Overall 9.2 Graphics 8.2 Sound 9 Addictive 9.3 Story 7.2 Depth 7.8 Difficulty 5.7
8.5
Could've been better but still a worthy sequel to Mario Tennis for the GBC gamerforlifefor..
Mario Tennis: Power Tour is the sequel to Mario Tennis GBC but is it a worthy sequel? It's time to find out.
Graphics: For a Gameboy Advance game the graphics are good but I've seen better for the system. For that reason I give the graphics a 7.
Sound: This game has a very good soundtrack for a GBA game. There are better soundtracks out there for the GBA but overall it's great so I give sound an 8.5.
Addictiveness: The tennis matches themselves are fun but unfortunately all of the matches in story mode have only 2 games per set. That's very disappointing considering that towards the end of Mario Tennis GBC matches had 6 games per set. Matches were much longer and more entertaining. One plus about this game is all the mini-games. The mini-games are so diverse and unique plus the fact that there's so many makes this game so intersting and fun. Also the addition of power shots really made playing tennis fun. I give addictiveness an 8 if they would've just made each set have more games in them this score would've been much higher. Oh well your loss Camelot.
Story: The story in Mario Tennis is slightly better than in the GBC game there are some funny moments. It could've been better but for a tennis game it has a great story. For that I give the story an 8.
Depth: The fact that each set only has 2 games takes away from the length of the game but the additional minigames and all the power shots you can unlock make up for that problem. For that reason I give depth a 9.
Difficulty: Some of the minigames are extremely difficult also in doubles mode the partner sometimes makes really stupid decisions and that can slow your progress. Single player is very easy to me. With all of that in mind I give difficulty a 5.
Overall: Mario Tennis: Power Tour added some really good ideas like mini-games and power shots but made some poor decisons such as making every match in story mode have 2 games per set. For those reasons I give the game a score of 8.5.
Graphics 7 Sound 8 Addictive 8 Story 8 Depth 9 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 08-25-14
Review Replies: 0
9
Mario Tennis-Power Tour mlb789
Mario Tennis-Power Tour is one of those games you have to play if you love Mario or if you love sports. The base of this game is to rise up the classes at your tennis academy, which are junior, senior, and varsity ranks. You also have the option to play singles or doubles matches, but you can play both during the story. Each rank has ranks, one, two, three, and four,and once you reach number one you go to the next class. At varsity class rank two, you are able to go to the biggest tournament the academy has to offer, The Island Open. The Island Open consists of eight teams in three rounds of single-elimination tennis, with the loser dropping out of the competition after he/she or he and she loses. If you win The Island Open, it seems like your game is over, when the game is in fact not over. After you win The Island Open, you are taken to a mysterious land where you get to play in this big tournament. The tournament involves the veiled players that came to the academy earlier, and beat one of the best players there.
Graphics: 6 The graphics in Mario Tennis-Power Tour are very pixel-like (in my opinion) and the characters are a little out of focus. The rest of the game also includes this out of focus tendency, but the graphics do not affect the game play in any way.
Sound: 9 The sound in this game is very interesting, as you even get to hear the grunts of the players as they hit the tennis ball over the net. The music of the game is a bit repetitive, which does not differ from other games on the Game Boy Advance system.
Addictiveness: 10 The addictiveness of this game surprised me a lot. I thought this game was going to be one I played once and never played again, but the way you progress through the story wanting to see who was behind those veils keeps you going throughout the game, and when you get to who they are, although who they are was pretty obvious, you still want to be sure. After you find out, you are likely to find yourself doing the other mode you didn't do in The Island Open, making you lose self of time while playing these games.
Story: 5 The story of the game is actually quite bland, as all you do is hop the ranks until you win The Island Open and the mystery tournament, and then you do all of that AGAIN.
Depth: 8 The game always allows you to play without starting the whole game over, which almost all sports games offer. After beating the campaign mode, you can play exhibition and mini-game mode, so the game just goes on until you get a new tennis game and start to play that.
Difficulty: 4 The campaign itself took me about 4 hours to complete in game time, and I used the vizzed plugin to speed the game up a bit. The game is very easy to play and you should have no problem beating it and having fun at the same time.
Overall: 9 This game is a very well made game with few flaws and fun game play. If you love to play sports or just plain love Mario, this is a game you must try.
Graphics 6 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 5 Depth 10 Difficulty 4
Review Rating: 4.8/5
Submitted: 11-12-11
Review Replies: 1
10
Mario Tennis Review Deadend136
Do you love playing tennis video games? Do you like the different characters in the Mario game series? Then this game is definitely worth a shot! This game allows you to play as the Mario cast and the graphics are better than average for other Gameboy Advance games which I have played.
