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Remembering Nintendo's greatest sportsman and why his games matter 

I was just ten years old when Mario Tennis was released for the N64. I wasn't a tennis enthusiast, but I thought the game looked amazing. Then I got it for Christmas! It quickly became my favorite game EVER (for a brief time), and thus began my love of Mario sports games. There's something special about Nintendo's Mario-themed sports titles. It truly is amazing how versatile this strange middle-aged Italian can be. From the looks of him, you wouldn't think Mario was athletic; but don't be fooled! Mario has thrived at almost every sport imaginable! 

Of late, Mario sports games have been poor or even non-existent, which is why I'm so excited for the upcoming release of Mario Tennis Aces! If well received, this game could usher in the next wave of Mario sports titles, and knowing Nintendo, the possibilities are endless. But while we can speculate or hope for another Mario Golf game, let's take a moment to look back at the history of Mario's sports games. For this article, I won't be including the Mario Kart games, although they are technically sports games. However, that whole series deserves its own retrospective, so we'll leave it out for now. 

Mario's On the Court (1984-1995)

While there are no NES sports games that bear Mario's name, the titular plumber did appear in a few sports titles. The first one was Tennis, a launch NES game in North America. While it's not stated that the referee in the high chair is Mario, he certainly looks a lot like him. Spoilers: it's Mario. This was made evident by the fact that Nintendo made Mario the referee again for a much bigger sports titled in 1987: Punch-Out!! Here Mario was actually in the ring with the fighters, watching them and giving the TKO or KO calls. 

The first sports game in which you can play as Mario is 1991's NES Open Tournament Golf. Co-developed with Hal Laboratory, this fun golf sim allows you to play as either Mario or Luigi. Princess Toadstool, Princess Daisy, Toad, and Donkey Kong also make appearances. Of course, you can still play as regular human characters, but who would want to do that? This was a step in the right direction for Mario sports games. 

But what about the very first sports game to have Mario's name in the title? Well, fate is cruel. That honor goes to Mario's Tennis (1995) on the Virtual Boy. While the game itself is fine, it was restricted to Nintendo's worst console in history, which means nobody played it! Nintendo needed something much better. It would be a few years, but Mario would return to the golf course AND the tennis court in grand fashion, and this time gamers everywhere would take notice. 

The Golden Age of Mario Sports Games (1999-2005) 

By 1999, the Mario Kart series was flourishing, and that was with only two games! Perhaps Mario's name was a big factor. If Nintendo could get his name onto more sports titles, perhaps they would sell and lead to ongoing franchises. A company by the name of Camelot would be Nintendo's ace in the hole. Camelot had previously developed Sega's Shining Force series, but due to the Sega Saturn's failure, they decided to get on the Nintendo bandwagon. 

Camelot's very first game for the Big N was Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64. The fact that this was a Mario game and that it was on a major Nintendo console got gamers' attention. It successfully straddled the line between golf simulator and fun party game. Its mechanics were simple enough to learn and fun enough to master. As a result, Mario Golf became a hit on the system, selling 1.5 million world wide and getting a "Player's Choice" label (they also released a handheld version on Game Boy Color). Camelot had found something special. 

So Camelot followed up with Mario Tennis in 2000 for the N64 (which was closely followed with another version on GBC). It garnered critical acclaim from gamers and critics alike. The controls were simple, yet the mechanics allowed a certain depth, and the amount of content was surprising. There was a staggering 16 characters to choose from, and you could also connect to the GBC version for more content. Speaking of which, the GBC game featured an RPG mode which tied into the main game, making it a hybrid tennis/RPG game. Both games were hits. Camelot now had two successful Mario sports series. 

And so, Camelot released sequels for both franchises on Nintendo's next console, the Gamecube. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (2003) and Mario Power Tennis (2004) both improved upon their predecessor's games. MG:TT is a beautiful game, giving the player new options to view each course, and adding an automatic or manual swing to the gameplay. MPT, on the other hand, contains new characters, new courts, and brand-new power shots which are unique for each character. As a result, these games were greatly successful. 

But Camelot was not done yet. On the handheld front, they released Mario Golf: Advance Tour (2004) and Mario Tennis: Power Tour (2005) for GBA. Advance Tour touted itself as "Role-playing golf" (that's right, Golf Story did not do it first), and was actually a sequel to the GBC game, using the same human characters. Power Tour is also a tennis-RPG hybrid, and has a whopping 36 characters, most of which are non-Mario characters. Camelot was very smart in what they did with these two franchises. The console games were the big, beautiful multiplayer games while the handheld games were the personal, RPG-style games. The two versions were completely different and wholly unique! 

Camelot was not the only developer getting in on the Mario sports games. EA (of all companies) actually made a deal with Nintendo to use some of its characters in a few of their games. This came into fruition with NBA Street V3 (2005) and SSX on Tour (2005). The Gamecube versions of these games allowed you to play as Mario, Luigi, and Peach. This was truly a sight to behold--Mario playing basketball with life-like NBA players! Mario sports games had made it to the major leagues. 

But it gets even better! The Gamecube was also home to two brand-new Mario sports series. I'm referring to Super Mario Strikers and Mario Superstar Baseball (both released in 2005). Strikers was developed by Next Level Games, a new second party Nintendo developer. This soccer game was far more brutal than your typical fare, giving us angry Mario characters who were not afraid to play dirty. It's one of the most fun Mario sports games out there, and it was a huge success. So was Namco's Mario baseball game, which featured tons of characters, powerful unique abilities, classic baseball modes, and four player minigames. Mario fans were shocked that a Mario baseball game could be so vibrant and different from the typical baseball game. With the culmination of these games, the Gamecube sits today as the king of Mario sports titles. 

