t’s a me, Mario!  That little plumber has starred in all manner of games in the almost twenty years since his birth.  Platformers, puzzle games, RPGs, nothing seems to be too difficult for Mario to tackle.  Well today I got a chance to sit down with Mario Power Tennis, the long awaited GameCube follow-up to the N64’s Mario Tennis.  Reminiscent of both Microsoft’s Top Spin and Nintendo’s own Mario Golf, Mario Power Tennis offers up enough simple gameplay and wacky modes and bonus games to create a truly addictive experience.

When you first fire up the game you’re given the choice of game mode you want to participate in.  The first, Exhibition, is a simple match that has you playing against the computer or another person.  The Tournament Mode, which is incidentally the one with the most depth, has you playing through tournaments.  The more tourneys you win the more bonus content you’ll eventually unlock including things like extra mini-games.  The mode is broken down into two sub-categories: World Open and Gimmick Masters.  The World Open is a standard tournament tree style affair and in it you’ll take on a number of opponents spanning a huge number of events.  Gimmick Masters is quite a bit different than that mode, mainly because it’s involves Mario Power Tennis’ strange gimmick courts.  For reference sake, here’s a list of all the courts in the game and their normal or gimmick designation:

• Peach Dome Court (normal)
• Peach Clay Court (normal)
• Peach Grass Court (normal)
• Luigi’s Mansion Court (gimmick)
• Delfino Plaza Court (gimmick)
• Gooper Blooper Court (gimmick)
• DK Jungle Court (gimmick)

There are also some unlockable courts, but I’ll keep those a surprise until you play the game.  The gimmick courts each feature some sort of odd way of interacting with your player, most of which hinders their abilities.  The DK Jungle Court, for example, has tiny little crocodile that walk across the top of the net.  If you knock one off with your ball, it will run around your opponent’s side of the court and bite their feet, making them slower and less responsive to shots that come their way.  You’ll have to be careful, though, because your opponent can use the obstacles in their favor as well.  Besides ending up being a really weird and crazy time, gimmick matches also unlock some cool bonuses.  Each gimmick tournament you beat allows you to play some of the normal game modes on that particular court, which can result in some pretty fun and unique versus matches.

The last major mode in Mario Power Tennis is Special Games, which is a collection of mini-games all involving tennis. While you can unlock more mini-games as you beat World Tournament contest, here are the default games that you start off the game with:

• Artist On The Court – a large picture of Mario covers a wall, but the color is missing.  Using a character you need to whack specifically colored paint ball as the right area of each picture so that it matches a master image on the court floor.  You’ll need to master the ability of using shots of varying heights to beat this game.
• Terror Tennis – In this game you find yourself outside of Luigi’s haunted mansion.  On the court are a number of ghost paintings, and from each one ghost are trying to escape.  Using tennis balls you need to whack the ghost before they can escape the court.
• Tic Tac Glow – The Isle Delfino mini-game has a number of shine starts trapped in the forms of Petey Piranhas.  You’ll need to carefully aim your shots to whack the plants and released the trapped shines.
• Chain Chomp Challenge – Each player in this mini-game stands on a long conveyor belt, at the end of which is an imposing Chain Chomp.  Balls are then shot to each player, who needs to smack them at the Chomp to feed them and keep them happy.  If you miss too many times, the Chomp will go wild and chase you down the conveyor belt.
• Gooper Blooper Volley – My personal favorite mini-game has you squaring off against Gooper Blooper, the multi-armed octopus from Mario Sunshine.  The kicker is that the court, which is made up of a number of large colored tiles, will begin to fall apart as you play.  If you hit the ball on a tile that’s disappeared, the shot is called out.  You’ll need to be able to really place your shots well in order to beat Glooper Blooper.
• Mecha Bowser Mayhem – A throwback to classic Mario boss fights, Mecha Bowser Mayhem has you running around a circular platform while trying to smashing incoming tennis balls at a gigantic robot Bowser.  He’s large and easy to hit, but he’s also packing some attacks that make the game pretty challenging.

To compliment the limited, yet solid lineup of modes and mini-games, Mario Power Tennis features a spot-on tennis engine.  Quite similar to the “hold and release” formula that was last seen in Top Spin, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting used to title’s basic gameplay mechanics.  The A button is used to perform a standard volley, while the B button is used to perform a shot with top spin, which makes it travel faster and lower when it hits the court.  You can also pull off lunge moves, smashes, and lobs, although there are some control setups which makes some of the actions automatic.  Perhaps the most unique feature of the tennis action is each character’s ability to use special power offensive and defensive shots.  As you play through a game and successfully volley with your opponent, you will eventually reach a state of power, which is indicated by your racket glowing a vibrant orange.  Once you’re racket is glowing, pressing the right trigger and the A button while near the ball will unleash a power offensive shot, which usually results in an almost unreturnable smack.  If you’re far away from the ball and press the right trigger and A button, you’ll pull off a power defensive move, which can really save your butt in tight matches.  Each power move comes with character specific animations, which include Mario smacking the ball with a gigantic hammer, or Wario pulling out a crazy contraption that shoots his tennis racket long distances to catch distant shots.  While an opponent can effectively cancel a power offensive shot by using a defensive one, the overall variety of each shot really lends some depth to an otherwise pretty simple game.

The modes in Mario Power Tennis, while limited, really give the game quite a bit of variety.  The mini-games are fun; especially if you play with other people and on the higher difficulty levels the tournaments and the opponents you’ll face off up quite a bit of competition.  While it’s disappointing that there’s no online gameplay, you can play doubles matches with up to four players at a time, which is a nice touch. The visuals, while not all that impressive in terms of other GameCube sports titles, does have that classic Mario look and feel.  Why Nintendo has been so mum on Mario Power Tennis for so long is a bit odd, especially considering that the version of the game that I played today was practically final code.  But, from what I’ve experienced so far, the finished product is going to be a sure-fire hit.