Graphics: 9 Unlike other games for this console Mario Tennis Power Tour actually has pretty decent graphics. Now just a reminder this game is for the Gameboy Advance so if you want the most amazing graphics then you should not be playing any games on this console. You could use special moves which all look pretty neat depending on what character you’re using. Also the actual game play when you’re not in a tennis match still has decent graphics. So compared to other games for this console this game for its graphics definitely deserve a 9 rating.
Sound: 8 Usually I never play through games like this one with the sound on however; I found the soundtrack for this game to not be that bad. So I gave the sound for this game an 8 just because it did not give me a headache and also because in some points of the game I enjoyed keeping the volume up.
Addictiveness: 9 This game is very addicting but could get very repetitive very fast. I personally have played through this game a total of four times and by the second and third run through I had to finish it in a span of a few days just because of how repetitive it gets. The whole story is your character and its partner playing a bunch of matches against different opponents both in singles and doubles and there are a lot of matches to be played. So for Addictiveness I give this game a rating of 9 just because every so often I like coming back and playing this game and I always enjoy each play through.
Story: 8 So the story is pretty much about you (main character 1) and your partner (main character 2) trying to become the best tennis players in the school. You start out in the worst class (beginners class) and you work your way up. After both you and your partner become the best singles and doubles players in the school you then attend a tournament. The story is not bad but personally I have no idea who could make a great story for a Mario/tennis crossover so I am rating this game’s story an 8 for effort.
Depth: 4 Repetitive, repetitive, repetitive. The map is incredibly small and all you’re doing is going from the bottom class to the best players of the school. So the depth of this game I give a 4 just because some parts were longer than others but overall it was not that great.
Difficulty: 7 This game could get to a hard difficulty later on in the game but you get used to playing against harder opponents after a while. So I give this game’s difficulty a 7 if you’re playing this for the first time. Overall: 8.5 This game is a lot of fun even if you just want to play something for an hour. It may be repetitive but it is very addictive and its graphics and sound are a little better than average.
Hope you all enjoyed my review and any questions feel free to leave comments!
Graphics 9 Sound 8 Addictive 9 Story 8 Depth 4 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4.6/5
Submitted: 06-11-13
Updated: 06-11-13
Review Replies: 1
10
Addicting game for any mario or tennis fan devljin4ever
Mario Tennis: Power Tour is one of the most addicting game Gameboy has to offer.
The game revolves around two tennis players just transferring into a prestigious tennis academy. The two players (you choose one of them to play as) make their way through singles and doubles to reach the Island Open, the Triwizard Tournament of the game, held between four tennis academies.
As a tennis player, the game definitely meets my standards. As you progress through the game, you earn experience points, used to level up and raise your character's stats, such as power and speed. The game really forces you to distribute the experience points somewhat evenly throughout the stats, while still raising one enough to become more than average. The difficulty can be adjusted in-game. The hardest difficulty, "Technical", is not overly challenging, but forces the user to use every experience point wisely.
The gameplay itself is on par with most other Gameboy games. The characters are slightly pixilated, but the characters move smoothly, and have the capability of 360 degree movement. There is little voicing done in this game, apart from the character's grunts while playing a match.
The Story Itself is fairly short, clocking in around four hours, depending on how much time you spend on the minigames or training courts, and by how much you speed. However, I've played through the game many more times than i can count, to the point where I have memorized most of the scripting.
The game overall is one of my all time favorite games on any system. Every time I play through it, it brings back memories of myself playing it when I first started playing tennis to help build my strategy and shot selection. This game should appeal to anybody looking for a great tennis game, or a great game in general.
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 4.3/5
Submitted: 08-17-12
Review Replies: 0
10
A Swing and a Hit Barathemos
A lot has changed in the gaming world since Mario Tennis Power Tour was released on the GBA in 2005, but one thing has remained the same: the best Tennis game made. Following the success of Mario Tennis on the N64 and Mario Power Tennis on the GameCube, there were big shoes to fill, and the content provided in Power Tour rose to the occasion. Likely still my favorite Mario game to date (sorry Mario Kart and Kingdom Battle), Power Tour gave a new element to the traditional “Mario” game that I really enjoyed; not always having Mario, more on that later. Even 10 years after I originally played through the game, I still find myself coming back to the Play Your Games tab to load up Power Tour and get some quality tennis games in.
