Mario Tennis Fever is a fun and wacky tennis game, if not quite a Switch 2 exclusive smash

When celebrating the 40th anniversary of Super Mario, I expected something more substantial for gaming's most iconic character than Mario Tennis Fever. But even if it's not a brand-spanking new platformer, the ridiculous success of Mario Kart 8 means it would be unwise to dismiss a Mario spin-off.

Mario sports spin-offs have always been a fun arcade sports alternative to the more serious simulations. But Fever feels like it takes the most inspiration from Mario Kart, while retaining the solid tennis mechanics of its predecessors to make for a more fulsome Nintendo Switch 2 game.

It also does the opposite of what Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash back on the Wii U failed to do, and that's layering these mechanics with a wide variety of content, whether that's different modes and challenges or just having a large roster of characters and fever rackets to unlock so that you can mix up and experiment with the combinations to keep the gameplay feeling fresh.

But with Mario fans having to make do with re-releases like Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 edition of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, is Mario Tennis Fever going to be enough to satisfy those hankering for a truly new Mario title?

Courting with content

As the first new Mario game for the Switch 2 since launch title Mario Kart World, Fever makes less of a strong case than the faux-pen world racer as an exclusive for Nintendo's new hardware.

Apart from the motion controls of Swing mode previously included in its Switch 1 predecessor, there's a lack of any hardware gimmicks or technical grunt. The most clear difference from previous instalments is that Fever gives more bang for your buck - as it should, being the most expensive Mario Tennis title to date.

The main menu is packed with different modes to play, and sometimes breaks down into further modes. For instance, Ring Shot from Mario Tennis Aces returns, but this time just as one of many other modes under Mix it Up. Here, even more unusual rules come into play, which are also linked to the themed court you're playing in.

For example, one court is designed like a pinball machine where you and the ball can get bounced off pinball bumpers that pop up from the ground or the side, while another is themed after Super Mario Bros. Wonder, where hitting a Wonder Flower causes random things to happen.

This does, however, mean the annoying Talking Flower is a character here, and actually serves as the commentator. You'll also find that even though there's an option to turn off commentary, there will still be times when you can't shut him up.

If you're after something more traditional, Tournament mode offers different tiers of difficulty playable in singles and doubles. A more unconventional challenge, however, is Trial Towers, where you have to complete a run of pre-set challenges with just three lives, progress resetting once you've failed three times.

What makes these trials fun is that each challenge has its own conditions, and also gives you a different character to play as, a good way to force you to mix things up if you're usually only sticking with one or two characters.

That choice of how and who to play is arguably one of Fever's strengths, with a total roster of 36 characters to unlock, more if you take into account the different colour options of several characters, such as Yoshi. There's a nice sense of progression that you'll always be unlocking something new, be it a new character, court, or difficulty mode, especially as some of these come from just playing a set number of matches.

So even if you eat dirt in an online match, you can at least console yourself that it counts towards your goal of unlocking something else. Any piece of grayed-out content will also tell you what you need to achieve to unlock it, which helps with working towards ticking off your achievements.

Fever dream

Adding to that variety is, of course, the introduction of Fever Rackets. The best way of describing it is basically if you put Mario Kart-style items into a tennis match. Once you fill up your Fever gauge, you can activate this on the next returning ball, while having a short window to aim where in the court for it to go, and create all sorts of shenanigans on the court for your opponent.

Flame Racket, for example, scatters flames around where the ball lands, but this is also different from the Fire Bar racket, which creates one of those iconic spinning fire bars on the ground. Then there are rackets that give you an advantage, like having a shadow double running away to return shots for you, or another where you instantly dash to impossible lengths to catch a returning shot.

While these rackets can disrupt and even cause damage to an opponent, they're also not meant to be an ace. Where Mario Tennis Aces could let you win a match by breaking an opponent's racket, a KO isn't an instant forfeit in Fever. It's also possible to counter fever shots by returning the ball before it lands on the ground, meaning you can return a fever racket's effects back to the other player, potentially building up a tense rally with the knowledge that the loser is going to have the disadvantage of mud, slippery ice, or worse to stick out at least the next point.

If you'd rather not do with the gimmicks, then you can also just play classic tennis, where in the ranked online mode, you can choose between singles and doubles modes with or without fever rackets, while on the other extreme, Free Play or custom online lobbies gives you the option to pick two fever rackets in a match then swap between them before a serve so you can change up tactics.

Where fever shots feel underutilised is in the game's Adventure mode, which is also on the short side, even though it has some lovely presentation, including several of the best-looking cinematics in a Mario game since Luigi's Mansion 3.

Even the premise, which finds Mario, Luigi, and Peach (as well as the no-good Wario and Waluigi) turning into babies, is a fun idea that also justifies having to train Baby Mario back to his prime through a role-playing game-style levelling system.

Unfortunately, this also means much of the campaign is a glorified tutorial where you're being taught (and occasionally quizzed) by multiple Toads in every aspect of tennis, with the fever mechanics reduced more to aiming at an enemy weak spot. While there are some well-designed minigames in this section, which can also be replayed on higher difficulties, it's deflating to discover that the adventure proper will have you racing through its world map in and the whole campaign over in about 4 hours.

It's not without some highlights, though if you've already dipped into some of the other modes, there'll also be a touch of deja vu in some of the challenges encountered. The consolation is that there is at least plenty more for you to do in Fever, even if you've rolled credits in Adventure mode.

Should you play Mario Tennis Fever?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Mario Tennis Fever doesn't have accessibility settings specifically, but its settings do allow for adjustments, such as performing moves like lobs and drop shots as one-button inputs, which you can assign to the bumpers or triggers. The camera position can also be adjusted between standard and raised perspectives, and you can also set which racket hand your character is using in both button and swing modes.

How I reviewed Mario Tennis Fever

I played Mario Tennis Fever for about 15 hours on Nintendo Switch 2, which included completing Adventure mode and unlocking a substantial amount of content over 100 matches across different modes. This also included playing some local and online multiplayer matches, but not its Game Share functionality.

I played primarily in docked mode on an LG C2 OLED TV with the default TV speakers. I played mostly with a Switch 2 Pro Controller, but also tested it in handheld mode, as well as the Joy-Con 2 for swing mode.

First reviewed February 2026