Mario's Tennis
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| Mario's Tennis | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Developer | Nintendo R&D1 |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Platform | Virtual Boy |
| Device | Virtual Boy |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | Sports |
| Play Area | Seated |
| Game Mode | Single-player |
| Release Date | July 21, 1995 (Japan); August 14, 1995 (North America) |
| Price | 4,900 yen (Japan, excluding tax) |
Mario's Tennis (Japanese: マリオズテニス) is a 1995 tennis game published by Nintendo for the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's stereoscopic 3D console with a red-and-black display. It was a launch game for the system in Japan, where it came out on 21 July 1995, and it was the pack-in game bundled with the console in North America, where it was released on 14 August 1995.[1][2][3] The player picks one of seven characters from the Mario series and plays singles or doubles matches against computer opponents, seen from behind the player's character so that the depth of the court is shown in 3D.[1][4]
American magazines in 1995 often called the game Mario's Dream Tennis, which Nintendo Life describes as its working title.[2][5][6] The game has no two-player mode, because the Virtual Boy link cable it would have needed was never produced.[1] In March 2026 Nintendo added it to the Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics collection for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members.[7]
Gameplay
Mario's Tennis follows standard tennis rules.[1] The playable characters are Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Yoshi, Toad, Koopa Trooper and Donkey Kong Jr.[1][4] Before a match the player chooses singles or doubles, either as a single match or as a tournament, and can set the difficulty and play one or three sets. In doubles, the player's partner is controlled by the computer.[1][4] Lakitu keeps score from a cloud above the court, and a screen of match statistics appears after every match.[1][4]
The camera stays behind the player's character at a fixed distance and scrolls smoothly as the character moves.[1] GamePro's 1995 launch preview wrote that this behind-the-player view lets the player hit forehands, backhands, overhead smashes, lobs and volleys.[5] Movement uses the left directional pad, and in IGN's description the A button makes a normal swing and the B button a lob.[1][8]
Nintendo Power wrote that each character moves or hits with "some special skill".[4] Reviewers later saw little difference between them. Nintendo Life noted that Toad and Koopa Trooper can dive for some shots but found "surprisingly little to separate the characters", and IGN wrote that the differences appeared to be purely cosmetic.[1][8] With only seven characters, a singles tournament can be won after three matches and a doubles tournament after two.[1] The cartridge has no battery save, so tournament progress is lost when the system is switched off.[8]
Use of the 3D display
Nintendo's Japanese product page described the 3D effect as making players want to turn around when the ball passes over their head, and claimed that the game showed movement that earlier tennis games could not.[3] Dave Frear of Nintendo Life wrote that the stereoscopic display gives "a real feel of the court's depth", so that an opponent preparing to serve "really does seem a great distance away". He also noted that the opponent looks like a pixelated "cardboard cut-out" when the player gets close to the net.[1] Destructoid's Zoey Handley wrote in 2024 that the sprite-scaling court and behind-the-back view make "good use of the Virtual Boy's stereoscopic depth".[9]
Development
Next Generation listed Nintendo as both publisher and developer of Mario's Tennis, and Nintendo Life's game database credits Nintendo R&D1.[6][2] R&D1 was the team of Gunpei Yokoi that conceived the Virtual Boy itself.[10] The in-game staff credits, as transcribed by the Planet Virtual Boy database, list Gunpei Yokoi as producer and Masao Yamamoto and Hitoshi Yamagami as directors.[11]
GamePro's September 1995 report on the Virtual Boy listed Mario's Dream Tennis among the games Nintendo would release at launch, and used it as its example of how the 3D view "makes you feel like you're right on the court".[5] Next Generation reviewed it under the same title in September 1995.[6]
Release
In Japan, Mario's Tennis was released on 21 July 1995 at 4,900 yen before tax.[3] Nintendo Life describes it as a Japanese launch game.[1] In North America it was released on 14 August 1995, the day the Virtual Boy launched there, and was packed in with the console.[2][5][4] Game Players' 1995 holiday issue gave the system's launch month as August 1995 and its pack-in as Mario's Dream Tennis.[12]
On 10 March 2026 (Mario Day), Nintendo added Mario's Tennis and Mario Clash to Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics, the collection of Virtual Boy games offered through Nintendo Switch Online on the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. Playing the collection requires a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership and Nintendo's Virtual Boy accessory for the Switch.[7][13][14] At the end of July 2026, Nintendo added the game's soundtrack, 20 tracks, to its Nintendo Music app, together with the soundtracks of four other Virtual Boy games.[15]
| Region or service | Platform | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | Virtual Boy | 21 July 1995 | Launch game; 4,900 yen excluding tax[3][1] |
| North America | Virtual Boy | 14 August 1995 | Pack-in game with the console[2][4] |
| Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics | Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2 | 10 March 2026 | Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack; Virtual Boy accessory required[7][13] |
| Nintendo Music (soundtrack) | Smartphone app | July 2026 | 20 tracks[15] |
Reception
