In 2000, Camelot Software Planning, under license from Nintendo, developed Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64. It's always nice when Mario puts in an appearance on a Nintendo console, but the Mario Tennis name was prestigious already, having been something of a two-player classic on the Game Boy. The N64 successor lived up to the legend, providing a much-needed four player tennis game for the matured console. With gameplay whose accessibility belied its depth, competitors could choose one of m ... more >>

In 2000, Camelot Software Planning, under license from Nintendo, developed Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64. It's always nice when Mario puts in an appearance on a Nintendo console, but the Mario Tennis name was prestigious already, having been something of a two-player classic on the Game Boy. The N64 successor lived up to the legend, providing a much-needed four player tennis game for the matured console. With gameplay whose accessibility belied its depth, competitors could choose one of many characters from the Mario Brothers universe, with old favourites like the Princess and Bowser, down to more recent additions such as the frankly terrifying Waluigi. On top of regular singles and doubles tournaments, a number of other game modes were featured, testing players by challenging them to get the ball through hoops, return balls showered at them by piranha plants, and even play with bombs.

Following that, Mario Power Tennis came to the Nintendo Gamecube, also developed by Camelot. Now, following in that proud tradition of passing down the Nintendo ancestral line, Mario Power Tennis has hit the Wii. On a system that showed us Wii Sports Tennis but then left us hungry for more racquet swinging, could this be the game the Wii has been waiting for? The Wii version is the Cube title of old ported to the new system with (you guessed it!) a motion-based control system.

Mario and his friends (and enemies) serve, slice, spin and lob their way back into the limelight, and each one also has their own trademark outrageous special move. As you'd expect, up to four players can participate in exhibitions and tournaments on both normal courts and wacky, far out ones.

But there's also a crazy selection of minigames. Old favourites like Ring Shot make a comeback, and there's Item Mode that features items that you'd normally expect to see in a Mario Kart game. Other chaotic games star Ghosts, Chomps, Bloopers and Bob-ombs and there's even a mode where you paint a picture on a wall by hitting balls against it.

And as in the first game, players can progress to earn more modes and players, which should also contribute to the game's lifespan, so Mario Power Tennis should treat Cube owners with a timely dose of multiplayer fun. << less