Sadly, the end of the Gamecube would also signal the end of this wonderful golden age for Mario sports games. For some strange reason, an age of mediocrity was upon us. 

The Era of "Meh" Mario Sports Games (2006-2011)

For some reason Camelot vanished during the Wii era. No new Mario Golf or Tennis games were released on Nintendo's massively popular console. A port of Mario Power Tennis was put on the Wii with motion controls, but if you had played the Gamecube version, there was no reason to play it. Camelot did release a golf game on the Wii, but it was a generic golf game (I'm sure a Mario golf game would have sold better). With Camelot seemingly gone, the Wii era was a medicre time for Mario sports games. Even Mario Kart Wii was disappointing! 

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (2006) for DS was a surprise. Developed by Square Enix, this Mario basketball game actually had both Mario and Final Fantasy characters. While the gameplay was good, it was also completely touch-based (a common problem of DS games). The game was also light on content, giving it poor replay value. And so, the "meh" Mario sports games begin. 

Nintendo and Sega fans were excited when Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games was announced for both Wii and DS. This game would give rise to a substantial franchise which is (possibly) still going today. Developed by Sega, the game allowed Mairo and Sonic (and friends) to battle it out through Olympic competitions. Unfortunately, the game relied on the gimmick of motion controls, causing players to read through "How to Play" instructions and then wave around the wii remote, producing fatigue in the wrist and arms. Despite this, the game was very popular and gave rise to a new Mario sports franchise. 

The Wii also saw sequels to two awesome Mario sports series: Mario Strikers Charged (2007) and Mario Super Sluggers (2008). Next Level Games' sequel actually took a couple steps back for the series by adding some complexities. The ball now needed to be "charged" by passing it around, which dragged down the pace of the game. Also, special shots had to be blocked by the player by pointing the wii remote at the screen; this function worked so terribly that your opponent was almost guaranteed to score several goals. Namco's Sluggers didn't make any significant improvements over the first game and actually took a step back with the wii motion controls. The fact that these series have not returned tells you that fans were not pleased with these sequels. 

Next Level Games actually wanted to make another Mario sports game for the Wii. It was titled Super Mario Spikers, a volleyball and wrestling hybrid game. However, when they pitched the idea to Nintendo, the Big N said "No" because the game would be too violent. Come on, Nintendo! Violent, huh? Taking that to heart, Next Level went on to make the wonderful Punch-Out!! for Wii (2009). I'm not complaining! 

Sega also brought us a sequel with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009) for both Wii and DS. With a new festival mode, this is an improved game over the original, although the motion controls are still a problem (this time utilizing the wii balance board too). Square Enix returns to Mario as well with Mario Sports Mix for Wii (2011). This party game contained several different sports, including volleyball and dodgeball for the first time. Also, Final Fantasy characters! On the negative side, gamers complained that the sports were a little bare bones and that the game was no fun by yourself. 

We round out this era with Sega yet again, this time it's Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2011) for Wii and 3DS. This is only the third game in the series and I'm already sick of this franchise. While some new modes were nice, the actual sports themselves were a rehash from the first game. Nothing spectacular here. 

But if gamers thought that these games were bad, they were in for a rude awakening. The Wii U era would prove to be even worse. 

The Dark Ages of Mario Sports Games (2012-2017)

These were dark days indeed. There were only three Mario sports games on the Wii U, and two of them were Mario & Sonic titles! Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2013) and Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016) were both more of the same. Sochi somehow managed to be awful, even still using MOTION CONTROLS!!! The presentation was great, but the gameplay ruined the game. Rio, while a beautiful game, lacked content and depth in events. However, they finally moved to button presses instead of motion controls (it only took five games--sheesh!).

And the third game for Wii U? Well, the good news is that Camelot finally returned to make another Mario sports game on a home Nintendo console; the bad news is that the game was Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (2015). It's obvious from this bare bones and boring game that Nintendo was trying to simply get ANY game on the failing Wii U, and they thought, "Mario Tennis would be great." This game is a mockery to the Mario Tennis franchise. 

The handheld front fared a little better, but not by much. Mario Tennis Open (2012) was best described as a good game, but not a good Mario Tennis game. Its focus on Miis was also not appreciated (by this point, everyone was sick of Miis!). On the other hand, Mario Golf: World Tour (2014) was praised for its simple gameplay and excellent online features, although some complained that its approach played it too safe. So really, these two games weren't bad by any means. 

Unfortunately, the 3DS would get its own Ultra Smash (if you know what I mean) with Camelot's Mario Sports Superstars (2017). This game featured five different sports, two of which were completely unnecessary--tennis and golf! Each of the five sports were fun, but they lacked depth. A big criticism was that the game felt like a collection of sport sims instead of Mario-style sports games by lacking power shots and other unrealistic elements. Besides horse racing, the other four sports had been done before much better. In my opinion, this should have been JUST a horse racing game. 

So, yeah, Mario sports games have not been very good lately. But wait...

It's Time for a Comeback! 

With the release of Mario Tennis Aces this June, we could see a return to form with Mario sports games! Aces looks to be like a very good game, focusing on strategy and tactics more than any previous game in the franchise. With the inclusion of a story mode and online tournaments, it could turn out to be the first great Mario Tennis game on a home console in 14 years. And mark my words: if Aces sells well, Camelot will definitely follow up with a Mario Golf game for Switch. And other developers will want to get in on the action too. Perhaps Next Level Games, Namco Bandai, and even Square Enix could bring their Mario sports series back. These are exciting times, folks. We could be on the cusp of another golden age of Mario sports games!