Overall: 9.8
Power Tour deserves every bit of the 9.8 I’m giving it, and you’ll find out exactly why below. The game is exceptionally well produced and delivers all of the facets I enjoy in a game. Quality story, quality character development and interactions, as well as great cameos from the classic characters make the game well rounded and overall fun to play. The game is made for both Tennis fans and Mario fans, giving you the best of both worlds. Power Tour started me off on my non main series Mario phase, which brought me to other games I really enjoy: Kingdom Battle and Aces.
Graphics: 9
Obviously in 2023 the graphics are nothing to write home about, but for a late 2005 GBA game, the graphics were incredible. While the game uses the basic top-down camera and drawing style, the additional effects added to the world and the in-match tennis effects are simply awesome. Not only does each special move have their own character and ball animation, but the normal swing and ball movement animations are flawless as well. The overworld, while not at the same level as later GBA games, still looks nice and is enjoyable to roam around while not doing specific tennis missions.
Sound: 10
The sound for the game is very crisp and fits well with the theme. The music selection is a wide selection of upbeat songs that make you want to play tennis and give it your all. Background music gives a nice pep to the game. In match sounds fit the game, traditional tennis sounds as I’m sure you could imagine. The audio mixing is well done and doesn’t fall flat at all throughout the game. In the championship matches, the music provides an excellent stage to play a close and fun match.
Addictiveness: 10
The game is addicting, even if you aren’t a huge tennis fan, which I’m not. The gameplay, especially the tennis matches, are interactive and fun. Every match is different and once you start playing against the Mario characters, every match has their own twists and turns added on. The story mode, while not having the highest replay value, is still fun to load up and go through the ranks of the tennis academy in a different way or see how hard you can beat people. I’ve always found myself coming back to the game when I don’t have much else to do or I want to play a more relaxed sports game.
Story: 8
The story is one I personally enjoy, following your character as you and your friends climb the ranks of the island’s tennis academy. There are the obvious antagonist characters that are always being a thorn in your side, but there really aren’t any bad characters and you’ll enjoy the ride. While the story isn’t exceptionally deep or have any profound meaning, I see it more as a way to learn the game with your own character before getting to the main replay value part, which is facing off against the Mario characters in the end game.
Depth: 8
Many people will judge the depth of the game mainly based upon the depth of the story, in which case it would not get such a high score, but when looking deeper at the depth involved in the tennis matches, there is plenty to learn and play. In the tennis matches there are multiple ways to hit balls, skills to add onto your hits, and special skills each character has that makes them unique. Along with this, there are different game modes to play different types of matches with many characters. There are also included minigames that can be used to earn exp for your character which adds an additional element to work through.
Difficulty: 6
The game isn’t innately hard, and like many other older games, there are ways to exploit it and sweep every match even on the hardest difficulty, but where is the fun in that. Getting to learn the game, which easy, does take time. Not knowing all of the different moves and combinations can make even the early game tennis matches difficult, and the end game matches are no joke either. And, as with any game released in the last 30 years, there are different difficulty settings that you can use to play at your own skill level. I personally don’t think the game is too hard or too easy, I found it right in the nice spot where you can win every match if you really try, but it is still easy to drop a few here and there.
Closing Thoughts:
Mario Tennis Power Tour blew me away when I first played it in 2014, and still to this day I find it one of my top retro games, and my top tennis game all around. I was especially excited about Mario Tennis Aces when it came out because of my love for Power Tour. While Aces wasn’t quite as good, I still found it very fun to play because I could think back to how much fun Power Tour is and recognize that the framework had been improved upon for Aces. Power Tour deserves all of the praise it receives, so if you have any interest at all in Mario or Tennis, this is the game to try.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 8 Depth 8 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 01-12-23
Review Replies: 0
9.1
Teenager Beats up and Entire School of Tennis Preps Slyshiyoshi
**THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS FOR THE STORY MODE AND I WILL WARN YOU WHEN THAT CAN HAPPEN, JUST BE CAUTIOUS AND ENJOY VIEWING**
I don't believe I've ever had a thought in my mind that of all the games genres to be mixed together that a Sport and RPG mix actually makes for a pretty fun experience and to the credit of Camelot, their library is pretty jam packed full of RPG and Strategy games, so their knack for making something like this "good" kind of seems inevitable. But with that being said, they haven't made anything BUT Sports titles for the past decade or so, which is a rather huge shame because while I believe their work on the Mario Sports franchise has been rather good, it sure as hell isn't any Golden Sun or better yet Shining Force.
