Mario Power Tennis for Gamecube was pretty swell, but once I had unlocked everything, I rarely returned to it. The reason? Once I played one tennis tournament, I had basically played them all. So here's my list of what should be added if a Mario Tennis is to be released in the future:
1. Add jumping
You heard me. I want jumping in a tennis game. And not just any kind of jumping. Mario jumping. The awesome jumping where people do backflips or whatever in mid air. It would add the third dimension to the game and open up a whole lot more strategies, e.g. hitting the ball while jumping up, smacking the ball down when jumping for more power, being able to catch those lobs and return them like hell's broken loose, or just lunging a great distance into the air to return those hard balls in a spectacular fashion.
2. Fix up the power shots
The power shots were a new addition to Mario Power Tennis, but in my opinion, they can be improved on. First of all, make them happen in real-time. No silly little cutscenes that ruin the match, I want Mario to whip out his hammer there and then on the spot and catch me off guard. Right now, we get about 2 seconds to prepare for the attack. If the power shots were played in real-time, it would be much harder to avoid them, and would definitely speed up the game. Who else hates it when you're playing doubles and all 4 players use their power shot, one after the other? Ridiculous.
3. Think of better gimmicks / Wi-Fi / Put the story mode back in (all replayability issues)
If they're going to add any gimmicks to it, they should make them better than the last one. Klap traps that slow you down? Moving floors? Kinda boring in a way, or at the very least, not something that I would want to come back to. I'm not sure what could be done here, but I would like some interesting ones. Option to throw the racket maybe? Heh. Some environmental gimmicks would be nice to be honest, so long as they're enjoyable and not an overall pain in the ass. I also combined Wi-Fi in here because it would definitely increase the replayability, much like with the gimmicks. Games like these really do work well when there's the option to just play random people. Finally, a story mode. The GameBoy Advance version had it, so do the same here, but no crappy human players. Just let the user choose a character who has really basic stats, with the odd increased stat to reflect them (e.g. Bowser has slightly higher power stats to start off with). Then just run around, getting into tennis matches and entering tournaments. That would be the icing on the cake for me.
4. No Wiggler or Petey Piranha characters
Of all the characters for a tennis game, how did these two get in here? Where did Toad vanish off too, anyway? Some less... "defaulty" characters would definitely spice things up. And of course, more courts based on said characters would be even better.
5. More customisable option
I love customisable stuff. Being able to customise things (even if they don't make sense) would be amazing. And considering it's just a tennis game, it's not like the developers would be working over time to produce something good. I want 2 vs 1 tennis matches, for example. That would be awesome and challenging. A first person tennis view would be cool as well, and probably a great way to immerse yourself (albeit pushing the boundary). Court creator? That'd be really nice.
What do you think about these? Would make for a pretty well polished Mario Tennis if you ask me.
1. Add jumping
You heard me. I want jumping in a tennis game. And not just any kind of jumping. Mario jumping. The awesome jumping where people do backflips or whatever in mid air. It would add the third dimension to the game and open up a whole lot more strategies, e.g. hitting the ball while jumping up, smacking the ball down when jumping for more power, being able to catch those lobs and return them like hell's broken loose, or just lunging a great distance into the air to return those hard balls in a spectacular fashion.
2. Fix up the power shots
The power shots were a new addition to Mario Power Tennis, but in my opinion, they can be improved on. First of all, make them happen in real-time. No silly little cutscenes that ruin the match, I want Mario to whip out his hammer there and then on the spot and catch me off guard. Right now, we get about 2 seconds to prepare for the attack. If the power shots were played in real-time, it would be much harder to avoid them, and would definitely speed up the game. Who else hates it when you're playing doubles and all 4 players use their power shot, one after the other? Ridiculous.
3. Think of better gimmicks / Wi-Fi / Put the story mode back in (all replayability issues)
If they're going to add any gimmicks to it, they should make them better than the last one. Klap traps that slow you down? Moving floors? Kinda boring in a way, or at the very least, not something that I would want to come back to. I'm not sure what could be done here, but I would like some interesting ones. Option to throw the racket maybe? Heh. Some environmental gimmicks would be nice to be honest, so long as they're enjoyable and not an overall pain in the ass. I also combined Wi-Fi in here because it would definitely increase the replayability, much like with the gimmicks. Games like these really do work well when there's the option to just play random people. Finally, a story mode. The GameBoy Advance version had it, so do the same here, but no crappy human players. Just let the user choose a character who has really basic stats, with the odd increased stat to reflect them (e.g. Bowser has slightly higher power stats to start off with). Then just run around, getting into tennis matches and entering tournaments. That would be the icing on the cake for me.
4. No Wiggler or Petey Piranha characters
Of all the characters for a tennis game, how did these two get in here? Where did Toad vanish off too, anyway? Some less... "defaulty" characters would definitely spice things up. And of course, more courts based on said characters would be even better.
5. More customisable option
I love customisable stuff. Being able to customise things (even if they don't make sense) would be amazing. And considering it's just a tennis game, it's not like the developers would be working over time to produce something good. I want 2 vs 1 tennis matches, for example. That would be awesome and challenging. A first person tennis view would be cool as well, and probably a great way to immerse yourself (albeit pushing the boundary). Court creator? That'd be really nice.
What do you think about these? Would make for a pretty well polished Mario Tennis if you ask me.
