MARIO TENNIS ACES (Camelot Software Planning/Nintendo – Switch – June 22): Since the Switch brought Nintendo back into the most geekiest conversations with a killer launch year, including two of the most lauded games of two of the most iconic franchises ever (Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild) everyone’s been dying for the next big quadruple-A, iconic, Nintendo mega hit. There’s a lot of huge names being announced, or rumored, that are getting a lot of well-deserved internet-speculation play: Super Smash Bros, Pokemon, even the idea of a Star Fox kart racer has got people talking. But it seems everyone is sleeping on the huge Nintendo game that’s coming out the week after E3: Mario Tennis Aces, with its BRAND NEW TRAILER right here…
https://youtu.be/oKaUchyvPk8
A lot of people yawn at the idea of tennis sports game, or even tennis as a concept in general, but if there’s any type of sport that fits Nintendo’s unofficial “easy to learn, difficult to master” game philosophy — it’s tennis. They’ve done it well in the 64 area, and with the eye on quality Nintendo has had in the Switch era, they’re going to do it again. Even if the same developer made some of the franchise’s bigger flops, they’ve more than proven their willingness to give this title their all with the revelation of a Mario Tennis Aces franchise mode. I mean look at this:
There’s full on cutscenes, a variety of gameplay from interesting looking mini games, to full on off-court battles, to bosses. That’s right: A non-fighting, sports game boss. Obviously we can’t expect anything close to either Madden or NBA 2K’s career modes, but if anything, this is an indicator that developer Camelot intends to bring something meatier than they ever have before.
Mario Tennis truly hasn’t been Aces for awhile. The original game debuted on the N64 and was a critical and commercial smash, its Metacritic score currently rests at a 91 and it has spawned a franchise that has appeared on every subsequent Nintendo console, including all the portable iterations. Suffice to say that the game’s quality and novelty had started to wain, with its last Wii U installment’s MetaCritic rating dropping down to a measly score of 51. Hence, people have fallen right asleep on the idea of coming to Switch. But everyone’s weirdly forgetting one thing – they’re living in a Nintendo renaissance and Aces will be no exception.
The best news of all is that we won’t have to wait until E3 to hear from people who get to get hands on with the game. This weekend, June 1st to the 3rd, Nintendo is having a pre-release tournament that also comes with an online demo that’s already available for pre-load in the Shop.
-Myke Ladiona