Mario Tennis

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A series of Sports Games by Nintendo starring Mario, Luigi and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom gang. The game gives you a large selection of characters all from the Mario universe. The game is also famous for the debut of Wario's brother (?) Waluigi.

Games in the series:

Tropes used in Mario Tennis include:
  • The Ace: Dweezil and Elroy.
  • Action-Hogging Opening: Mario Power Tennis has one of these.
  • Ascended Extra: Waluigi in the GBA game. It's also the only game he appears in to not have Wario appear alongside him.
  • Awesome but Impractical: The Volcano Shot and Rainbow Save power shots in Advance Tour require insane status to obtain, but suck.
    • Boring but Practical: Slider Shot requires one stats (Spin, which is one of the first to become acessable) to be boosted and is still a fairly solid shot.
  • The Bus Came Back: The N64 game, aside from the debut of Waluigi, brought back Daisy and Birdo, all three of whom are now staples of Mario spinoff titles.
  • Butt Monkey: Wario and Waluigi are treated as this in the opening movie.
    • N64 and Power Tennis' victory animations aren't exactly kind to Luigi.
  • Can't Catch Up: Any opponent you unlock in the GBC and GBA versions that 1. Aren't opponents in the Island Open, 2. Aren't in the higher ranks of the Varsity Class, and 3. aren't a Mushroom Kingdom character will generally be bad to mediocre and end up as Joke Characters.
    • Lethal Joke Character: You can set the Mario characters onto any difficulty in the GBC game, but all of the story characters, regardless of their class, will automatically be set on hard each time you play an exhibition game.
  • Character Customization: A new feature in Open allows players to dress their Mii up with various gear, changing their stats to the player's taste.
  • Climax Boss/Final Boss: A. Coz (in Singles), and The Costello Brothers (in Doubles) in the GBC version. Willy Costello, joined by Sheri in Doubles, in the GBA version. Winning nets you the trophy And an invitation to the Mushroom Kingdom for a chance to face of against Mario.
  • Confusion Fu: Tricky/Tactical characters like Boo in the N64 and GCN versions, Bowser Jr. in the GCN version, and Willy Costello in the GBA version. They have insane amounts of spin on their balls which can catch a player of guard.
    • Strangely, in the GBC game, a speed-oriented character, Spike, has a tricky-type move; his drop shot (a deliberately weak shot that barely makes it over the net) curves to the right, making it harder to follow. Meanwhile, A.Coz has a very powerful lob (high) shot that will fly high, irregardless of what part of the court he's on.
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Daisy's tournament win animation has her tripping after getting her trophy.
  • Defeat Means Playable: Every tennis opponent that you play against in both handheld versions. This includes Mario himself in the GBC version. For the GBA version, Mario Series characters are instead unlocked at the start and you get Star versions of them instead.
  • Fragile Speedster: Yoshi, Toad in the N64 version, Baby Mario in the N64 and GBC versions, A. Coz in the GBC version. Though since there's obviously no sense of "damage" in tennis, it's more like "Speedster who can't hit the ball very hard."
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: If you can manage to see up Peach's dress in the Japanese version of Power Tennis, it'll all be clear.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser
  • Hermit Guru: The Stroke Play "master" in Power Tour decides to become one each time he loses to you.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: As a reward for beating Mario Power Tennis.
  • Jack of All Stats: Mario, alongside other All-Around characters such as Luigi. Also Willy's partner Sheri and Rank 1 Varsity Player Elroy in the GBA version..
    • They do have their differences though. Luigi for example had notably better reach in the N64 version, while Mario was more powerful.
  • Jerkass: The Costello Brothers, A. Coz, and B. Coz, are minor examples. Tori in the GBA version plays this a bit more straight, while Dweezil is a somwhat more milder example. Averted with the third Costello brother, Willy, who just desires to play against a worthy opponent regardless of the outcome, as well as his partner Sheri who is just confident in both her and Willy's skills.
  • Kicking Ass and Taking Names: Victory Medals in Mario Tennis Open. They're glorified versions of dog tags and you can collect them all as long as you defeat a different opponent online. Be aware they can do the same to you.
  • Kuudere: Dweezil the champ of last year's Island Open in the GBA version. He refuses to speak with you on the grounds that you are a newcomer in the tournament and thus "fresh meat", but warms up to you before the start of your next tennis match against him.
  • Loads And Loads of Yoshis: Mario Power Tennis gave Yoshi an ability to change colors whenever he used his defensive power. This was deconstructed in Mario Tennis Open, where his colors are now QR singular characters for different categories.
  • Lightning Bruiser: By spending your points wisely, you will be able to make your player character into one of these.
  • Mighty Glacier: Heavy characters like Bowser and Petey. For a human example, look at Wario or B. Coz.
  • One Game for the Price of Two: Both the N64 and GBC versions are necessary to get all the playable characters in either version.
    • But averted with the GCN and GBA versions.
  • Original Generation: Present in both the GBC and GBA games. They serve many roles such as playable Story Mode characters, helpful advisors, opponents, and more.
  • Power Glows: Rackets glow whenever Power Moves are available.
  • RPG Elements: The GBC and GBA games feature such features as raising stats and Character Level. The games are made by Camelot, and it shows.
  • Save Scumming: That CPU in Star Tourney is at 40 while you're at 0? No problem! Save to keep your record intact!
  • Secret Character: DK Jr. and Fly Guy in the N64 version. The handheld version had every tennis opponent you faced during either singles or doubles (meaning you had to play both singles and doubles to unlock them all) and the GBC version included prominent Mario Series characters that were unlocked by beating them in the last tournament (Mario and Peach) or by connecting your game with the N64 version (Yoshi, Waluigi, Wario, and Bowser).
    • Connecting the GBC version of Mario Tennis to the N64 version also adds four human characters to the N64 version: the characters that you go through the Story Mode and their doubles partners. As there is no current way of replacing the Transfer Pack method, and no way of getting or connecting to the GBC game currently, you cannot unlock those characters in the VC version. Partially justified in that these characters stats depended on how you had leveled them up in the GBC versions.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Wario and Waluigi in the Mario Power Tennis opening movie. Since Waluigi debuted in Mario Tennis 64, it's not that surprising.
  • Stone Wall: Waluigi in the GCN and GBA versions, also Wiggler. Last year champ Dweezil in the GBA version.
  • True Final Boss: Mario serves as this for both Singles and Doubles play (joined by Peach) in GBC. He was degraded to just Singles play Final Boss in the GBA version where Bowser and Waluigi seized the Doubles spot.
  • The Unfought: Kevin, the Varsity Champion of the GBC game (and Varsity Coach in the GBA version), is never in a tennis match with the player (he is defeated in the Island Open by the Costello Brothers in both Singles and Doubles), and thus is never a playable character, despite Mark and Emily, the Junior and Senior Coaches respectively, being playable. In the GBA version, none of the original playable characters that appear in cameos are unlockable, save for obviously the Mario series characters.
  • "Wake-Up Call" Boss: In the GBA game when you play in the Mushroom Kingdom Tournament for the first time, the first opponents in both the Singles Tournament (Peach) and the Doubles Tournament (Luigi and Donkey Kong) are considerably harder than the later opponents up to and including the Final Boss of each.
  • Weak but Skilled: Peach, Daisy, Waluigi in the N64 and GBC versions. Tori in the GBA version is also an example.
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