“Mario Tennis Aces” was a game released in June of 2018. The game is one of many sports games in Nintendo’s Mario franchise and is one of the more recent iterations.

Mario games are normally games that have no story and are just basic platforming games, but “Mario Tennis Aces” added a solo “story mode” for players to enjoy. The story is a very basic and straightforward idea with the famous Mario and his brother Luigi enjoying a game of tennis against Wario and Waluigi. The evil duo had taken a powerful tennis racket, named Lucien, from the ancient Bask Ruins. Lucien possesses Luigi, Wario and Waluigi leaving it up to Mario and Toad to adventure across the Kingdom of Bask to stop Lucien from gathering five power stones to defeat him once and for all.

The game features various modes for players to enjoy that all function as you would expect. There is a tournament mode, a co-op challenge mode, a free play mode and an online variation of all these modes. Within the free play mode, there are several other modes such as big ball, special game and rally challenge. Each of these modes offer a different and interesting take on the game and have their own gameplay mechanics that add some extra flavor to the game.

It features several playable characters from the Mario franchise. It has fan favorites that everyone would expect such as Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach. The game also added some interesting choices to its roster that you wouldn’t expect as well such as Chain Chomp, Blooper and Luma.

One of the most important parts of a good game is having good and easy to understand controls. “Mario Tennis Aces” has very simplistic controls that are easy to pick and play for anyone of any age but also has enough different controls and options in the game to keep it enjoyable and different in each game.

Overall, “Mario Tennis Aces” is an interesting and welcoming entry to the Mario franchise. The game’s varying features and gameplay options allows for many play styles for any player and various ways to play. The controls are simple enough to just pick up and play with enough variety to keep the game interesting. The game has a unique and well-designed roster of playable characters that allows fans to pick characters they normally wouldn’t be able to. The game’s story, while not the most creative and interesting, allows players to enjoy the game even if they wish to be alone.

This game is unlike most Mario games that you will see nowadays but does a good job of showing the possibilities the franchise has. It also does a good job as a simple and fun game to play with family or as a  party game.