In what has been one of Mario's busiest gaming seasons, the year is wrapping up with yet another title in the Mario Sports universe. This year he danced, he played soccer, he travelled back in time to babysit himself, played baseball, and even partied with eight different players at once. It's no surprise that he also has something cooking on on the Game Boy arena, and that it comes in the form of Mario Tennis: Power Tour. Its big brother was a hoot, but is Power Tennis a tour de force?

Facts and Features:

Players can test their backhand in this role-playing tennis adventure.

In this sequel to Mario Tennis for Game Boy® Color, players have to train hard in the Royal Tennis Academy if they want to be champions.

Play as Mario, Peach, Waluigi or Donkey Kong in a slew of wild modes.

As players advance through the story, they unlock even more characters, all with their own power moves.

Link up with a friend or three for even more frantic fun.


The Tour Begins Here
Mario's sports games are titles that should not be taken seriously when compared to real-life sports simulations; and obviously, the same applies to the latest title in the series: Camelot's Mario Tennis: Power Tour. In the game, you will be able to pit characters from the Mario world against each other in both single, and double matches. You will also recruit a Golden Sun look-a-like character to use in what is arguably the best part of the whole Power Tour package, the RPG mode. In the RPG mode (the "Power Tour" part), you will play as yourself, as you enter the Royal Academy of Tennis to become the best of the best. To become the best, though, you have to beat every single Tennis expert in the academy.

Basically, what you want to become is part of the Varsity team. And to do this, you will start like what you probably are: a rookie. A "Junior" rookie with no rank, but who -- with a bit of practice and perseverence -- will rise up, and become an expert tennis player. After beating an opponent, you'll receive experience points that will increase your character's stats and abilities. However, this isn't automatically done, so you'll have to chose wisely which stats you want to boost. There are primary and secondary skills in Mario Tennis: Power Tour. The primary skills include power, control, side spin, and speed. Your secondary skills are stroke, serve, volley, slice, and top spin. The real key to success here is to balance the points, so that all of your skills are increased evenly. Remember that defense is as important as the offensive side of things.

The Royal Tennis Academy is huge! Its campus has plenty of tennis courts, a restaurant, a little room where you sleep in, and even a coaching area. You will also have to play through some practice modes in the Training Center, and luckily, these mini-games are very fun and addicting. Some will have you practicing your shots against a wall (it helps a lot!), others will help you improve your speed (by throwing bananas at you), and others will have you smashing boxes just for the sake of making you the best gamer there is. Isn't that great? Well, you will see that it is, especially once you realize that when you beat these mini-games, they'll be unlocked for you in the main menu.

The game's control is easy as pie. Granted, there aren't many buttons to use, but that's the main reason why the controls are so simple and accesible. You use the "A" and "B" buttons to hit the ball (holding any of them for a while will charge the shot), while the "L" button is ideal for those jump shots. The "R" button, however, is where the magic is. Using it will allow you to perform the exaggerated "Power Shots", where you will hit the ball with everything you got. And when we say everything, we mean it. Everything from a cannon, to a hammer, to a... pool of water? You'll believe it when you see it.

"Power Shots" have two distinct presentations: The defensive and the offensive shots. When your racquet starts glowing, you can hold the "R" button to unleash a hit that is so powerful, that it may be nearly impossible to return (unless it's practically in front of you). However, if you're on the unlucky end of the power shot, there is a way for you to "break" it. For instance, if you've been saving up your power, and the opponent hits you with a mighty offensive power shot, you can use one in return! It's an effective rescue solution that will make all the difference in the world.


The Power Tour is deep and fun.

Gamers should not expect a full-fledged text-heavy RPG, because Power Tour is anything but. What Power Tour is, however, is a light-hearted RPG that's using the plot elements as an excuse to glue up a bunch of tennis matches and produce a simple, yet effective storyline. There's no drama, there's no laughter (okay, so there is a bit of humor); this is just the story of a boy (or girl) who plays one match after another, until he/she's the best tennis player in the academy. Hardly original, but the same can be said about most upcoming RPGs. Oh yeah, I went there.