Mario Tennis Fever: A Lackluster Addition to the Franchise

As I dove into the campaign of Mario Tennis Fever and its other forgettable modes, like scoring challenges, one word kept popping into my mind: perfunctory. That’s not a good sign. To make matters worse, Nintendo is asking for $70 for this uninspired tennis title. Ouch.

Now available on Switch 2, Mario Tennis Fever is the latest outing where Mario and his friends (and foes) gather to play a sport. They’ve dabbled in golf, soccer, baseball, and even basketball, but this time, it’s all about tennis. Developed by Camelot, the studio behind Mario’s sports spin-offs since 1999, Fever checks the boxes for a new Mario Tennis game with a decent character roster and multiplayer support. The catch? It does so with all the enthusiasm of someone filling out forms at the DMV.

The standout feature of Mario Tennis Fever is its adventure mode, which serves as both a single-player campaign and a tutorial. I breezed through this mode in about three hours, and honestly, that felt like too long. The story revolves around Mario, Luigi, and a few other key characters who are turned into babies after a monster attack while trying to retrieve a magic apple to cure Daisy. To revert to their adult forms, they decide to battle the monster by attending a tennis academy as babies to learn a sport they’ve played countless times before. It sounds goofy, but trust me, it’s not.

The cutscenes in Mario Tennis Fever are static and lackluster, offering little movement or excitement. I’ve seen more engaging presentations in PowerPoint than in the narrative moments of Fever.

In between the cutscenes, you’ll find tennis matches and themed minigames. None of these are terrible, but they’re all quite brief, and I rarely felt like I was exploring any new features or mechanics. A notable addition in Fever is a series of powerful rackets that unleash fire, ice, mud, electricity, and other wild effects to disrupt opponents. While they can be effective in adventure mode, the game barely spends time on any one racket, so I never felt like I truly mastered anything before being whisked away to another dull cutscene.

As Baby Mario progresses through the adventure, he levels up, but you have no control over which stats improve, and there’s no side content where leveling up makes a significant difference. So, the leveling system feels almost pointless. Eventually, you defeat the final boss, and the game wraps up with yet another uninspired cutscene of characters standing around and chatting. Roll credits.

Beyond the short and lackluster campaign, there are several other game modes that range from “okay” to “meh.” You can engage in score challenge mini-games against the computer or a friend, or opt for a freeplay mode that allows you and up to three others to play tennis with customizable rules. There’s also a motion control mode, but it only includes a handful of special rackets, making it feel like a missed opportunity. Just stick to Wii Sports tennis instead.

My favorite mode is the tournament, where you face off against various NPCs in a series of nearly uninterrupted tennis matches leading to a final showdown. It’s not groundbreaking, but it focuses on the best aspect of Mario Tennis Fever: the actual gameplay.

To sum it up:

“Come on, there aren’t many other arcade-y tennis games to choose from.”

Developer: Camelot Software Planning

Type of game: Colorful and wacky arcade tennis game

Liked: Looks nice, feels good to play, Fever rackets are fun

Disliked: Adventure mode is dull, other modes are mostly forgettable, tennis gameplay feels floaty, $70

Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2

Played: Finished adventure mode in three hours, spent around six hours in other modes solo and with friends

Release Date: February 12, 2026

To be clear, I don’t think the tennis gameplay in Mario Tennis Fever is fantastic; it lacks the depth I crave from even the most arcade-like sports games and never felt precise enough. But it’s easily the best part of the game. Smashing the ball hard and aiming for the perfect spot to score feels satisfying. Long rallies can get intense, often leading to cheers (or groans) from those watching or playing. That’s why the tournament mode, which focuses solely on the tennis action, became my favorite way to enjoy this latest Mario sports spin-off.

And yes, there is online multiplayer, and it works… but that’s about it. It’s just Mario Tennis Fever online. Not particularly exciting, but it’s nice to have.

I get it. Sometimes you just do the bare minimum and move on. I’ve been there myself, turning in school assignments that were just enough to pass or doing just enough cleaning to convince my parents I’d tidied my room. The difference is, I never charged anyone $70 for my half-hearted efforts. Mario Tennis Fever does just enough to be considered a new entry in the series and calls it a day while asking for a premium price. It’s best to wait for a sale or grab a used copy of Mario Tennis Aces instead.