor Lastowka had just started reading Ernest Cline's "Bridge to Bat City", and they glommed onto the oddly specific details of (1) main character Opal playing Atari games with Buddy Holly music in the background and (2) Opal's uncle gifting her a copy of MegaMania before taking her to her mother's deathbed. Figured it was worth giving that a go.

Strictly speaking, developer Steve Cartwright got the idea for this game off Astro Blaster, not Space Invaders. But Space Invaders makes for a fairly easy shorthand these days: fixed-screen space shooter dealing with waves of alien enemies, where each of the enemies is modeled after normal Earth things (in Space Invaders' case, sealife; in MegaMania's case, food and household objects). On top of the waves of enemies moving in different patterns (and some decent stuff there - I like seeing the Space Dice roll through), the gimmick for MegaMania is its Guided Missiles in Games 1 & 2, which follow the player's movements.

This ain't bad, but it is strikingly weird. Straightforward enough to program, since it's basically just applying the player's movement to a second sprite, but pretty different from how a lot of games think of their projectiles. I can't tell you how many times I went to line up a shot and retreat from counterfire, only for this to make my missile weave around the enemy. You kind of have to play less defensively than you do in a lot of these space shooters to make the Guided Missiles work. Kinda different than my usual playstyle, but not bad - gives the game its own identity, firing and tracking down an enemy to line up your shot. But if you're not a fan, you can just pick Games 3 & 4 for Straight Missiles, which completely ignore the player's inputs. Nice to have the option.

I kinda wish there was more of a story to this. It's ultimately pretty inconsequential, since a lot of these early games don't really need a narrative, but I love seeing how much effort Atari would put into manuals of this era (the Swordquests and Yar's Revenge come to mind). I haven't played a lot of Activision's efforts in this era; maybe this was pretty typical for them? Nice of them to actually credit Steve Cartwright, though.

Let the record show, my play improved substantially after I muted the game audio and played Buddy Holly's "Everyday" in the background, so maybe Opal's onto something. Ended up with over 62,000 points, so per the manual, I am eligible to become an official MegaManiac. I expect Activision to send me the official emblem in the mail in 8 to 10 business days.

Trades the prequel's strong theming for mechanical adjustments. This isn't to say theming isn't present; the story and characters are way more prominent this time around. But it's clear Lightweight was interested in cleaning up the fighting game experience this go-around. Controls are simplified, weapon differences are more pronounced, and certain characters even have unique stances - for example, Gengoro trades the standard katana mid-stance with an iaidō moveset. Which admittedly seems redundant in a game where any strike is a killing blow, but heck if it ain't fun.

I would've thought for sure that POV Mode would've been removed in the sequel, but it's actually been expanded quite a bit. Most of the core modes have a version of it available, and wireframes have been added for the player character. It's kind of a strange effect, since it's not true first-person anymore, but it works once you get used to it. Actually, the player character's tendency to look at the opponent is useful for orienting yourself. The Story Mode bosses are especially obnoxious in POV Mode, though.

Oh, yeah, the story mode's final bosses. In an interesting move, each of the respective final bosses has a unique gimmick: characters of the Shainto school fight a final boss who teleports away from every strike, while the Narukagami students face off against an armored final boss. It's an interesting idea, where the former tests your ability to double-strike (since dude's vulnerable while recovering from his teleport) and the latter tests your ability to literally stab him in the back (as he isn't armored there). Though in practice, it feels like more of an annoying binary check than a proper test. Ah, well.

While I appreciate everything done to streamline this game's experience, I do kinda feel like the deliberate intentionality of the original's been lost. The Bushido Code only really exists from a narrative perspective, since it's not reinforced by the gameplay. There aren't any branching paths, save the Shainto students getting to renege on their whole revenge plot at the last second. Even the buttons have sort of lost their purpose, since you no longer have that cool rise/fall, advance/retreat effect from the first game; parry is done automatically, and the stance-shift button is now separate from the raise up/lower down buttons.

I still like this game, and I think that if you're strictly interested in multiplayer/fighting game shenanigans, this is the one to look to. But I probably prefer the tone of the original a bit more. Theoretically, you'd have a complete winner combining the two games' approaches, but as a little duology, it ain't bad, either.

A few things that made me go WTF - a lady in underwear gunning me down with an M-16, a funky black guy in an afro and shades inexplicably showing up in this bushido story, Black Lotus turning into the Phantom of the Opera and developing a pronounced Irish brogue, a very rude Kilroy showing up on one stage. Game's kinda weird.

