 |
|
 |
| |
Chad's First Mario Tennis Impressions
Time Played: 23 minutes
"Follow the white rabbit"
Right, well, if you've read my Editor Impressions you'll know that I really had no idea what to expect when everybody was raving about Mario Tennis. As the local Wal-Mart demo booth was broken, I never got a chance to even play it before release. And since I spent a few hundred dollars to fuel my eBay addiction over the summer, all I had in the way of game purchasing money was a Comp USA store credit for $107. Took Com USA a bloody nine days past release to finally get it in, so the anticlamatic status of when I bought it dwindled down my excitement a bit. I just walked in, did a little dance of enjoyment to celebrate that they actually had copies, picked it up, paid, and walked out. Got home, opened it up, moved the N64 from the computer to a TV, popped in the cartridge, and turned it on.
"Why, oh, why didn't I take the blue pill?"
Don't judge the game by its ultimately surreal intro. This is the basic nonsensical plot: Mario and Luigi are about to get into a fight with Wario and Waluigi, but Bowser falls out of nowhere and stops them, Boo at his side. Mario shouts "Oh-a-kay, let's-a all play!" Then a Bob-omb walks up to the gang and explodes, which ends the intro. A bit odd. I forced myself to sit through this before I got to the gameplay for some reason, but this is one intro I'll be skipping in the future.
"Unfortunately no one can be... told why Mario Tennis is fun. You have to see it for yourself."
The paraphrased words of Morpheus are so very true. I jumped right into Exhibition mode with Donkey Kong (me) vs. Mario (Satan). I lost the first two times, and became a bit discouraged. I played once more and won, and this heightened my spirits a bit. It's actually quite fun. From there I jumped right in to Piranha Plant Barrage-o-Balls, or whatever it's called. Kinopio Toad Man was insisting that I not get the balls past him and I did my best to get 25 out of 50 past. It was pretty hard. I didn't like Barrage-O-Ball-O very much, but so I decided to visit an old friend from Mario Golf. Ring Shots. The Ring Shots are incredibly fun in Mario Golf, and are equally so in Mario Tennis. So far this is my favorite mode. I beat the first opponent quickly, and I'm up to Birdo right now. Pressing B instead of A makes the ball easier to control, which gives you more rings more easily.
"It's a deja-vu."
The game has a multitude of modes and really is quite fun. I haven't had a chance to experiment with two-player mode, which is reportedly more fun, but single player is great on its own. The game is quite fast-paced, and the graphics are much better than Mario Golf (but that isn't saying much, really). At least they have those delicious realistic shadows. Gameplay is fairly quick to pick up on, but so far I haven't developed a technique other than button-mashing. The same was true when I first played Super Smash Bros., so I'm sure I'll get a strategy in time. There are significantly more voice-overs than Mario Golf, which is quite welcome.
"Are you saying I can dodge top-spins?"
"When you are ready you won't have to."
It's a wonderful game and a definite reccommended buy, but don't worry about getting it immediately. It's not quite as fun as reported (this is after only 23 minutes of playtime, mind), but can definitely hold its own. Maybe Bowser's court will be better. Looks cool anyway. In any case, Mario Tennis (along with the one mini-game which I have yet to find in Mario Party 2) will keep me quite preoccupied until late November when Rare comes out to shine. But that's basically what cameo games were invented for: Temporarily sating your appetite until Rare's next game.
"You are the One, Mario Tennis."
by Chad McCanna
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