As it moves on in years it seems like they've forgotten their routes and instead opted to become the main developer of the Mario Sports games for mostly what it seems just Tennis now, but let's not forget what they have made before in the past and I feel this isn't any exception as I've said I really do think this is a fun game. As this was one of the last games before the close death of the Gameboy Advance neared, let's take a look at what I consider to be a excellent game that took what it played out from the previous Gameboy Color entry and both Renewed and Reinvented it.
But before we do, here's a bit of a history going behind what made this game. This was originally developed as a tie in game to the 2004 Mario Power Tennis and developed also by Camelot. While that game leaned more heavily towards having multiple modes and much more to do in the Multiplayer game, this game was entirely focused in on gathering an audience with a Story Mode and Minigames that were well more suited towards it.
The game came out about nearly a year after it's release on the Gamecube and receiving quite a lot of positive reviews and critics quite seemed to enjoy the game, but what exactly about the game made it so enjoyable and everything else about it in full.
For a quick disclaimer, if some of you aren't familiar with this title you may be from the European region where it stuck with the same name as the Gamecube original so a heads up to everyone if I do call it by it's American/Japanese name. It's a pretty small and trivial thing but figured I'd give that notion.
Graphics
A thing that's a bit different from the other GBA games they've released before that point is that the Overworld sprites all had a per-rendered look to them which is now not the case and instead they now use Sprites that look honestly a bit better to my eyes and they even use the sprites in the Minigames which I'll be getting more to in detail later. Other then that small thing, the backgrounds, stills, Tennis Sprites, among many other things still have the iconic "Camelot Pre-Rendered" look and if you don't know what I'm talking about exactly, you should probably look at their previous titles that used Sprite Based graphics.
From what I've seen in some parts of the internet is that some people don't like how the sprites look in the Tennis Matches which is understandable but I believe they look fine honestly. The Non Pre-Rendered Sprites also do mesh well with the backgrounds and it works better then you expect. There can be some Graphics that don't look the greatest but overall it's a very solid attempt though isn't saying much since they already had quite a few GBA titles under their belt.
Sound
The OST for this game to me is quite excellent. I'm a big fan of it and that's no surprise as the same composer for Golden Sun worked on it and I'm quite a huge fan of their work. There's always certain traits in Camelot games that will always have the same feel and the music is always one of them, even in other soundfonts.
The Soundtrack has a few songs taken from the Gamecube game but other then that it's completely original, some of my favorite Tracks coming from the Tennis Matches themselves. I gotta hand it to them, they really knew what they were doing when they worked with the soundchip for the GBA because it's honestly some of the best work on here.
Addictiveness
Probably one of the bigger advantages of having a Story Mode over a much more Expansive Multiplayer mode is that the game is much more easy to play on the go and you can easily be engrossed into this game. One of the aspects that's not lost through the transition is the Minigames, however they're much different compared to those of the Console Counterpart. That's not a bad thing, in fact I think some of them are more fun personally to play.
Of course, the main part of the game is still pretty fun too and I think while it's not as responsive as the Gamecube game it certainly has it's charm. The biggest factor is including that you can obtain Power Shots by doing pretty good in the Minigames and you also earn EXP though these and the main game. I will gripe and say though that other then the these aspects that after the Story is done the only thing you really can do is compete for Medals and Level up your Character but that's not really particularly a bad thing.
I did forget to however mention that you have a partner character that's chosen based on who you pick though it's only the same two characters. You can play Doubles with them in the Story Mode and other Modes outside of that, but they also can gather experience along you. There is a bit of a big "but" to that though as you need to individually give how much EXP you want to give to you or your partner. I honestly do like this system, it encourages you to think of who you need to Level Up it's a pretty smart move.
Gaining Levels allows you to increase skills in certain attributes and allows you to make your character much more powerful which is a lot better then it giving you a set skill point towards something. A lot of this game's Depth will be explained more in that section though figured I'd give a basic rundown of just how addictive it could be to the player.
Story
**THIS IS THE PART OF THE REVIEW WHERE I TALK ABOUT AND POTENTIALLY SPOIL THE STORY OF THE GAME AND IF DON'T WANT THAT THEN PLEASE GO THROUGH THIS UNTIL YOU SEE ANOTHER PARAGRAPH LIKE THIS. THANK YOU**
You are one of the two protagonists, Ace or Clay, who joined the other night into a highly professional institute that teaches people about Tennis and learn that one of the prior students known as Alex has had an experience with a professional who had yet to be seen and it is apparent you're now faced with the task of becoming the best of the pack to enter a tournament where the Winner may eventually meat this mysterious fellow.
