Mario Tennis Aces Launches this June on Nintendo Switch

Mario Tennis Aces Launches this June on Nintendo Switch

During the Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo announced that Mario Tennis Aces will be released June 22 on Nintendo Switch. It will be the first entry in the sports franchise to be available on Nintendo’s latest gaming platform.

Check out the Nintendo Switch trailer of Mario Tennis Aces, showcasing the games’ features:

“The previous Mario Tennis game, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, launched in November 2015 on Wii U. Nintendo unveiled Mario Tennis Aces during a surprise Nintendo Direct Mini video in January.

Intense Rallies Against Friends and Family!

Unleash an arsenal of shots and strategies in all-out tennis battles with friends, family, and fan-favorite Mushroom Kingdom characters. Whether you play locally,* online**, or using simple motion controls, intense rallies await!

More than 15 characters will be playable in Mario Tennis Aces, among them Nintendo stalwarts such as Mario, Waluigi and Donkey Kong as well as more surprising characters like Chain Chomp and Toadette. The game will support up to four players in local and online multiplayer; Nintendo is promising online events and tournaments, with rewards such as special outfits and even bonus characters.

Mario Tennis Aces will offer multiple control schemes — including motion controls for aiming a special type of shot, the Zone Shot. Zone Shots, which can damage an opponent’s racket, are one kind of powered-up option that players have at their disposal. Taking three hits will break a racket, and if you have no rackets left, you forfeit the match. If an opponent times their swing perfectly, though, they can block Zone Shots and even the most powerful attack, the Special Shot. Another ability is Zone Speed, which works like bullet time, allowing you to get to balls you wouldn’t normally be able to reach.

All those moves consume energy from a gauge that slowly fills up over the course of a rally. A much faster way to replenish it is to use a Trick Shot, which lets you jump to cover more ground, but also must be timed properly. If you don’t want to deal with any of this stuff, you can play with “simple rules,” under which only basic shots — topspin, slices, lobs, etc. — are allowed. And casual players can swing a Joy-Con controller to play the game.

Mario Tennis Aces will feature a story mode — the first game in the Mario Tennis series to do so since 2005’s Mario Tennis: Power Tour on Game Boy Advance. The campaign will feature missions as well as boss battles with enemies like a giant piranha plant.”

*Additional accessories, games, and systems may be required for multiplayer mode. Sold separately.
**Nintendo Account required. Online services and features, including online gameplay, are free until the paid Nintendo Switch Online Service launches in September 2018.

For more information on Mario Tennis Aces, visit its official website.