I’m given to understand that Camelot’s handheld golf outings are actually quite good. They’re the basis for the excellent Golf Story, after all - little RPG narrative adventures where you build up the player character’s stats over the course of a fun golf training arc. I think Mario Tennis GBC is going for the same sorta thing, but as it turns out, the effect doesn’t translate across sports.

It bears mention before getting into what Tennis GBC does with its campaign: the main issue at play with this game is how rough the AI is. It’s actually extremely easy to cheese it here, particularly in Singles: do a drop shot to one corner of the court, then either smash a return or do a lob shot to the opposite side. The AI naturally responds to the drop shot by running up to hit it, and most AI opponents lack the reach or speed to respond to this trickery. Once you figure out how to do this, and once you fall into a good cadence with this, most opponents are helpless before you.

It turns out that this is sort of a blessing in disguise. Annoyingly, the standard match length in the game’s story is 3 Sets, 6 Games per Set. For comparison, console Mario Tennis I don’t think ever forces the player to do more than 2 game Sets? Starting out the gate with best of 3 Sets and moving into Best of 5 Sets just feels like padding. I don’t even really like it when console Mario Tennis does that, but the gameflow is at least fast enough in console tennis that a climactic 3- or 5-Set Match feels like a well-paced struggle. Everything moves sooooo sloooooowly on GBC.

You also gain EXP and stats from minigames rather than standard tournament play, so you’re expected to intersperse these slow-ass games with slow-ass grinding sessions. In my experience, Mario Tennis GBC ended up being something to play while I had something else on out of necessity; I actually spent a decent amount of time playing this while meeting up with some out-of-state friends, while we were just loafing around and watching TV. I sort of have fond memories of the game for that reason, but boy does the game not earn it.

Speaking of earning things, you have to earn the right to get Mario characters into the game’s primary narrative! You spend most of the time in a rookie-to-success string of tournament arcs amid OCs, and it’s only after you clear the final tournament that you get the privilege of traveling to the Mario World to face off against interdimensional tennis superstar Mario (and Peach, in Doubles). I don’t necessarily object to relegating the Mario cast to legendary figures you have to earn the right to play against, but there ends up being no references to Mario until the credits roll like two or three times, grinding out the campaign. It’s a very curious decision to make in a game called Mario Tennis.

And it’s hardly the most important thing, but since Tennis is such a limited sport compared to Golf, it takes to having stapled-on RPG stats a lot less elegantly than Golf does. I know I would’ve ground things out, but for the life of me I can’t remember what nuance these stats added, on top of making me able to compete with the higher-end foes.

Looking at what the game offers, I’m willing to accept that I’m inherently missing something by playing Mario Tennis GBC in a vacuum, as a lot of its side content ties in to connecting the game with the N64 console version (transferring characters and mini-games, etc). I think of how it goes for Pokémon Stadium, where the intention is that the console game benefits from its connectivity with the handheld game. But Pokémon Stadium still represents a largely complete experience even without the handheld games. I guess Mario Tennis GBC can stand alone, but there's so little to it that if you're not inherently sold on the core loop of playing slow tennis with some dude against easily-duped boofheads, you're just wasting your time. Too bad.

Years ago, on a Super Mario messageboard I used to frequent (Lemmy's Land Forums), we played this elimination game involving like 50 different Mario games. The idea was that each person would "Save" one game, so at the end of the round, the last game to be "Saved" would be eliminated, and play would restart. I dunno if this sort of game is really played much anymore, but it's the sort of thing you used to see all the time on messageboards. Anyway, this one guy really liked the original Mario Tennis - if I remember correctly, his love was based entirely around playable Paratroopa - and would make a point to rush in and "Save" it at the top of each round. It got to a point where "Save Mario Tennis" became an in-joke around the community, and any time Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64 was mentioned, someone would be quick to "Save" it. Or that just became the name of the game itself: "Save Mario Tennis".

I mention this because, after a few non-starter attempts at unlocking both characters and one finally successful one, I can't really get the adoration for this title.

