Mario Tennis: Power Tour

Mario Tennis: Power Tour
Developer	Camelot
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Game Boy Advance
Release Date	JP September 13, 2005 EU November 18, 2005 AU December 1, 2005 US December 5, 2005
Rating	ESRB: E

Mario Tennis: Power Tour (known as Mario Tennis Advance in Japan and as Mario Power Tennis in Europe) is a Mario-based tennis game that was released for the Game Boy Advance and is a sequel to Mario Tennis for the Game Boy Color.

Story

The game's story mode, known as Power Tour, follows a player character known as Clay (if male) or Ace (if female) who has recently enrolled in the Royal Tennis Academy. The character is intrigued by reports of mysterious masked figures who have been challenging the school's high-ranking tennis players, and the decision is made by the player to work their way to the ranks in order to challenge these mysterious foes and learn their identities.

Gameplay

Power Tour modifies the tennis gameplay in a way similar to Power Tennis with the addition of Power Shots. The game's main feature is the Power Tour mode. Like the preceding game (and the accompanying Mario Golf handhelds), Power Tour has a series of RPG elements which help to freshen up the game. The player can explore the school and talk to other characters between matches. Additionally, the player builds up experience from tennis matches which can boost the character's skills. As the game is made by Camelot, the game has some stylistic influence from Camelot's actual Game Boy Advance RPG, Golden Sun, and there is a more direct shout-out is that some Power Shot effects resemble Psynergy.

The game also contains the more casual Exhibition Mode, where the Mario characters are playable, as well as the usual collection of minigames. Power Tour also deviates from the previous Mario Tennis (as well as all of the Mario Golf' games) in that, while it acts as a handheld counterpart for Mario Power Tennis, the two games cannot connect.

Legacy

Sequels

Mario Tennis has been announced for the 3DS. However, it seems to be closer to the console sports game rather than the handheld ones, as the game appears to focus solely on the Mario characters playing tennis, while leaving beside the RPG elements and original characters from the previous handheld games.