After Beating Two Classes and their Top members you're moved into the Varsity Class, however pushed out initially due to being lower ranked then the rest of them you finally go after them one by one and eventually going after the top Champion of the whole School in Theory. While winning this, you learn to find that you'll be leaving shortly for the Island Open.
Once you conquer the Tournament you finally figure out the mysterious figure was the Famous Mario who invites you to play among them in a tournament of their own set in the Mushroom Kingdom. Once you show your worth you're known to be among some of the greats and finally once all of that is done celebration is given as being one of the Greats in the Tennis World.
I wouldn't say the story really is that innovative but one of the things that really did stick out was the characters in honesty. Considering their work on many RPGs before hand it has a lot of charm and the story really is helped a lot by that. It can get pretty wacky at points too but it doesn't really pull you too much out of the experience and it's pretty funny at times just to see the banter of some of the characters. It's not perfect, but it's still pretty fun.
**THAT'S THE END OF ANY SPOILERS THAT MIGHT BE IN THE REVIEW, ENJOY THE REST OF IT AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR READING!**
Depth
While not fully a RPG at heart it does get pretty deep in terms of character customization and what things you can equip to your character. Here's just a bit of the things you can do in this game.
As I mentioned before you can obtain Power Shots and of all different types too, but how do you Obtain them? Well the Minigames have a sort of "EXP" gain of their own and for each Minigame there is a separate one you gotta fill. The harder the difficulty the more points you will get once you're completed and some of them can be Really challenging at the most difficult settings. Some Minigames however are just there to help you EXP grind which is always great just for stats.
Speaking of, you can obtain one stat point per level up and they're known as Main and Secondary sklls. Obviously the Main Skills are much more important, being 4 categories (Power, Speed, Control, and Side Spin). While not a huge boost at first, it does add up and really does give you an advantage over other characters that wouldn't.
Secondary Skills (Serve, Stroke, Slice, Volley, and Top Spin) are somewhat for more situational plays and are really dependent on what can best fit your play style. These aren't as important obviously but can again really change your character to be much more powerful and a gather a huge advantage to what the other characters would not have.
You can also be awarded Medals along completing a class and both Single and Doubles have Medals each respective of their playthrough. While they aren't exactly important or anything it does add more to do with your characters once you already beat the story mode, however it does bring me to the most disappointing part of this version of the game.
While in the GBC game you could originally bring your Jacked up character with all it's stats into the N64 version, you can't do the same with this game and it's a huge shame though the reason to why might be due to time constraints. If this game had released somewhat more close to Mario Power Tour then it'd of been a feature that'd of likely been added, but Considering at the time they were already making plans for the Wii and the Gamecube wasn't a runaway success then it would be par for the course.
During the time this was made in late 2005 the might of planned for the feature early on like with Mario Golf Advanced Tour, but it ultimately never got put into motion which is a shame as I always really wanted to see a 3D Model of the Main Characters or even some of the other Tennis Characters come into full 3D but that's probably never going to become a reality.
Difficulty
While it's not exactly tough, hell, you can cheese some of the Tennis matches just by being close up to the net, sometimes this game came be pretty brutal and most especially if you want all the Power Shots. The Minigames can and will make you work for them, but once you get them all it will feel like a weight is lifted off your shoulders.
You do get another difficulty option upon completing the main game but that's more in toe with the Exhibition mode which is exactly the same as it always has been pitting one character against the other. Overall there are some aspects that can be honestly a challenge but it's not like it's terribly hard to overcome, you can get through it with enough practice.
Overall Thoughts
I got this game originally as a Christmas gift back in 2005 as I loved the original N64 Game and didn't know what to expect with this one, though I had never played the original GBC game I can say without a doubt this is easily one of the most fun experiences that the Mario Tennis series ever has had and it's a real shame that in recent years while Camelot is trying their hardest to make the Mario Tennis games fun again it's ultimately fruitless.
If they went back to their roots again, maybe people would stop saying that the company is just now a shell of it's former self and seeing how they've been doing recently I really can't argue with that. I hope in the future they opt out for another RPG driven experience and even one like this one. While it's not my favorite GBA game I will always hold it as a case study to how far this Company has fallen in recent Years.
I do believe I am not really giving enough credit though to how Aces is because While I do think the game is mechanically fun to play, the story is absolutely shallow and does the series a great disservice to how it has been. Make original characters again, a fun and enjoyable plot to play through, something that's not so heavily reliant on it being "Mario" again. Hopefully in the future they'll come back to the RPG format of days old and start with a fresh new experience but until that day comes i'll be here waiting patiently.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 9 Story 7 Depth 9 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 01-08-20
Review Replies: 0
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