Mario Tennis Fever Review is a high-speed rally that finally feels like a grand slam on Switch 2.
The Mario Tennis series has always been one of the most consistent of all of Mario’s sports games. The franchise has mostly given us tight, arcade-style tennis with a lot of Mushroom Kingdom flair, though there have been a few missteps, including Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash.
But Mario’s sports games on the initial Switch generation frequently felt polished but a little basic. Nintendo seems to have finally listened to what many have said about Mario Tennis Fever being out on the Nintendo Switch 2. This isn’t simply another game in the series; it’s probably the most full and mechanically gratifying Mario Tennis game so far.
The main mechanics are still easy to understand in Mario Tennis Fever.
There are different buttons for topspins, slices, and flat shots, and rapid two-button combos make drop shots and lobs happen. You can start charging a shot by pressing a button early, or you can double-tap for a power hit.
Getting into the perfect position, predicting your opponent’s return, and choosing the right shot type all create the rock-paper-scissors loop that has been a part of Mario Tennis for years. It’s easy to get into and have fun right away, but it’s also complex enough to reward accuracy and planning ahead. Switch 2’s quickness is sharper than ever, and its clean performance makes every rally feel seamless and planned.
Fever Rackets, the main new feature of Mario Tennis Fever, is what really makes it stand out. These rackets have huge effects on Mario Tennis Fever that change normal matches into wild shows. If you prefer a more traditional tennis experience, you can stay with a regular racket.
But if you want to go all out, you can get a Fever Racket. When the ball lands on a spinning fireball racket, it creates typical hazards that you have to avoid while playing. An ice racket puts slippery frost on parts of the court. A tornado racket messes up positioning and spacing in ways that are hard to foresee.
Other instances are just as creative. The Golden Dash racket gives you a burst of speed, so even the slowest characters can go across the whole court in a flash. The Shadow Racket calls up a temporary double, which splits your coverage tasks in half.
A Mini Mushroom racket throws mushrooms that make anyone who touches them smaller. A lot of rackets make hazard zones on your opponent’s side, like volcano eruptions, Thwomps that hover, and icy patches. These change how you play each volley. These mechanics might have easily made Mario Tennis Fever chaotic for no reason, but instead, they make the strategy more interesting.
Fever Shots need a full Fever meter, which fills up during rallies; timing is vitally important. You can’t just spam skills; you have to pick the right time to use them. Matches typically turn into stressful Fever Shot exchanges, as you and your opponent hit each other with stronger shots.
With each return, the suspense grows since whoever loses will have to deal with a grave situation on their side.
No matter how much show there is, skill is still the most important thing. You still need to aim properly, read where your opponent is standing, and control how fast Mario Tennis Fever goes. The Fever system doesn’t take the basics away; it makes them stronger.
Adventure Mode tries to connect everything into a single-player story. The story is about a big tournament in the Mushroom Kingdom that gets interrupted when Daisy gets sick. Wario and Waluigi recommend getting a miraculous golden apple, but their reasons are, as usual, suspicious.
Mario and his buddies are turned into infants by a curse, which leads to a tennis academy training arc before the main mission begins. The idea is cute and entertaining at times, especially when baby Wario and Waluigi act like troublemakers.
Sadly, Adventure Mode is also the part of Mario Tennis Fever that isn’t very good. A lot of the beginning feels like a long tutorial. You talk to Toad, follow a marker to a mini-game, finish it, and then go back to Toad before going on to the next task.
The structure can feel padded, even though the whole mode only lasts three to five hours. The cut-scenes are well-done and full of life, especially for fans of Super Mario Bros. Wonder will love all the references, like Talking Flowers acting as commentators and a Wonder-themed mini-game where you activate Wonder Flowers and gather Wonder Seeds during the match. Still, the real “adventure” is almost finished by the time it starts to pick up speed.
Adventure Mode also adds leveling up and improving your stats. Mini-games, quizzes, and ranked academy matches all help you get better. You get more experience and stat enhancements for finishing higher-level training challenges.
Even if you are getting faster and stronger, the upgrades don’t feel like much. At first, the levels give you a small sensation of growth, but by level 40, the changes are hard to notice in the moment-to-moment action. It gives you a framework, but it doesn’t change the way you play matches that much.
Mario Tennis Fever really shines because it has so many modes and unlockables. You start with six Fever Rackets, but you may unlock more by finishing tournaments, gauntlet-style Trial Towers, and other challenges.
There are 38 characters on the roster, including Baby Waluigi, who fans have been waiting for, and 30 Fever Rackets. Mario Tennis Fever doesn’t throw too much at you at once. Instead, it clearly explains what you need to do to unlock each character or racket, which makes you want to try different modes.
There are three tournaments each for Singles and Doubles, three Trial Towers that challenge you to win 10 matches before failing three times, and unusual modes like Ring Shot, where volleys collect points by going through moving rings. Forest Court makes the area you can play in bigger during rallies.
Instead of keeping score, players collect Wonder Seeds on the Wonder Court. Sometimes, a Wonder Flower appears above the net and causes pipes to move or Piranha Plants to sing.
Some courts, like the Airship, are mostly for show, while others have a big impact on how Mario Tennis Fever is played. The Waluigi Pinball court has bumpers and paddles, and the Racket Factory gives out Fever Rackets at odd times during a match. Each change strengthens the main mechanic instead of taking away from it.
The multiplayer part is still the best part. In most modes, local play lets up to four people play at once. This makes it a great party game for the Switch 2, along with games like Mario Kart World and Kirby Air Riders.
There are both Casual and Ranked modes for online multiplayer. Matchmaking is quick, and Mario Tennis Fever runs most of the time. Even though the first few sessions could have a few problems, the matches gradually settle into fluid exchanges that seem almost as responsive as couch co-op. GameChat works perfectly for voice chat, but players who are more competitive may want to turn off screen sharing to reduce distractions.
You may also detach the Joy-Cons and play tennis like in Wii Sports by using the swing mode. It works nicely and accurately recognizes your swings, but you can only use it in a different mode with fewer options. It seems more like a nice method to pass the time than a main way to play.
Mario Tennis Fever looks great on the Switch 2. The character animations are smooth and expressive, the courts are bright and vivid, and the hazards are full of color. The improved fidelity makes it easier to read during frantic Fever exchanges, so you always know what’s going on, even whether the court is covered in ice or exploding with lava.
The music is cheerful and lively, with appealing songs that go well with the fast pace of the game without getting annoying. Mario Tennis Fever improves the series’ core principles and adds a fun and versatile gimmick that really makes Mario Tennis Fever more fun.
Adventure Mode can feel like it has too much stuff in it, and the progression might not be that exciting, but this is the most comprehensive Mario Tennis package yet because it has so much content, Fever Rackets is so deep, and it has a great multiplayer suite. It sets a high standard for not only future games in the series but also for Mario’s other sports games on Nintendo Switch 2.
