I’m Going To Get So Angry At Mario Tennis Aces

Mario Tennis Aces was the star of today’s Nintendo Direct, and the company took the opportunity to outline some of the new mechanics. Most are what you’d expect – lobs, slices, topspin shots and the occasional Mario super.

But the Japanese giant also showed off a bunch of new tricks, including a couple that without fail are certain to have me launching my JoyCon into the nearest wall. Meet “zone shots”.

The basic premise is this: as you hit the ball back and forth, coupled with good timing, your character’s energy gauge fills. At it’s peak you can execute your character’s special shot, either to guarantee a point or to break your opponent’s racket.

But the really aggravating element? The ability to slow down time and aim, Splatoon style, with a new ability called zone shots. Zone shots only use part of your energy gauge, but they allow you to target parts of the court more precisely, opening up some truly filthy angles.

Interestingly, the Direct mentioned that zone shots require motion controls to aim. Further more, zone shots will do damage to your racket if you don’t time the return correctly. Take three hits to your racket and it’ll break. Lose all of your rackets and you’ll forfeit the match.

Today’s footage showed some action of characters starting with three rackets a piece, although it’s worth noting that special shots can break a character’s racket in a single hit. Coupled with the new trick shot that rapidly builds meter, I wouldn’t be surprised if more games ended via KO than not.

[clear]

No single shot is capable of guaranteeing you a point or winning outright, though. You could fire off a bullet into the tightest corner possible, only to watch filthy Waluigi on the other side drag it back thanks to a random burst of speed. Zone Speed lets the player slow down time and cover ground much more quickly.

You’ll still need accurate timing to block powerful shots, but you also won’t waste any metre going into first-person to aim with motion controls. In practice, that should mean zone speed will be the more efficient use of your meter. It won’t stop me from swearing at the TV Peach magically leaps over and returns my 200km/hr forehands, but it’s nice to know that at least I can make someone else on the internet angry for a few seconds.

What we didn’t see, and I’ll be keen to know once the beta begins, is whether you can power up any of your slice shots. Having something just drop over the net before bending the other way, or curving into the side wall, will be a crucial move for messing up people’s positioning and timing with the new trick shots. It’s also something that will, like every other idea I’ve had about Wii Tennis in the past, be used against me relentlessly.

No matter how good your shot is, there is the small chance that the opponent will flog it straight back down the line at you.

Which is great for balance. Not so great for my JoyCons, or the wall they are soon to be permanently embedded in.


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


6 responses to “I’m Going To Get So Angry At Mario Tennis Aces”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *