And, relax. After a year of near-silence, we can rest assured thatMario Tennis for the GameCube is still on track, looking, big, boldand better than ever before.

 

Early shots indicated that the sequel to the superb N64 original would have a fair degree of realism - well, as realistic as you can get whenplaying tennis with princesses and giant turtles - but the latestscreens show Mario and co. going back to what most of us love best -pure innovation, insanity, and entertainment.As with Double Dash and Toadstool Tour before it, Mario Tennis takeson the vivid, vibrant graphical style of Mario Sunshine, with detailsacrificed for colourful environments and quite frankly stunningcharacter models.

 

Not much gameplay-wise is known from the early information, butscreenshots imply that Mario Tennis GC will have more of a focus onmini-games and extra side-challenges than the previous game, but goodold fashioned tennis will be the main order of the day here. Or willit? Some of the shots released show our favourite plumber swinging agiant hammer around, akin to the one used in the original arcade gameDonkey Kong, as opposed to a tennis racket. This seems to suggest thatthe characters will be able to unlock and select new, alternaterackets, similar to the weapons system in Soul Calibur 2. Does thismean Mario Tennis might follow this trend, and have some kind of storymode? Perhaps, but let's not forget - sports games ain't about thestory. They're about playing the game.

 

Not much has been announced as to the games multiplayer so far, butdoubtless you will be able to play singles or doubles with up to fourplayers. As to whether the multiplayer will be as addictive andplayable as the N64 incarnation - no worries there. Don't forget -Nintendo are making it!

A release date has yet to be announced at the time of writing, so itlooks like we'll have to play the waiting game again. Still, at leastwe won't have to wait another year to play it right?