Mario Tennis U Stage is a sports game for the Nintendo Wii U and the fourth home console instalment in the Mario Tennis series developed by Camelot Software Planning. Initially announced at E3 2015 in June, it is one of the few games to be released in the same year it was announced in. Up to four players can locally enjoy the game, while up to two players can also use its online capabilities to play with other people around the world. This is also the first game in the series to use amiibo support, where players can use compatible amiibo to train and play with or against a CPU-controlled character.
Gameplay[]
Mario serving with an amiibo Princess Peach
The game is played similarly to previous entries of the Mario Tennis series, and follows the basic rules of tennis. Players serve and hit the ball back and forth until one side misses the ball. Players earn 15 points for each successful shot, and win a game point if a player scores in their 40th point. If players are tied after the 40-point mark, a deuce commences, and either player has to score two consecutive points to win a game point. Winning a number of game points makes the player victorious in a set or a match. Matches can be divided into sets. If two players tie in a set, a Tiebreaker commences, where one player must reach seven points to win the set or match.
Chance Shots return from Mario Tennis Open, acting exactly as they did before. Players can press a certain button combo over specific colored areas in the court to send a powered version of the ball specific to that certain Chance Shot. A new Chance Shot is called the Jump Shot where the character leaps and sends the ball streaking down the court.
Players can use the Wii U GamePad, the Wii Pro Controller, or the Wii Remote on its side to play the game. The game does not support motion controls for the Wii Remote, so the Wii Remote on its side is the only control option for it.
A New feature to the game is Triple Mode, Triple Mode allows the player to use three characters on the court. The third character can use amiibo, Miis or normal characters.
Tornament Mode[]
Tournament mode is very similar to that in the previous Mario Tennis games. Players must have a star ranking to participate in the second set of cups. To do that, they must beat the Champions Cup. However, in the Doubles Tournament, only the character they control earns the star rank. Beating Champions Cup unlocks the Pro difficulty, which is more difficult than Expert, while Final Cup unlocks Ace, the most difficult COM level for Exhibition Mode.
All of the Trophies from all the Cups in the Records Screen.
Once the player has unlocked a cup, he or she can play it at any time, using any character. As a result, characters do not have to clear all three cups to beat the Champions Cup to earn the Star Rank, unlike in the previous titles.
- World Stage
- Mushroom Cup
- Flower Cup
- Banana Cup
- Champions Cup
- Star Stage
- 1-UP Mushroom Cup
- Ice Flower Cup
- Shell Cup
- Finals Cup
Exhibition[]
Similar to the preceding Mario Tennis games, exhibition mode is a basic versus mode. Players can choose a singles or doubles match. After that, they can choose their character and opponents and press the L or R buttons on the Wii U Gamepad to give characters a left handed dominance or a star rank, respectively, if they want. The opponent's CPU's difficulty can be chosen after that, ranking from lowest to highest: Novice, Intermediate, Expert, Pro, and Ace (Pro and Ace are unlockable). A blue triangle means Novice, a yellow circle means Intermediate, a green circle with a dot in the middle means Expert, a red diamond means Pro, and a rainbow star means Ace. After this, players can choose any court they currently have, and then they can determine the games and sets.
Special Games[]
Another regular feature of the Mario Tennis series, the Special Games, is also present in Mario Tennis U Stage. These games, like the name says, have special rules and features that differ from normal gameplay. Some of these games bear a very strong resemblance to the Special Games in the previous Mario Tennis titles. However, unlike in the previous Mario Tennis games, Ring Shot is included within the Special Games rather than as another option for exhibition matches. Each Special Game has four difficulties, which are named according to the Special Game. Other than Super Mario Tennis, the last difficulty is a challenge that tests how much a player can do before running out of tries. There about eight special games, four of them return from Mario Tennis Open.
Players can unlock characters by clearing Level 3 of each Special Game. Players can unlock outfits for their Mii if they meet the requirements for unlocking them in level 4.
| Name | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ring Shot |  |
The player must win by hitting the ball through rings that appear over the net. Multiple rings appear, each decreasing in point value as they get bigger. The game is over when time runs out or the goal is achieved. |
| Super Mario Tennis |  |
In this game, the player must hit the ball onto a wall with Super Mario Bros. levels on it, very similar to Mario Tennis Open. Hitting items, enemies, blocks, and coins will extend the time. The game is over when the level is completed or when all lives are lost. |
| Galaxy Rally |  |
The player must rally a ball with a Luma while not letting the ball drop into Black Hole. There are Shrinking Tiles which disappear after the ball bounces on them. The game is over when the three balls are lost or the goal is achieved. This game also returns from Mario Tennis Open |
| Ink Showdown |  |
The player must return all balls that an Inky Piranha Plant spits at them, without letting the opponent return the balls. This game also returns from Mario Tennis Open |
| Bob-omb Banter |  |
Players will be in a match against a CUP character and will play normally but, for an extra bonus, Bob-ombs will be used to stun the opponents. |
| Star Coin Slice |   |
The player has to collect all of the Star Coins that appear on the crystal wall. They have three lives, similar to Galaxy Rally, if the player misses all three of the star coins |
| Balloon Battle |  |
Players have to protect the balloons on their side, in order to stop the ball from bursting the balloons, CUP characters will try to burst the balloons by sending the ball to you. |
| Shine Runners |   |
Players have to hit the ball through a line of Shine Sprites in order to win, if the player miss three or four Shine Sprites in the line, they lose the game. |
Participants[]
There are a total of 43 playable characters in Mario Tennis U Stage. 20 characters are starters in the game but 8 are unlockable and 15 are Special characters. Each character has a special type: All-Around, Technique, Speed, Power, Tricky or Defense. The unlockable and special characters have only Special shots.
Starter
| Image | Name | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Mario | All - Round | |
 |
Luigi | All- Round | |
 |
Peach | Technique | |
 |
Yoshi | All- Round | |
 |
Toad | Tricky | |
 |
Shy Guy | Tricky | |
 |
Koopa Troopa | All-Round | |
 |
Bowser | Power | |
 |
Donkey Kong | Power | |
 |
Bowser.Jr | Tricky | |
 |
Diddy Kong | Tricky | |
 |
Boo | Tricky | |
 |
Baby Mario | Tricky | |
 |
Baby Luigi | Tricky | |
 |
Wario | Power | |
 |
Waluigi | Defense | |
 |
Parakoopa Troopa | Defense | |
 |
Spike | Power | |
 |
Dry Bones | Power | |
 |
Mii | All- Round |
Unlockable
| Image | Name | Type | Special Shot |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Daisy | Technique | Flowerbed |
 |
Rosalina | Technique | Star Shot |
 |
Luma | Tricky | Slingstar |
 |
Baby Peach | Tricky | Rattle Rumble |
 |
Hammer Bro. | All- Round | Hammer Hit |
 |
Kamek | Tricky | Wand Whirl |
 |
Dry Bowser | Power | Ice Fire |
 |
Wiggler | Speed | Rage Ranter |
Special
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