Mario Tennis Fever review roundup: 'the best a Mario sports game has been in years'
Mario's latest sporting outing has received a generally positive reception from critics
👍 Mario Tennis Fever has a Metacritic score of 77 after 70 critic reviews
🎾 The game has 74% positive reviews, 26% mixed and 0% negative
🙌 Mario Tennis Fever is the first Nintendo sports game to release on Switch 2
📆 The game is available exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 on February 12
The reviews for Mario Tennis Fever are in, and it sounds like Nintendo has served up a very enjoyable sports game for Switch 2.
Nintendo’s track record with recent Mario-led sports games has been a bit hit and miss, but Mario Tennis Fever sounds like a return to form, even if it doesn’t nail the complete package.
A weak Adventure Mode is the biggest point of criticism, but when playing with friends and online, Nintendo’s brand of over the top tennis seems like a smash hit.
Mario Tennis Fever is currently sitting on a Metacritic score of 77 after 71 critic reviews. That’s a slight improvement over Mario Tennis Aces on Nintendo Switch, which achieved a score of 75.
Here’s what reviewers made of Mario Tennis Fever.
GamingBible gave Mario Tennis Fever a score of 9/10, praising the game’s widespread appeal and wealth of match types:
“Mario Tennis Fever kicks off Mario’s 40th anniversary year in triumphant style. It’s a sports entry that delivers enough variety to be of appeal to all fans of the famed plumber, no matter their genre of preference. With its surprisingly charming Adventure Mode and more match variations than you could possibly imagine, Mario Tennis Fever is a bountifully delightful release that conjures up the pure, whimsical escapism that only Nintendo so wonderfully nails.”
Nintendo Life thought Mario Tennis Fever was worthy of an 8/10 score, but the reviewer said it was “my favorite game in the series thus far” but noted the Adventure Mode was a let down:
“Mario Tennis Fever serves up my favourite game in the series thus far, by finding an addictive balance between Mario's madcap antics and real-world tennis fun. Streamlining superpowers into Fever rackets makes everything easier to parse, and keeping player movement relatively restrained makes for tennis matches that retain an exciting flow without constant slo-mo interruptions…The adventure mode is a letdown, and solo players don't have a ton of options, but there's depth and strategy at the core here that should see this one ace things online for some time to come.”
GameSpot also gave Mario Tennis Fever a score of 8/10 and praised the fact the game doesn’t feel barebones at launch like other sports titles Nintendo has previously released:
“Mario's various dalliances into sports have been inconsistent, often because they feel so bare-bones and perfunctory. Mario Tennis Fever breaks this trend with a multitude of modes and a playful, flexible gimmick that makes it more wild and unpredictable while also testing your tennis skills in a new way. It's the best a Mario sports game has been in years, and hopefully charts a course going forward for the Mushroom Kingdom's other sporting events.”
GamesRadar+ wasn’t quite as impressed with Mario Tennis Fever but still enjoyed what they played, giving the game 7/10:
“Nintendo serves up an immediately accessible and hilariously chaotic multiplayer experience, but a duff single-player campaign and hodgepodge assortment of other modes leaves you feeling that Mario Tennis Fever hasn't quite aced the complete package.”
VGC were harsher still, awarding Mario Tennis Fever a score of 6/10 due to the game’s poor single-player offering:
“Mario Tennis Fever is another solid enough sports game from Camelot, but a disappointingly short single-player offering and a real risk of imbalance – whether using Fever Rackets or not – means what could have been fantastic will have to settle for simply being good.”
Giant Bomb also gave Mario Tennis Fever a 6/10 in its review, saying:
“Mario Tennis Fever has me worried for Nintendo’s sports games on Switch 2. It’s not worse than any of the sports games on Switch 1, but it’s also not any better. The trouble is that it commits almost all of the same sins: the mechanics are solid, but nothing outside of the core tennis gameplay is that much fun.”
It’s clear that Mario Tennis Fever is best enjoyed with friends or online, with the single-player offering falling short of many reviewers’ expectations. Unlike previous Mario sports games, it seems like there’s a lot of content to enjoy on day one, which bucks Nintendo’s previous trend of slowing updating the game over time.
Mario Tennis Fever is available exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 on February 12.
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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.