As the pack-in title for the Virtual Boy, Mario’s Tennis is a really strange choice. The 3D effect in this is rather subdued, with the most impressive thing being when the scores are shown at the end of a game. The depth perception doesn’t really help that much, and with the lack of any shadow on the ball (due to the ground being black), you’ll spend your first 30 minutes of the game missing the ball every single time.

Over time, players may adjust to the timing, only to discover that Mario’s Tennis is a simplistic and unremarkable tennis game, notable only for being on the Virtual Boy. It’s slow, dull and has very few modes. On top of that, as the Virtual Boy was rushed to stores before accessories like the link cable were developed, it has no multiplayer functionality, which is a major issue for a sports game.

When you get a game bundled with your console at launch, you really want it to show off what the console could do, with either impressive 3D or gameplay that wouldn’t work quite so well without it. Mario’s Tennis failed at that and doesn’t offer anything beyond what Tennis on the NES and Game Boy already did.

Poor

The familiar Nintendo characters have been realised accurately and with good humour – they all waggle their hips as they wait for a serve and show both delight and disgust depending on the outcome of a point. The game’s 3D isn’t perhaps as effective as we’d expected – the court looks, well, virtual(ish), but the characters don’t quite achieve the same kind of effect.

Tony, Super Play #36

Remake or remaster?

Not needed for this one.