Launch Station: Mario Tennis Open

Out of all the Mario sports games that have been released over the years, my personal favourite has been Mario Tennis.  I found Mario Tennis to be a very competitive affair with friends and family while also having tournaments to conquer on your own.  To this point, most handheld Mario sports games have stuck with a more RPG single-player story mode than the tournaments found in their console brethren.  With Mario Tennis Open, Nintendo and Camelot look to bring the Mario sports console experience to the 3DS in style.  Mario Tennis Open releases this Sunday, May 20th alongside the new Midnight Purple 3DS.

Again Mario and friends pick their tennis racquets to compete on courts and tournaments across the Mushroom Kingdom.  Mario Tennis Open has 17 characters for you to choose from including your own Mii, which you can personalize with new clothes and equipment.  Mario Tennis Open includes your regular singles and doubles tennis matches along with some special games such as Super Mario Tennis, Ring Shot and Galaxy Rally to play.  Mario Tennis Open offers a few different ways to control the game. There are the standard button combinations and circle pad combination for Mario Tennis veterans.  For those gamers just picking up a Mario Tennis game for the first time, Camelot has added the touch screen controls to execute shots and gyro controls to make Mario Tennis Open more approachable to newcomers than any other game in the series.  The biggest addition to the Mario Tennis series in Mario Tennis Open is the inclusion of local and online multi-player over the Nintendo Network.  Mario Tennis Open also uses StreetPass to exchange Miis with other Mario Tennis Open players, which offers players a steady stream of opponents to face on the tennis court.

The more I write about Mario Tennis Open the more I just want to sit down and play a Mario Tennis game.  Mario Tennis Open should be a solid offering for 3DS owners that are done with Kid Icarus: Uprising.  Personally I am most excited about is the online multi-player.  As much as I enjoy playing a competitive match of Mario Tennis with my brothers, I am excited to challenge new people over the Nintendo Network.  Win or lose, it should be a ton of fun.  While I am not going to pick up Mario Tennis Open right away, I will definitely be buying it the near future.  When I do, I will see you all on the court.