mario tennis power tour controls

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Mario Tennis Power Tour Controller Layout & Button Combinations

This page contains the Controller Layout and button combos for Mario Tennis Power Tour, a game for Gameboy Advance. If you're looking for the controls so you can play this game then this page has all of the information you need!

Movement: D-pad Swing racket: A button Charge shot: B button (hold down to charge, release to hit) Special shot: L button + A button Lob shot: L button + B button Drop shot: L button + D-pad down + A button Topspin shot: L button + D-pad up + A button Slice shot: L button + D-pad down + B button Zone shot: L button + R button + A button Zone speed: L button + R button + B button Taunt: Select button

Note: some controls may differ depending on the character being used.

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• Mario Tennis: Power Tour

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Mario Tennis: Power Tour

by Stan Ferguson - December 12, 2005, 9:22 pm EST

Mario gives all GBA doubters a Power Shot to the head, as this game proves the system still has life left in it.

This game is significant. Mario Tennis Power Tour for the GBA is easily one of the best games made for the system (if not for other systems). It’s beautifully constructed, funny, and exciting. It is simply jam-packed with the joy of gaming.

The single player game (likes its GBC predecessor) is an RPG. You select your character (a boy or a girl), name him/her, and choose whether you’re right or left handed. The game begins in earnest at a central “home” area where you can save and switch between Singles or Doubles play. From then on, you’ll have certain stats to build, depending on the style of play you want to progress in, and you can balance that out by customizing your doubles partner’s stats in other fields.

The RPG aspect of the game is lighthearted and infused with innocently fierce competition. There’s no great evil threatening to destroy the land, just a tennis tournament to work your way through. Each time you progress, gaining more and more experience points, you’ll want to go further until you eventually reach Mario World to compete with the best. Yes, for some odd reason, the game uses “Mario World” rather than “Mushroom Kingdom.” My only hypothesis regarding this is that Mario just took over the entire planet after having saved it so often.

The look of the game is undeniably gorgeous. The backgrounds are cheerfully colorful, and the sprites are nicely detailed. The animations are fluid within the matches, and the ranges of emotions of the characters are hilariously expressed through either body language or icons appearing over their heads.

The controls are responsive and work smoothly, as the setup is simple and accessible, while allowing for a depth of strategy. For example, deciding to use either a slice or topspin hit depends on whether or not your character is left or right handed, where you and your opponent are located on the court, and the ball's current location. Plus, button combos allow for an even deeper layer of strategy.

There is one minor complaint I have about the single player game, and that’s the lack of cutscenes in Mario World. When you finally get to compete there, it’s as if you’d just opened the doors to the Land of Oz. I spent so much time working to get there that I wanted to savor it. But really, that’s insignificant; this game is more than I hoped it would be.

What I absolutely love in Mario Tennis is the AI on both sides of the court. The other teams have weaknesses you can exploit, but every doubles and singles match is different, giving you the opportunity to build your skills both offensively and defensively. As for your doubles partner, while he may occasionally miss, he doesn’t do so with any great frequency. You will rely on him quite often, which provides a wonderful sense of teamwork.

However, what would a game be if it were only a single player tennis RPG? Well, I’ll tell you what, my friend, this game comes loaded with several fun (but hard as nails) mini-games that you can unlock and use to build up experience or Power Shot points so that you can bring your A-game to the court. Oh yes, if you need a little boost on the court, try developing your jumping skills by breaking blocks before they move from one side of the screen to the other (complete with the 8 -bit Super Mario Bros. jumping sound effect).

Then there are the exhibition games. From the onset, you’re able to simply pick up and play a few doubles or singles matches. You can play as any of the originally available characters, plus those you have added on during the RPG mode. While there are many, many unlockable characters, there are, sadly, no more Mario-land characters to unlock. It’s a fairly meager cast in that aspect but certainly not a detriment to the gameplay.

In short: I love this game. Love it. It gives me a sense of exuberance that I feel is so rare in modern games. It brings everything into the fold: competition, accomplishment, skill, and story (however light); and it does all these magnificently.

The game is brimming with a glee that’s evident in its visual style. It’s a childlike (but not childish) style that I honestly believe only Nintendo and the best Disney cartoons have really captured.

