Mario Tennis Aces pre-launch online tournament impressions

Mario Tennis Aces is fun for everyone

Ever since Mario Tennis Aces was announced back in January, I’ve not been able to get it off my mind. I’m not much of a Tennis fan but I’ve always loved the Mario sports games. So, as you can imagine, when Nintendo announced they would be holding a Mario Tennis Aces pre-launch online tournament, I literally jumped for joy.

This past weekend, from Friday morning until Sunday night, I spent quite a bit of time playing. As expected, the demo focused on learning the controls and playing against others from around the world via an online tournament. Based upon what I have played so far; Mario Tennis Aces is quite possibly my favourite Mario sports title to date.

Let’s take a closer look at what the Mario Tennis Aces demo had to offer!

Pre-order Mario Tennis Aces for Nintendo Switch

Make your move

If you’ve played any of the previous Mario sports titles, then you’ll feel right at home with Mario Tennis Aces. It has an arcade feel to it mixed with some pretty deep gameplay. The rules of traditional tennis apply and your various different shots are mapped to the controller’s face buttons.

Aside from your basic lob, slice, topspin and flat, you also have a variety of special shots and abilities, which are tied to your energy gauge. You can power up your energy gauge by performing trick shots and rallies. Once powered up you can perform Zone Speed, Zone shot, a Special Shot and more.

Zone speed allows you to slow down time to give you a better chance to react to an on coming ball from your opponent or to give your self time to plan a shot. Zone shot allow you to return the ball to your opponent to a specific spot at blazing speeds. And, when your energy gauge is fully charged, you can unleash a Special Shot that just might break your opponent’s racket.

What I love about Mario Tennis Aces is that just like ARMS it can be a deep and competitive game if you want it to be. At the same time, it’s easy to just pickup and play if you are looking to have a quick match against an online friend or locally with a family member.

An all-star cast of characters

The Mario Tennis Aces demo featured a total of nine characters. However, to begin with, Mario, Peach, Yoshi and Bowser were selectable. Mario is an all-around even character, Peach is technical, Yoshi is speedy, and Bowser is slow but powerful.

You can unlock the other five characters (Waluigi, Toad, Spike, Rosalina, and Chain Chomp) by using the points you earn from winning and participating in matches. Overall, I felt that there was a good variety of characters that appeal to all types of players. When the game releases on June 22, 2018 there will be more than 15 playable characters. I am looking forward to spending more time with all of these characters come launch time.

Online play

The main focus of the Mario Tennis Aces demo was online play. I am happy to report that I had little to no issues at all playing against opponents. I rarely encountered lag and once in a blue moon I would get paired up with someone that had a bad connection.

If Mario Tennis Aces can provide a solid online experience like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, ARMS or Rocket League, then we are truly in for a treat.

Final thoughts

Now that I have had a chance to play Mario Tennis Aces, even though just one mode, I am totally hooked on the game. Regardless if I won or lost, I could not put this game down. In addition to the game’s Tournament Mode, the full version of the game features an Adventure Mode, Swing Mode, and Free Play modes.

Needless to say, Mario Tennis Aces is looking very promising. It is a game that I can hardly wait to play when it launches on June 22, 2018. Stay tuned to the Best Buy blog for a full review of Mario Tennis Aces when it launches later this month.

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