I had never actually played Mario Tennis Aces before now, but because of my short experiences with the other two Mario sports games on Switch and just the way that Nintendo currently makes their multiplayer party games like this nowadays, I wasn't really looking forward to it. As my rating would suggest however, Mario Tennis Aces was actually a really pleasant surprise of a game to me.

Starting with the gameplay, I'd say it's the best that Mario Tennis has ever been. There's a lot of variety in the kinds of basic shots you can do and each shot feels like it has a specific use as compared to another. Then there's the focus bar which builds naturally throughout the match and is used for several things being zone speed, zone shots, and special shot. Zone speed allows you to slow down time and move to where the ball is, it actively and pretty quickly depletes your focus bar as you use it though, so you have to be deliberate when you use it. Zone shots are able to be used when your bar is around a third of the way full and allow you to zoom in and use the gyro on the Switch to controller to aim directly where you want the ball to go, this is good for taking advantage of the spots on the court your opponent isn't covering and getting a point. Specials shots are nearly the same as zone shots, but you can activate them any time before you hit the ball and your gauge has to be completely full to do so, they do make the ball move much faster and are for the opponent to block however so there is reason to use them. Another unique mechanic in this game is the tennis racket durability system. Instead of being completely at your opponent's mercy when they use a zone or special shot you have the ability to block these by hitting the ball at the right time. The timing on this block is really strict and if you swing to hit the ball too early your rackets durability will go down, missing the timing like this three times will result in your racket breaking and the opponent getting an easy score because of it, this means that you always want to be intentional with how you're blocking shots like these otherwise it'll be detrimental to your chances of winning. In fact, the games and abundance of options makes it really stand out in the sea of Mario sports games, the depth when all of these skills are combined in a match is surprising and leads to matches that never feel like they play out the same way. The character roster in this game is also huge, you have your mainstays like Mario, Luigi and Peach but then you have the out there picks that I can't help but love like Spike, Fire Piranha Plant (no idea why it had to be the fire variety specifically but it's more random that way and therefore funny) and my beloved, Chain Chomp. If I had to say a weakest point of the gameplay though it'd probably be the tennis courts themselves. A lot of these are just basic tennis courts with no gimmicks but the ones that do have gimmicks don't really feel all that standout, this isn't a big complaint though as the gameplay is deep and fun enough to make up for the lack of outside factors effecting it.

I'd say the biggest thing that brings this game down though is its content or lack thereof. Like the other Mario tennis games there is a tournament mode here but unlike the other tournament modes (and to my great relief) that isn't the main single player mode here, that role is filled by the adventure mode. Adventure mode sees Mario hunting down five power stones across the island that this game takes place on in order to stop an evil sentient tennis racket that has possessed Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi, and I mean if that isn't peak storytelling, I don't know what is. This takes place across a top down large interconnected world map with challenges and different areas along the way. What was refreshing about this was that not everything was just a simple tennis match, there were tutorials, minigames, and unique boss fights along the way that were actually pretty fun and taught you the mechanics of the game in a way that felt natural. For the most part this mode was great, but my main complaint is that it was over just as it was getting started, to put it in perspective I started this today and finished it within 3 hours. Another minor gripe is that you have to play as Mario the whole time (except for a one doubles match where you play as Peach and Daisy), I would've appreciated a system that allowed you to recruit characters and change into them as you go but unfortunately that just wasn't the case, I'm sorry Chain Chomp, you'll get your spot in the sunlight one day. Apart from this there's all the other modes you'd expect in a game like this, free play, ring shit, and of course tournament mode but that's about it. A reason for this game being light on content is that this was the beginning of the wi-fi era of these games, meaning that the Nintendo would focus on pushing you to play online to get your money's worth here rather than actually filling the game with super meaningful content like in Mario sports games past, it's a bad excuse but there's nothing to be done about it.

Overall, I'd say I had a surprisingly good time with Mario Tennis Aces. The core gameplay is really deep and fun to master and the adventure mode, though short, was pretty good. It might be light on single player content and the online might be dead empty now, but I still had a decent amount of fun with the game for what it is.

As a fan of realistic simulation tennis games, I've steered clear of the Mario Tennis series' arcadey take for years, until now. To my surprise, the core gameplay here is very enjoyable in the normal, gimmick-free matches. The power-ups are neat additions to the regulation rules of the sport, and make for a unique and fun experience that I didn't expect to like so much. This is still very much tennis, just Nintendofied. There were a lot of complaints about the lack of content with Aces, but when the core gameplay is so fun, and the online multiplayer is functioning and alive even almost three years later, I don't think any more than what's here would have been necessary, if it was all good.

That being said, all of the novelty modes are trash. Adventure Mode's gimmicky levels, courts, and especially bosses were all a slog to play through, even if it only lasted four hours. Swing Mode, where you use the joy-cons motion controls to control your racket, is terrible and never correctly registered my movements. Ring Shot is a mode where you rally with, or against, an an AI or friend to hit the ball through rings in the middle of the court, and it's just not that engaging past your first round. Co-op Challenge is a selection of minigames only playable in Swing Mode, and considering what I said about Swing Mode earlier, you can imagine how good the minigames are.

In the end, the core gameplay is all Mario Tennis Aces has going for it, and honestly, that's all I'm really looking for here since it's so fun. Sports games are my comfort games. I can always rely on them when I'm listening to a podcast, watching a stream, or I just want to kill time. Aces will make for a fine addition to those comfort games, I just wish its options for variety were a bit more compelling.

If I was still a kid with a neighbor who'd come over all the time to play Mario sports games, I think this one would rock. But I'm not really able to have experiences like that anymore, so this is just a $60 regret to me.

I think this game is a good argument for Nintendo to include a Game Pass-like subscription service in their online program. It's a very good game; I can't ask my friends to drop $60 on a Mario sports game, but it would be fun to play online with them once in awhile. It'd be like having those days as a kid back again, going over to my neighbor's house to play Mario Baseball.

The core tennis gameplay is the best it's ever been here, it does get a little confusing to follow sometimes but that's just me not bothering to put more time into learning it.

This game suffers from a lack of content past the story mode and core base game, the nature of these kind of games just leads to them getting stale after a while.

The story mode has it's moments and it's cool having boss fights and a world map. Some of the challenges even asks a bit more of the player with some puzzles which was sometimes pretty cool, other times frustrating. As a Golden Sun fan this stuff just has me imagining how a current gen revival of that series would look
It does however have an abysmal difficulty curve with some of the opponents and challenges having downright broken AI.

While the game launched in an abysmal state, returning to it for a few rounds with my brother was actually a great time! The roster is probably my favourite of any Mario Spin-off title, with the one upside to the bullshit 'release unfinished game and add characters later' schtick is that the added characters have to be interesting and not just shitty recolours of characters (DID YOU HEAR THAT MARIO KART?)
And in terms of the characters, they all animate greatly, with the super moves being lovely clips of every character.
While the gameplay isn't as good as games such as Power Tennis, the peak of Mario Sports games, it's still quite fun. Breaking your opponents tennis rackets and charging up shots is satisfying and feels great.
The true sin of this game however, is not having anything other than the main tennis mode. No fun minigames like previous entries and a boring story mode.
That being said, while I enjoyed my time with the game, your money is better spent elsewhere. Maybe if it goes on sale or you find a cheap used copy