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[Son of Godzilla]

Hehe, that was funny, mostly (or probably only) because of Waluigi and Wario. But the funny kind of died off after they had trained with Bowser...why, after all that training, did they decide to shoot bombs instead of using their mad tennis skills? The intro felt like it just dragged on from there on. A 5 minute intro for a tennis game?!

It's kinda hard to force someone into a tennis match, and they saw the crowd wasn't loving it. So blow everything up.

 

[etiolate]

Vote Wario and Waluigi!

So if a consumer that didn't play videogames much saw the GTA:SA trailer running at Best Buy in the PS2 section, do you think they would make the assumption that the PS2 is a game system primarily for wanna-be thugs?

:lol

 

[MrCheez]

They should have used Mr. Belvedere for Bowser and Alyssa Milano for the Princess' voice

:lol I still can't get over that whole thing. So crazy.

 

[Speevy]

I'm just thinking that there must be something fundametnally wrong with this game. There has to be. Otherwise, impressions would be calling it one of the best tennis games ever. It's got the graphics. It looks fun. It looks loaded with content. Those animations are a bit silly, but otherwise Mario Power Tennis looks first-rate. IGN hasn't said much about it, that's for sure.

 

[M3wThr33]

It's just sad thinking about Sega now. They're basically reduced to being a sidekick for a slots/pinball company.

They should have used Mr. Belvedere for Bowser and Alyssa Milano for the Princess' voice

Jesus, NO. That stupid thing should DIE. NO Mr. Belvedere.

 

[Bebpo]

So this is already out in Japan?

Are there any hands-on?

The production value and course designs look great, I think I might end up picking this one up.

Hands on impressions from a few hours with one player is that it's great.

Solid tennis engine & lots of modes with a ton of variety. Also seems to be a bunch of unlockables and the music is really good. Graphics are top-notch too. AI is a joke on easy, and still pretty easy on normal. Luckily there are 2 more difficulties above that. The classic Mario Bros. court is fantastic.

 

[AgentCooper]

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200410/N04.1028.1859.39653.htm

 

[king zell]

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200410/N04.1028.1859.39653.htm

While single player is still fun and challenging, Mario Power Tennis is going to really be Nintendo’s big party game of 2005. 2-4 player action is really where it’s at, and with the addition of the new mini-games, Mario Power Tennis is highly entertaining with friends. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour may have disappointed a few gamers out there, but Camelot in my eyes has redeemed themselves with Mario Power Tennis.

nice impessions

and the intro was great

 

[Memles]

From GI Impressions...

. Some will either love or hate the new power shots, which makes me wish that Camelot would have given players the option to turn it off completely, and keep the game more “pure”.

I will play before judging...but I do hope he just can't find it since he can't speak Japanese, because I would like to have the option.

All other impressions sound downright awesome. Hyped.

GameSpot Impressions: http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/sports/mariotennis/preview_6111784.html

 

[cvxfreak]

NICE!!!

 

[Memles]

From GameSpot:

The gameplay moves at a very rapid pace, and even when the power-move cutscenes kick in, they happen so quickly that you don't feel like you're being taken out of the game's action.

I approve of this statement. Here's hoping there's more like it. Nothing but glowing praise for the game so far.

And can't leave out IGN!

http://cube.ign.com/articles/561/561281p1.html

HOLY CRAP...three sets of pretty well entirely positive impressions. GCMGOTY. I'm having this sent home and going home for Remembrance Day Weekend, and doing nothing but playing this...and, you know, studying. I've got three midterms the week it comes out, I'll need the break.

 

[Mejilan]

IGN claims that the power shots CAN be disabled.

Oh, and no load times. Yay!

 

[TheGreenGiant]

Fantastic. I didn't expect it to be THIS good. Hopefully its a sign of things to come - the fmv factor lends the games a certain polish

 

[Memles]

IGN claims that the power shots CAN be disabled.

Oh, and no load times. Yay!

I know...I will likely play with them to start, and unless I really dislike them I don't plan on turning them off, because the impressions of them have been really positive.

Hyped.

 

[Speevy]

This will be the best tennis game ever.

 

[Penguin]

I could be mistaken, but aren't there screenshots that show that you can specifically turn off power shots, right before the match?

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

I'm refusing to watch this; I already ordered the game, and have seen parts of it already, but want to see the entire thing when I, you know, actually play it for the first time.