While the sound does nothing spectacular, it serves its purpose well, and the music carries the happy-go-lucky feel of the game, while giving a little more gravitas to the beginning of the matches. The sound effects give added weight or amusement to your actions, particularly in matches and mini-games.

Perfect. The controls add so much depth to the game that improving your skills isn’t simply a matter of leveling up your character. What’s more, they’re laid out so well that accomplishing great feats is a simple matter so long as you know what you want to do.

This game is fun! There’s always a challenge and you’ll never feel as if you’re being cheated. When playing doubles, your partner is as good as you make him/her out to be, and working as a team is enjoyable and never a chore.

Lastability

The single player aspect of the game is short-lived, but you can continue on building your character. Completing the mini-games is optional, but they have four levels, each significantly tougher than the last. Then there’s the exhibition mode for quick singles or doubles matches. Of course, there is multiplayer available, and I recommend annoying your friends into submission (if you must) until they buy this game so that you can enjoy it together.

Yes, it is that great. I’m not saying so because I have a love for handheld tennis games (I don’t care much for tennis, truth be told). But, Mario Tennis Power Tour came into my life, stole my heart, and now I believe I’m eternally committed for richer or poorer.

• Appealing visuals and animation
• Deep RPG style gameplay
• Excellent AI
• Rich overall experience
• Only a short time spent in Mario World
• Small cast of Mario World characters

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Mario Tennis: Power Tour Hands-On

We grab a pocket-size racquet and get hands-on with Nintendo's upcoming tennis game for the Game Boy Advance.

By Justin Calvert on November 17, 2005 at 2:23PM PST

Currently scheduled for release early next month, Mario Tennis: Power Tour for the Game Boy Advance is a somewhat unconventional tennis game in which you can pit characters from Nintendo's A-list against each other in both singles and doubles matches. In addition, you can name a more generic-looking character of your own for use in the game's world tour mode, which is a role-playing game of sorts with an emphasis on improving your tennis skills through training, practice sessions, and competitive play. We recently had an opportunity to spend some quality time with Mario Tennis: Power Tour, and we can report that we had a smashing (sorry) time with it.

On Mario Tennis: Power Tour's main menu screen you'll find options for the single-player power tour and exhibition match modes, multiplayer play for up to four players, minigames that you've unlocked on the power tour, player stats, gameplay options, and a handy-dandy glossary of tennis terms. The first option that you'll want to check out is the exhibition mode, which lets you take control of Mario, Peach, Luigi, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, or a generic male or female character and play a quick match on either a hard, clay, grass, or composition court. Other prematch options will include making your chosen character left- or right-handed, and opting for a novice, intermediate, expert, or pro difficulty setting.

Given the GBA's small number of buttons, it'll come as no surprise to you that the control scheme in Mario Tennis: Power Tour is anything but complicated. The A button is used to hit shots with topspin; the B button is used to hit shots with slice spin; the right trigger is used to turn regular shots into "power shots"; and the left trigger is used for jump shots. Essentially, power shots are the thing that really sets Mario Tennis: Power Tour apart from other tennis games; once they're charged up, they let you play some incredibly powerful and outrageous shots. Mario's power shot, for example, lets you return the ball to your opponent using a bazooka instead of a racquet. Another interesting feature of the controls is that rather than holding down a button to charge up a shot, you'll tap it repeatedly.

One of the best ways to improve your game in Mario Tennis: Power Tour is through the power tour mode, in which you'll assume the role of a hopeful young tennis player in his or her first year at the Royal Tennis Academy. Your goal in the power tour mode, unsurprisingly, is to become the best tennis player you possibly can, which you'll achieve by moving up through the Academy's junior, senior, and varsity classes. In between ranking matches against other students, you'll have the opportunity to explore the sizeable campus, where you'll find a main building, a lodge (which is where your bedroom is located), a restaurant, a training center, a coaching area (where you can take lessons in serving, net play, and stroke play), and, of course, plenty of tennis courts. One of the most interesting areas to visit is undoubtedly the training center, because you can improve your character's skills simply by playing a number of different minigames there. To improve your character's speed, for example, you might choose to play a treadmill minigame that tasks you with mashing the B button to run and using the A button to jump over banana skins and barrels.

