POSTED 24/5/12


MARIO TENNIS OPEN

Nintendo
3DS

You know Mario’s fave tennis venue, don’t you? Why Flushing Meadows, of course... BAM!

Yes, the plumber with more gigs on the side than Cheap Trick had gigs not on the side is back, this time for a spot of racketeering, erm, racqueteering? Whichever’s more UK Englishy, ’cos we care about shit like that.

We also care about fun tennis games, and Mario Tennis Open definitely fits the bill. Somewhat reminiscent of Mario Kart – well, with fwooshable frames strung with catgut rather than motorised vehicles - you work your way through various cups for ultimate supremacy. BWAHAHA! Naturally there’s a solo option, whereby you can be a classic Nintendo character or, if you’re thinking “I’ve gotta be Mii!”, you can be.

There are multiplayer options either locally (wirelessly, rather than on the same 3DS, obviously) or online, as well as side quest minigamey things that offer a quirky break, including thwacking fuzzy balls at the original NES Super Mario Bros – much like the diversions in SEGA’s otherwise quite serious Virtua Tennis series, although we didn’t spot any pirate ships.

Despite the courts pillaging several classic Mario holiday destinations, you can play a fairly straight tennis game, with different buttons, and combos thereof, offering varying shots. Or, you can waggle the 3DS about stabbing at big squares on the bottom screen to take shots, but that acts pretty much as an amusement Dyson. There are also power shots achievable by being on the right part of the court at the right time, including a bendy shot that’d make Isaac Newton pop his clogs. Uh, should he not have already popped them already some 285 years ago.

It’s not the greatest tennis game. It’s not the greatest Mario game. But Mario Tennis Open is good, simple fun that’s more solid than, erm, something that defies flushing.

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