SPOILERS!!

Spoiler

Mario plays tennis

 

[Scalemail Ted]

Nintendo needs to make a Wario and Waluigi game.

 

[soundwave05]

Cool I'm basically sold on this.

 

[Robert-GCA]

For anyone looking for review scores of this game, here are 2 of the leading gaming mags' scores from JPN:

Famitsu - 9/9/8/8
Famitsu GC - 10/10/9/9

Not too bad at all.

 

[ohamsie]

wow, great scores.

 

[Hans]

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ngc/gomj/index.html

Commercial #1
Commercial #2

 

[AniHawk]

No, I just think the industry would be better off with Nintendo flexing their real muscles--branding and IP development--in a software-only capacity. I'm of the mindset that their software quality has suffered due to their struggles trying to maintain hardware relevance. If they didn't have to worry about hardware and could focus solely on software, I think the industry would benefit immensely.

I'm not sure of the specifics on the following post, but Nintendo is a very profit-minded company. Their income is based on the fact that they can basically feed off of third-party royalties, and sell their games on just one (two, three) system to get even more cash. I have a feeling if Nintendo ever went third-party, that the quality of their games would dip to current Sega levels. Since Nintendo would still be so profit-minded, I believe that they'd spend less money on game development, take even less risks, and be at a far lower position in the industry than where they are today.

Granted, you could mean something like Panasonic/Sony/MS/Jesus develops hardware and Nintendo is a co-first-party, which is probably something possible in the not-too-distant-future.

 

[Dice]

*remembers a time when Nintendo fans only wanted gameplay and abhorred videos*

 

[Kiriku]

It's kinda hard to force someone into a tennis match, and they saw the crowd wasn't loving it. So blow everything up.

Well, at least they could try to turn it into something tennis-like. I was convinced they would start hitting those bombs back and forth with their tennis rackets or something...

 

[DCharlie]

"Solid tennis engine & lots of modes with a ton of variety. Also seems to be a bunch of unlockables and the music is really good. Graphics are top-notch too. AI is a joke on easy, and still pretty easy on normal. Luckily there are 2 more difficulties above that. The classic Mario Bros. court is fantastic."

i'm gonna give a different take.

Don't get me wrong , i really like this game , but it feels like i'm playing the same game as i did on the N64.

Also - NO COOP DOUBLES TOURNAMENTS, WTF NINTENDO?!?
Also - i choose Special game, i chose my character , i get to a screen with the special games on, i chose a game, i play the game, then i have a choice...
Play again or Go back to the menu....
So if you want to try a new special game, you have to go through everything... again....

The game itself feels awesome, really nice handling. The addition of the super shots is lame IMO, adding little other than annoyance on the harder levels. The extra modes are fairly amusing, but i'd have prefered the effort to have gone on something like, you know, a more robust multiplayer tournament system.

A great game, but i feel a bit let down given how long it is since the previous version.

 

[Deku Tree]

NO COOP DOUBLES TOURNAMENTS, WTF NINTENDO?!?

INDEED, WTF??

I'm not sure of the specifics on the following post, but Nintendo is a very profit-minded company. Their income is based on the fact that they can basically feed off of third-party royalties, and sell their games on just one (two, three) system to get even more cash. I have a feeling if Nintendo ever went third-party, that the quality of their games would dip to current Sega levels. Since Nintendo would still be so profit-minded, I believe that they'd spend less money on game development, take even less risks, and be at a far lower position in the industry than where they are today.

Sadly, I have a feeling that your partly right. Although I don't see them dropping their quality as far as current Sega levels, I agree that you'd see a drop because they would be trying to make a profit instead of trying to make system selling software.

 

[Memles]

Also - NO COOP DOUBLES TOURNAMENTS, WTF NINTENDO?!?.

I agree on this one...although if I had to guess at their reason, it would be that a Co-Op Multiplayer tournament would be a very different dynamic than the one player, because then your partner isn't an incompotent, pathetic tennis player and has a chance to be great. Maybe it was a balance issue, although adjusting the difficulty should not be too difficult.

Disappointing that they didn't go ahead and inject a Super Smash Bros. style of tournament...would make for some good times. Bah, easys enough to make my own, I guess.

But really...if it's too similar to the original...I loved the original. And if the core tennis game remains as awesome (Jury still out on special moves) I'm still hyped.