Mario Tennis is an extremely important Mario game. Since Camelot needed to pad out the roster with Doubles partners, the team got creative with their picks for playable characters. This is the game that introduced Waluigi as Wario's Doubles partner, and while that's not the move I would've made (personally I probably would've stuck Captain Syrup in there - yeah, they're enemies, but that's what Wario deserves), I'd be lying if I didn't say I loved what the lanky loser has become over the years. This is also the game that brought back Princess Daisy and Birdo, elevating these two supporting ladies into fairly prominent roles going forward (as well as cementing the pairings of Daisy/Luigi and Birdo/Yoshi). Playable Boo and Shy Guy would become common sights going forward, but this is where they got their start. Yes, Paratroopa over Koopa Troopa is a fun pull, even if it was probably just made because animating flight is easier than animating walking. The only real non-starter advanced by this game in the roster department is Donkey Kong Jr., since Diddy Kong would make for a far more logical Doubles Partner for DK going forward and Petey Piranha would fill in as the usual fourth Power character - but DK Jr. is a fun inclusion all the same, just someone who wouldn't see much of an expanded role in the future.

But I'll be honest, the roster is the main thing Mario Tennis has going for it. Apart from that, the game is shockingly dry as a tennis simulator. Yeah, it lets you play tennis, and yeah, the characters have some different properties, but that's pretty much it. I guess if you really like regular ol' tennis, this is a decent enough simulator for that, if a bit stiff - I never feel like I have as much control over the ball as I want (but then I mostly play Speed/Power/Tricky characters). Personally, I find the whole thing pretty wanting for some sort of high concept, even if it's just a big aesthetic change in one of the courts. For goodness sakes, all of the unlockable courts are just reskins of the regular court with JPEGs of the Mario cast printed on 'em! Playing this after growing up with Mario Power Tennis, it was a huge disappointment.

The side content is a'ight, but pretty limited, especially for singleplayer. Ring Shot is probably the game at its mechanical strongest, since it teaches the player how to rally, and there's a nice tense cadence to building up points. Piranha Challenge is okay - fun to see the Piranha Plants doing something, even if they're basically little more than pitching machines here.

Bowser Stage is a fun idea and a weird assertion of Mario Kart in a non-Mario Kart setting, but I actually find the items themselves a little lackluster. The issue with using Mario Kart items is that you think they'll do Mario Kart things, so I kept trying to use the Starman to tank hits when it's just a power-up in this game. Shells are probably most interesting, since both lock down where the opponent's able to move, but they can't hold this mode on their own. Actually, it's the stage itself I like best, since it has a gimmick of leaning towards whichever side's weighted down - really would've liked to see more courts experiment with gimmicks like this.

I like the idea of Mario Tennis more than I like what it actually does, I think. Tennis is a sport I like to play, and the idea of stapling Mario characters on in there is a fun idea. I especially like the consequences the game's had on shaping the series, perhaps more than any other non-mainline Mario game outside some of the Mario Karts. But as its own thing? I'd much rather Save a later Mario Tennis.

My context for the original is pretty limited, but this sorta feels like one of those where something's been lost in the remake. Granted, as I understand it, the original Panzer Dragoon was very much a title whose significance was rooted in the era of its release: an early must-play title for the SEGA Saturn, ethereal and artistically-driven in a way games generally weren't at that time (heck, on the Saturn alone, NiGHTS into dreams... was still a year out). A compelling showcase of mechanics it was not, particularly in hindsight. These days, so many subsequent rail shooters have developed the genre far beyond the scope of the original Panzer Dragoon.

I guess with that, the idea of a Panzer Dragoon remake is in an unfavorable position. It is perhaps necessary, given how little we've seen of the SEGA Saturn since its heyday and how unlikely we are for SEGA to put out a proper Saturn compilation. But there isn't really a good way to reincarnate this sort of game. The original soundtrack/visuals no longer hold the same effect, so simply having those wouldn't work. Overhauling the art direction loses the original game's identity, particularly since so much of it was rooted in the technical limitations of the Saturn. Arriving at an art style that holds the same effect in modern day that the original had in its era would require a huge budget...

...and what we got was a budget title. Developed in the Unity engine! Unity is a perfectly serviceable game engine, but there's something a little homogenizing about rebuilding a one-of-a-kind video game in a stock engine. It'd be a little like trying to recreate Chrono Trigger in RPG Maker. Could you do so? Perhaps, but the heart and soul of Chrono Trigger lies in the specific way it was presented.

This is all to say - Panzer Dragoon Remake is okay, but it's over and done with pretty quickly. There is novelty to having access to a version of this game in modern day, but I don't really feel like I've gained anything for the experience, just that I can say I've played it now. I think I would've rather had an untouched "museum" release that helped place me in the reality of the original release. Is that asking for too mych? I dunno, but with what we got, I don't feel any less need to look for the original Panzer Dragoon on Saturn now that I've gone through the remake. Seems like we've missed the thrust of the exercise here.