All of your skills in Mario Tennis: Power Tour fall into one of two categories: primary and secondary. Your primary skills are power, control, side spin, and speed. Secondary skills include your serve, stroke, volley, top spin, and slice. You'll earn points towards your next level every time you do something involving a racquet and a ball in Mario Tennis: Power Tour, and spending said points on your character (or on your doubles partner if you prefer) really couldn't be simpler. Improvements made to your character are quite noticeable the next time you play in a match, and things really heat up when you start learning different power-shot techniques.

Mario Tennis: Power Tour, then, is a game that has a whole lot going for it. We look forward to bringing you a full review closer to its release.

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Mario Tennis: Power Tour – Guides and FAQs

Game boy advance, full game guides.

• Guide and Walkthrough by  The_Ambassador v.2.50, 55KB, 2010
• Guide and Walkthrough by  Spatvark v.1.35, 129KB, 2009
• FAQ by  supercaptor v.1.0, 22KB, 2008

Character Guides

• Mario Guide by  Karthnath v.0.70, 66KB, 2011

In-Depth Guides

• Mario Series Ending FAQ by  jelly_soup NES v.4.4, 345KB, 2008

Foreign Language Guides

• Guide and Walkthrough (Spanish) by  The_Returner123 v.0.4, 19KB, 2005
• Guide and Walkthrough (Dutch) by  Tota_KK 26KB, 2005

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Mario Tennis: Power Tour

A GBA tie-in for the GameCube's Mario Power Tennis , this game removes most of the Mario characters to make room for the story mode, which takes place after the Game Boy Color Mario Tennis .

Your goal? Become the best tennis player ever!

• 1 Debug Mode
• 3 Regional Differences
• 4 References

The debug mode can be enabled with 03001334:00000001 . The controls are similar to the debug modes found in other games made by Camelot.

• Holding L will allow you to walk through walls.
• Press L+Start to open the Palette Menu.

• Press B+Start to open the Warp Debug Menu, which will allow you to go to any room in the game.

• Press B+Select to open the Story Book Flags Menu.

• Pressing Start + Select should make the frames pause; button presses will advance frames. Press Start to resume as normal.

These features are unique to this game:

• Press Select when in a tennis game to enter a menu:

Unused Playable Characters

There is data present that proves Chet, Sass's doubles partner in the Island Open, was to be a playable character. However, his programming is incomplete. He appears in the match as a distorted, colored square, and said square actually has Clay's sprite present. Also, Chet can't hit the ball far at all. Even with a "NICE!" shot, it still only moves forward a few inches. As a result, Chet is completely unusable. Also, the only unused graphic associated with this is his player icon.

There are also two other player slots, possibly for two of the other three Island Open players that can't be unlocked. The slots are labeled "08" and "47", respectively. Their icons look like placeholders, and their playing is the same as Chet's.

Regional Differences

• In addition, the US version allows you to select other European languages in the options menu.
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Tacklebot is the ninth minigame from the Game Boy Advance game Mario Tennis: Power Tour . This minigame helps Clay or Ace build up their PS Body statistic, which later benefits their Power Shot . The objective of this minigame is for the player to charge up power and tackle the Tacklebot until it is defeated, whilst defending to avoid getting stunned for a brief period of time.

Tacklebot has 100HP in all three levels, but takes less damage, depending on the level. Tacklebot is silver in Level 1, green in Level 2, red in Level 3, and a mix of yellow, red and blue in Challenge level. Its design is based on a sumo wrestler. In Level 3, the player can damage Tacklebot enough to reveal its robotic innards. Tacklebot will lose its entire outer shell during Challenge level.

Controls [ edit ]

In-game descriptions [ edit ].

Level 1: Take on the Tacklebot and defeat it in 30 seconds or less. Level 2: Take on the Tacklebot and defeat it in 40 seconds or less. Level 3: Take on the Tacklebot and defeat it in 60 seconds or less. Challenge: Take on the Tacklebot and see how quickly you can take it down!

• Mario Tennis: Power Tour minigames

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