Mario Tennis Aces

Should you pick up Mario Tennis Aces? If the answer wasn't immediately obvious already, that's a resounding yes. It's the best the series has seen in years, and that's saying something for this tennis fan. If you're looking for one of the best sports games the Switch has to offer, look no further. You've found it.

Mario Tennis Aces may have you bashing your head against the wall but Nintendo brings another great game to the Switch. Adventure Mode is a bit underwhelming; despite its infuriating difficulty spike, the story can be completed in just a few hours. Adventure Mode and COM Tournament mode are great precursors to the real highlight, the online tournaments. Going in, I did not think I'd be getting this incredibly enjoyable hyper-competitive experience. Playing people online is addicting giving you that "one more match" mentality that will keep you playing for hours.

Mario Tennis Aces features excellent gameplay, a solid single-player mode, and a lot of fun characters, but its at its bets in multi-player. There are some annoying issues, but even at its worst, Aces holds serve.

It’s a shame that the standard tournament and free play modes don’t offer a little bit more, but Adventure Mode certainly grows on you. It looks great, it’s bright, it’s colourful – it’s Mario. The challenges on offer are difficult but fun, and they’ll keep you going back until you master them. You can’t really expect any more than that.

Out on the court, Mario Tennis Aces is an extremely fun arcade tennis experience, colourful and dazzling to look at and smartly balanced in its back-and-forth play. With a little bit more care and depth given to the simple single-player mode and more variety added in the way of character and tournament customisation to give its multiplayer extra spice, Mario Tennis Aces could have been a true all-rounder. As it is, Mario Tennis Aces is still a lot of frantic tennis fun with friends.

What the game lacks in ambition and depth, though, it makes up for in the ageless pleasure and pain of a finely-balanced multiplayer battle. The ability to dip in and out for a quick, engaging match is a compelling proposition on a handheld. But after seven long years, it's a shame there aren't bigger ideas to rally around.

Mario Tennis Aces is a good tennis game let down by an Adventure Mode that often feels as though it's cheating you.

Mario Tennis Aces is the best Mario Tennis game in over a decade, despite a few hard-to-forgive problems.

Probably the best Mario Tennis game since the N64 era, but the trick shots can still frustrate and the story campaign is a disappointment.

Mario Tennis Aces has a chance at being a great game down the road. Right now, it’s simply good. The gameplay is as addictive as ever and the Adventure Mode is a great way to educate people on the ins and outs of Mario Tennis. It’s just missing features that, while small, make a world of difference when it comes to the longevity of the game. I want to play Aces for the rest of the Switch lifecycle, but right now it’s not giving me much of a reason to keep booting it up.

Mario Tennis Aces looks and performs as well as anything you’d expect from the House of ‘Tache, but its family friendly appearance disguises a brutally difficult single player experience that will surely alienate younger players. With a high skill threshold, it also loses out on the simple delights of pick up and play local multiplayer, but for those willing to put in the time and effort there’s still enjoyment to be found in its surprisingly challenging, albeit embellished, take on the sport.

Mario Tennis Aces Misses Wide