Mario's Tennis

Mario's Tennis
Developer	Nintendo R&D1
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Virtual Boy
Release Date	JP August 21, 1995 US August 14,1995
Rating	ESRB: K-A

Mario's Tennis is a sports game for the Virtual Boy. It is notable as being the first primarily Mario-themed sports game and for being one of Virtual Boy's launch titles that was packaged with the system.

Gameplay

This game implements Mario and seven other playable characters in a tennis environment, with the 3D effects helping to flesh out the tennis court. Players can perform Single or Doubles matches in Regular or Tournament modes with three difficulties. It has single player and two-player capability, although it was impossible to actually access two-player mode due to the cancellation of the Virtual Boy link cable.

Legacy

Mario's Tennis is notable as being the first sports title featuring the Mario cast, aside from several characters having made a playable appearance in NES Open Tournament Golf. This game also acts as the first game of the Mario Tennis branch of this subseries, which would later be revived on the Nintendo 64.

Sequels

The next Mario-themed tennis game was Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64, although Mario Golf would be the next Mario sports title.