User:Adamwolski0/sandbox
Criticisms[edit]
Mario's Tennis was one of the first games to usher in the new generation of portable gaming as the Gameboy was reaching the end of it's life cycle. This lead to much hype over the games release and critics would argue that Mario's Tennis didn't meet the standard of its fans. One area of critique was based on the colour pallet; all games in the Virtual Boy library could only be experienced through red and black, and extended hours of Mario's Tennis gameplay could lead to headaches and eye strain. This was a let down for fans because it was fair to assume that this cutting edge hardware would deliver a full pallet of colours. [1]
Another critique of Mario's Tennis, was the fact that it brought little new material to the table, it was the same game of tennis but with seven Mario Characters. The genre of Tennis video games has been explored many times and Mario's tennis was tossed into the mix of games like Super Tennis and International Tennis Tour and more recently games like Mario Power Tennis and Mario Tennis Open.[2] Mario's Tennis and other Virtual Boy games did not receive full support from Nintendo as the Virtual Boy was consider a side project, as the primary focus was on developing the Nintendo 64
The largest selling point for Mario's Tennis was to experience Virtual reality through the systems unique viewing apparatus. However, many of the game's 3D effects are quite shallow and are marginally different than graphic capabilities of home based consoles of the time like the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.[3]
Reception and Sales[edit]
Mario's Tennis sales where heavily constricted by the lack of popularity on the console. The Virtual Boy sold 770,000 units and is listed as the 5th worst selling console in history.[4] That being said, Mario's Tennis was one of the highest selling in the Virtual Boy library as it was a launch title packaged with american units. For this reason, Mario's Tennis is generally regarded as the most well known game on the Virtual Boy and was the first game to bring the Mario franchise onto Nintendo's newest development. Sales dwindled, Nintendo tried to remedy this by cutting prices on everything related to the Virtual Boy , but ulimately Mario's tennis stopped being sold on March 2nd 1996, when the console was discontinued in the North American market.[5]
Famicom Tsūshin scored the game a 26 out of 40.[6] GameFAQs' gave the game an average rating of 6.7 out of 10. [7]
Controls[edit]
| A button | toss, fast serve, ground stroke, volley (near net), overhead smash |
| B button | toss, slow serve, lob, overhead smash |
| L + Pad | shot placement |
| Pad | move player |
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
- ^ Thomas, Lucas. "Laying the Virtual Boy to Rest". IGN. IGN Entertainment Group. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- ^ "Mario's Tennis Review". ScrewAttack. ScrewAttack Entertainment LLC. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- ^ Damien, McFerran. "Complete History of the Virtual Boy". NOW Gaming. Imagine Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- ^ Snow, Blake. "The Top 10 Worst Selling Consoles of All Time". GamePro. IDG Entertainment.
- ^ Craig, Ian. "Mario's Tennis Facts". GameFAQs. CBS media. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- ^ NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: マリオズテニス. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.347. Pg.29. 11 August 1995.
- ^ Craig, Ian. "Mario's Tennis Rating". GameFAQs. CBS media. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- ^ Mariott, Scott. "Mario's Tennis Controls". allgame. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 3 April 2013.