Review: Mario Tennis Fever Is Stronger Than Aces

With Mario Tennis Aces, it felt like Nintendo did some experimentation to make the Switch title feel more like a fighting game and go beyond standard expectations of the sport. With Mario Tennis Fever as the first big Switch 2 Super Mario sports spin-off, it feels like a natural evolution of the previous game. Its new rackets feel great! There are a lot of modes, ranging from more traditional style games to Mix It Up ones with stage effects. If the Adventure mode was stronger, perhaps it’d be perfect.

Mario Tennis Fever features all of the modes someone would expect from a Super Mario spin-off game. The most traditional types of tennis can be found in areas like the singles and doubles Tournament, the motion-controlled Swing Mode, and the standard Ranked, Local, and GameShare multiplayer matches. Both Trial Towers and Mix It Up involve certain restrictions in matches or special types of matches that could involve power-ups, Wonder Effects, or more unexpected challenges. Finally, the Adventure mode is a story about dealing with an unknown opponent with the power of tennis that feels like a really long tutorial.

Yes, that’s sadly one of my biggest takeaways from the Adventure story mode in Mario Tennis Fever. Here’s the thing about it. While this is still a Camelot game, the campaign still isn’t as solid as the one we saw in Mario Tennis on the Game Boy Color. The story honestly is pretty entertaining. After going to get a legendary fruit Wario and Waluigi said could heal Daisy from an illness, the expedition Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, Waluigi, and Donkey Kong are on leads to them being assaulted by mysterious monsters. (Basically, Wario and Waluigi got greedy and intended to use the journey as an opportunity to steal treasure from the adjacent ruins.) Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, and Waluigi are turned into babies in the process. So, the two pairs of brothers head to the tennis academy to regain their strength to go back and fight in the hopes of defeating the foes and returning to normal. 

The problem here is while there are eventually some fun matches with unusual situations and setups, so much of Adventure acts as a massive tutorial with tons of handholding. For example, the “singles” part of it just teaching basic shots and tennis skills before Luigi is even assigned to Mario as a doubles partner took me about 40 minutes. And then when Luigi does join up, that means unlocking and being guided through each of these minigame stations designed to grant experience and build up stats related to physical performance and shot strength one at a time. Once you do get past the extended tutorial elements, it’s generally fine, but there constant Talking Flower commentary and directing is a lot.

Speaking of which, I absolutely abhor the Talking Flower in Mario Tennis Fever. I understand that, as the most recent mainline Super Mario game, there are a lot of elements of it here from courts and rackets to Mix It Up mode elements. But the Talking Flower is somehow even more obnoxious due to how prevalent the commentary is. Moreso because in the Adventure and Tournament modes said jibber-jabber can’t be turned off. (In options, you can turn it off for other modes.) It’s worst in Tournaments, as by the final matches in the brackets I’d likely have my or my partner’s HP down low following so many matches, and every 30-60 seconds the flowery commentator would say, “Oooh, might be running outta steam!” 

On the plus side, if you’re not in Adventure mode, the gameplay and features in every other part of Mario Tennis Fever feels pretty great. When it comes to selecting a court, character, and racket, the UI is clear about how you unlock inaccessible things. (And the requirements usually aren’t obscenely tedious or difficult.) There’s a wide range of characters that all feel quite balanced. The Fever Rackets with special Fever Shots are genuinely amazing. And the general match structure is strong with even some generally solid CPU intelligence. (I do wish my NPC allies in doubles tournaments would use their Fever Shots more, though!)

Really, the Fever Shots feel revolutionary. They really do make Mario Tennis Fever feel special. There are tons of options and, as I mentioned in my preview, each one makes it feel like you’re equipping a fighter to head into a battle. My favorites are the ones that deal HP damage, especially if it makes a part of the course feel “off limits” due to hazards, like the Fire Bar, Volcano, and Fire Fever Rackets. However, the more unusual ones that offer support or negative status effects to the field, like the Shadow one that creates a doppelganger of yourself on the field or Banana one that leaves slippery banana peels can be handy too. It comes down to picking one that suits your playstyle to assist with your assaults, and the fact that they’re optional (unless you pick a mode that requires them or the Racket Factory Mix It Up mode that makes them essentially mandatory) makes it even better.

As for the Mario Tennis Fever modes that aren’t the Adventure one, all of them feel mechanically sound in this Super Mario sports game. I felt like Trial Towers ended up being my favorite single-player experience, since it let me get right into different types of matches, though the Tournament is solid too and fantastic for unlocking things. Mix It Up stages, with confounding stage effects that can make things more challenging and end up being free-for-alls with pinball, piranha plants, and Fever Racket elements, are absolutely fantastic if you can get actual people to play with you. I felt like all the multiplayer modes also worked well, though I primarily tested out online multiplayer outside the preview session. There was a little lag in the Wonder Court Match, I think due to the fact that the ton of Trottin’ Piranha Plants were on-field at once, but Ring Shot, Forest Court Match, Pinball Match, and Racket Factory Match all worked wonderfully online. And Free Match is generally solid for customization purposes. 

While I’m a bit disappointed in the Adventure campaign, Mario Tennis Fever feels generally strong thanks to its Fever Rackets and range of modes. There are a lot of different ways to play tennis packed into this Super Mario sports game spin-off, and they often play with the idea of using special abilities to make things more exciting. Which can mean things like Mix It Up and Trial Towers modes can feel a little extra entertaining. I appreciate what Camelot and Nintendo did here and how it built on Mario Tennis Aces. 

Mario Tennis Fever comes to the Switch 2 on February 12, 2026.