Most Mario sports games have a low barrier to entry, but Mario Tennis Fever can get a little difficult at times, whether you’re trying to win every tournament, finish all of the trials, or help Daisy in the Adventure mode. If you’re trying to become the #1 ranked player in the world, it’s especially important to learn a few beginner’s tips or else you’ll quickly lose some rating.
Here’s 9 Mario Tennis Fever beginner’s tips and tricks to help you become an ace and return every ball coming your way.
Complete the academy portion of Adventure mode first
Before you start doing anything else in Mario Tennis Fever, we recommend that you complete the “Tennis Fundamentals” chapter of Adventure mode. This will act as a basic tutorial and teach you the rules of tennis, the different shot types, and how fever rackets work. Now, you can technically learn all of these concepts in the “How to Play” section in the Main Menu, but, if you ever decide to try out the Adventure mode down the line, you’ll need to sit through the “Tennis Fundamentals” chapter as it’s unskippable. It took us around an hour and a half to complete the entire academy section, which is a fairly lengthy tutorial, but you’ll at least unlock a few Fever rackets.
Change your settings
After you’ve gotten a taste of how Mario Tennis Fever works, you should consider changing some of your settings. After you select the “Settings” button in the Main Menu, you can adjust the button mapping, raise the camera view, or even turn off the Talking Flower commentator.
We recommend dedicating a button to lobs and drop shots so you can perform them by pressing one button rather than a combination of two. Additionally, we found that the “Raised” camera view made it a little easier for us to see the depth of the court.
Switch between shot types
Rather than spamming flats the entire game, it’s best to switch between shot types to counter specific shots and move your opponent around the court. Here’s all five shot types in Mario Tennis Fever and when you should use them:
|
Shot Type |
Button |
Description |
When to use |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Topspin |
A |
A shot with a high bounce and an orange trail. |
|
|
Slice |
B |
A slow curving shot with a blue trail. |
|
|
Flat |
Y |
A fast shot that is low to the ground with a purple trail. |
|
|
Lob |
A → B |
A high arcing shot that reaches the back of the court with a yellow trail. |
|
|
Drop Shot |
B → A |
A slow shot that lands close to the front of the court with a gray trail. |
|
Don’t charge all of your hits
Now that you know what the different shot types do, it’s important to keep in mind that charged and powerful shots act differently than a regular shot. Here are a few important notes to remember about the two types:
- Charged/Powerful: These shots result in faster balls, and they’re always aimed towards the baseline, which is the line at the back of the court.
- Regular: These shots result in slower balls, but they’re always aimed at the service line, which is the line near the center of the court. Additionally, you have greater control of where the ball will go during volleys, which is when you hit the ball without letting it bounce.
Although charged and powerful shots are faster and harder to react to, regular shots can force your opponent to move closer to the net or even off the court.
You might be thinking that your opponent can easily read that you’re aiming for the service line by not charging your swing, but you can also counteract this by changing one of your buttons to “Cancel Charge” to keep your opponent guessing.
Learn the abilities of each character and Fever racket
Mario Tennis Fever has a whopping 38 characters and 30 Fever rackets to choose from. This is a lot to learn, but knowing your opponent is half the battle. If you know the strengths and weaknesses for each character and racket, you can come up with a game plan before the first serve.
For example, Boom Boom is a defensive character that is great at moving side to side, but very slow at moving forward and backward. To easily beat them, you would focus on using shots to the baseline and drop shots to take advantage of their slow vertical movement.
Although Fever rackets are a bit harder to counter, you’ll learn more about what your opponent is trying to do. One example is the Shova Racket, which enhances the knockback of your powerful swings. After they activate their Fever Shot, you’ll know to use slices to minimize the pushback.
Familiarize yourself with the different courts
There are 14 courts in Mario Tennis Fever, and each court is made out of a different material. Depending on their material, the tennis ball can be faster or slower and bounce higher or lower, which means that your shots will act a little differently from match to match.
For example, grass courts have high ball speeds, which means you should try to hit powerful or charged flat and topspin shots, so your opponent doesn’t have enough time to return the ball. On the other hand, sand courts have very low ball speeds and bounce, which means drop shots are extra deadly.
If you’re just looking to mess around in Free Play, the different courts won’t really matter much, but for those who are looking to play ranked, you’ll definitely need to learn the courts as they’ll switch out every 30 minutes.
Move up when your opponent is using a Fever Shot
Fever Shots are the new and featured mechanic of Mario Tennis Fever (as you can probably tell from the title). Players can use unique powers that freeze the court, turn you invisible, summon a Thwomp, and much more. Each of these abilities can easily net you multiple points and even take you off the court.
However, they can be countered with a Fever Shot Counter, which is when you return the Fever Shot before it touches the ground. The easiest way to do this is to move up to the service line and volley the ball back to prevent it from landing on your side. No matter where the opponent aims, whether it’s toward the back or front, your character will return the ball.
Play the challenges and Adventure
Becoming the best Mario Tennis Fever player in the world will be a difficult journey, but it won’t be easily attainable. The challenge modes like Trial Towers and Score Challenges will help you practice your shots and hone your skills. Adventure also teaches you the ins-and-outs of each shot type in a fun and short story mode. It took us around three hours to finish it in its entirety, but it’ll force you to learn where each shot type will land on the court.
Read through the ‘How to Play’ section in the Main Menu
The “How to Play” section in the Main Menu is full of tips from beginner to pro. You can learn how tennis works, what the shot types are, what Fever rackets do, how to play Swing Mode, and much more. Each of the tips also comes with short videos to give you a handy visual aid.