Contemporary American magazines were generally positive. Nintendo Power's August 1995 "Now Playing" section listed "excellent tennis action and play control", the fun characters and the singles and doubles modes as strengths, and the missing two-player option as a weakness.[4] Next Generation gave Mario's Dream Tennis three stars out of five. Its reviewer wrote that the graphics and play were "almost identical to Nintendo's original Tennis", but that "if you're looking for an addictive title to play on your Virtual Boy, this is one of the best choices you can make."[6] Game Players called it "not the best title currently available, but a good solid play" in its September 1995 review.[16] The same magazine named it the best Virtual Boy game of 1995 in its annual awards, writing that "it's by no means a good tennis sim", but praising its ease of control, addictive gameplay and its 3D effect.[12]
| Publication | Year | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Next Generation | 1995 | 3 out of 5 stars[6] |
| Game Players | 1995 | Best Virtual Boy Game in the 1995 awards[12] |
| Nintendo Life | 2009 | 7/10[1] |
| Destructoid | 2024 | 5th of the 14 North American Virtual Boy games[9] |
Later reviews have been mixed. Patrick Kolan of IGN, in a 2008 feature on the system's best games, called it "a very simplistic tennis game that really only serves to show off the system's 3D effects in a fairly rudimentary way", and criticized the slow character movement and the limited swings.[8] Dave Frear of Nintendo Life gave it 7 out of 10 in 2009, calling it "a solid, if simple, tennis game" whose music, graphics and 3D court made it "an excellent introduction to the Virtual Boy"; he found the tournaments "laughably short" and wrote that the missing two-player mode was "greatly missed".[1] Destructoid ranked it fifth of the 14 Virtual Boy games released in North America, saying it did not have "enough content to make it look like anything other than a tech demo", while noting that it was a pack-in game.[9]
In a 2011 article comparing the Virtual Boy with the Nintendo 3DS, IGN's Lucas M. Thomas wrote that the pack-in Mario's Tennis "kicked off the whole 'Mario + sports' spin-off series".[17]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Dave Frear (2009-04-08). "Mario's Tennis Review (Virtual Boy)". Nintendo Life. https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2009/04/marios_tennis_retro. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Mario's Tennis (1995) - Virtual Boy Game". Nintendo Life. https://www.nintendolife.com/games/virtualboy/marios_tennis. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "マリオズテニス". Nintendo Co., Ltd.. Nintendo. https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n09/vue/p_vmtj/index.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 "Virtual Boy Special: Mario's Tennis; Now Playing: Mario's Tennis". Nintendo Power, vol. 75. Nintendo of America. 1995-08. https://archive.org/details/nintendo-power-issue-075-august-1995. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The Whizz (1995-09). "The Virtual Boy: Better Red". GamePro. IDG. https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_074_September_1995. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Finals: Mario's Dream Tennis". Next Generation, no. 9. Imagine Media. 1995-09. https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-009/page/n94/mode/1up. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "MAR10 Day returns with festivities for fans of all ages in honour of the Super Mario Bros. 40th anniversary and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie". Nintendo of Canada. Nintendo. 2026-03-05. https://www.nintendo.com/en-ca/whatsnew/mar10-day-returns-with-festivities-for-fans-of-all-ages-in-honour-of-the-super-mario-bros-40th-anniversary-and-the-super-mario-galaxy-movie/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Patrick Kolan (2008-01-14). "IGN Retro: Virtual Boy's Best Games". IGN. https://web.archive.org/web/20080116230634/http://retro.ign.com/articles/845/845487p1.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Zoey Handley (2024-11-28). "Every Virtual Boy game, ranked". Destructoid. https://www.destructoid.com/best-virtual-boy-games-of-all-time-ranked-list-nintendo/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Damien McFerran (2009-02-11). "Nintendo's Portable History: Part 3, Virtual Boy". Pocket Gamer. https://web.archive.org/web/20110319023525/http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/DS/History%20of%20Nintendo/feature.asp?c=11512. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "Mario's Tennis In-Game Credits". Planet Virtual Boy. https://www.virtual-boy.com/games/marios-tennis/credits/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Game Players Awards". Game Players, Holiday 1995. Imagine Media. 1995. https://archive.org/details/Game_Players_Issue_60_Holiday_1995. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Liam Doolan (2026-03-04). "Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Virtual Boy And GBA Library With Three More Titles". Nintendo Life. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2026/03/nintendo-expands-switch-onlines-virtual-boy-and-gba-library-with-three-more-titles. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Jenni Lada (2026-03-04). "Mario Clash and Mario's Tennis Games Return on Mario Day". Siliconera. https://www.siliconera.com/mario-clash-and-marios-tennis-games-return-on-mario-day/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Liam Doolan (2026-07-31). "Two Cancelled Virtual Boy Games Join 'Nintendo Classics' Today". Nintendo Life. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2026/08/two-cancelled-virtual-boy-games-join-nintendo-classics-today. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "Mario's Dream Tennis (review)". Game Players, September 1995. Imagine Media. 1995-09. https://archive.org/details/Game_Players_Issue_56_September_1995. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Lucas M. Thomas (2011-08-15). "Laying the Virtual Boy to Rest". IGN. https://web.archive.org/web/20131008180700/http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/08/16/laying-the-virtual-boy-to-rest. Retrieved 2026-10-13.