Ziegs' Fan Game |
Mario Tennis: Ultra Slam. マリオテニスU(Mario Tennis U) | ||||
| ||||
Developer(s) | ||||
Publisher(s) | ||||
Platform(s) | Wii U | |||
Genre(s) | Sports | |||
Release Date(s) | November 28, 2012 | |||
Mode(s) | Single Player, Multiplayer | |||
Age Rating(s) | ||||
Media Included | Wii U Optical Disk |
Mario Tennis: Ultra Slam, known as Mario Tennis U in Japan, is a sports game for the Nintendo Wii U and the seventh installment of the Mario Tennis series. It includes features from past installments along with new ones. Also, online multiplayer support returns from Mario Tennis Open, with Nintendo Network procedures.
Gameplay
The gameplay features the traditional basic elements from previous Mario Tennis games. The game brings back Chance Shots and Power Shots (called Superstar Shot in this game) from Mario Power Tennis and Mario Tennis Open. Each character has two Superstar Shots, one offensive and the other defensive. Item Mode and Gimmick Mode also returns.
However, a new feature is the Ultra Shot or Ultra Ball, also called Ultra Slam. The player can perform this by making an Excellent rebound 3 times or more in a chain, after this, the ball will glow. The player then can make a Ultra Shot, that will bounce at incredible speed, being pretty hard to rebound for the opponent player. Also, another feature is a bunch of new characters, some that never appeared in the other installments and some new Special Games and modes. Also, the QR Codes return in this game.
The QR Codes work the same as in Mario Tennis Open with the Nintendo 3DS, but with the Wii U GamePad NFC sensor, able to read objects and codes, including the QR Codes, to unlock various alternates and costumes, and also some special characters.
Game Modes
Tournament
The Tournament Mode in this game is actually the same as in previous installments. However, it is more similar to the Tournament Mode from Mario Tennis Open, meaning that players must have a star ranking to participate in the second set of cups, with the simple difference of being called Ultra Tournament instead of Open Tournament. Beating Champion Cup unlocks the Pro difficulty, which is more difficult than Expert, while Ultra Star Cup unlocks the most difficult COM difficulty for Exhibition Mode, the Ace difficulty.
Once the player has unlocked a cup, he/she can play that cup at any time, no matter what character is being used. As a result, characters do not have to clear all three cups to beat the Special Cup to earn the Star Rank, just like in the previous installment.
- Star Tournament
- Mushroom Cup
- Flower Cup
- Banana Cup
- Champion Cup
- Ultra Tournament
- 1-Up Mushroom Cup
- Ice Flower Cup
- Shell Cup
- Ultra Star Cup
Exhibition
Exhibition Mode of course returns, and is the same as the other Mario Tennis games, being a basic versus mode. Players can choose a singles or doubles match. 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). After this, players can choose any court they currently have, and then they can determine the games and sets.
Standard Mode: The player and the opponent participates in a chosen course with no gimmicks of any kind. The only gimmicks present are the bounce intensity, speed of the ball, the Superstar Shots, the Chance Shots and the Ultra Slam, if turned on.
Gimmick Mode: The Gimmick Mode returns from Mario Power Tennis with the same concept. The player participates in the same game as in the court, but with gimmicks that can help or hinder the player, unique to each court. Mario Stadium is the only court that cannot have gimmicks of any sort whatsoever.
Item Battle: The player can use special items to help them win against the opponent. To do so, the player must hit an Item Box with the ball and receive a random item, very much like in the Mario Kart series, except that the item received isn't dependent if the player is losing or not.
- Green Shell: 3 Green Shells zoom out in straight lines. If the player gets hit by one, they will stumble and will lose time, possibly going as far as help the opponent to gain a point.
- Red Shell: One Red Shell comes out and chases the opponent. However, the effect is quite similar to the Green Shell when making contact.
- Blue Shell: One Blue Shell comes out and does the same as the Green Shell, but when making contact to opponents, they will also lose time, but being frozen and for more time. This item is quite rare.
- Banana: A stationary banana gets shot out. If it hits the ground, the banana remains quietly there. Slipping in a banana peel also has the same effect as shells.
- Mushroom: The Mushroom increases the player's speed for a short amount of time. It also returns the players to their normal size quicker if they've been shrunk by a Lightning or a Mini Mushroom.
- Star: The Star not only increases the players speed, but also makes him/her invincible, agile and stronger for a short period of time. It also returns the players to their normal size if they've been shrunk by a Lightning or a Mini Mushroom.
- Lightning: The Lightning strikes the opponents of the court and shrinks them to a tiny size. The opponents speed, stature, and power will also decrease. This is kinda similar to the Mini Mushroom's effects.
- Mini Mushroom: This tiny Mushroom does the same as the Lightning, except that this only affects one opponent, instead of shrinking all.
- Mega Mushroom: The Mega Mushroom increases the player's size, making him/her much stronger than normal for a short period of time, also, in this state, the player is not affected by Superstar Shots, like the Star.
- Poison Mushroom: A purple Mushroom gets shot out, If anyone touches it, their speed and power decreases for a few seconds, making it much harder to perform a rebound.
Special Games
The Special Games of course returns, being a common mode in the Mario Tennis series. As the name implies, these games have special rules that differ them from normal gameplay. Some Special games bears resemblance to the past Special Games from previous installments. However, like in Mario Tennis Open, Ring Shot is included within the Special Games rather than as another option for exhibition matches. Each Special Game has three difficulties, which are named according to the Special Game.
Ring Shot
The player scores points by hitting rings to win the game. The player earns the points in the rings by winning the point in the game, which depends on how many rings the player has shot. The losing player will give half of their points to the winning player in charge amount. Amount of ring points needed to win the game ranges from 100 (easy), 200 (normal), and 500 (hard).
Bill Blasting
The players must shot Bullet Bills with their rackets back at the Bill Blasters to score points. Normal Bullet Bills give the players 50 points, however, if the player does it in a chain, each shot gives 10% more. Golden Bills, however, give the players 100 points, and each shot in a chain gives 30% more. Amount of points needed to win the game ranges from 300 (easy), 600 (normal), and 1000 (hard).
Draglet Mayhem
This Special Game is much like Ink Showdown from the previous game, players need the rebound a given amount of balls spit from Draglets, however Draglets usually spit fireballs that the player must rebound, but if dodged, the player slows down for a few seconds, making it much harder to rebound the balls. If the player loses 3 balls, he/she will lose. The amount of balls ranges from 30 (easy), 50 (normal), and 100 (hard)
Gold Showdown
Gold Piranha Plants will spit Coins at the players, they must collect a given amount of Coins to win the match and try to make other players lose Coins to have more chance of win. Gold Coins give 1 Coin, Red Coins give 5 Coins, and Blue Coins give 10 Coins. Amount of Coins ranges from 50 (easy), 100 (medium), and 500 (hard).
Dark Swingback
This is much like Gooper Blooper Volley from Mario Power Tennis, players have the rebound the balls for a given amount of times that King Dark Boo shots, however, there are some panels, the ones that have an X cannot be touched by the ball. During the match, more panels will be marked by X, there are only 4 panels, if the balls touches the X, the player loses, also, sometimes King Dark Boo shoots poison lavaballs that must be dodged. Times that the ball must be rebound ranges from 20 (easy), 50 (medium), and 100 (hard).
Characters
Below is a list of the confirmed playable characters to be in the game, their respective type and Superstar Shots. The game has 51 different playable characters to choose from. Characters are separated into 6 different types, those are:
- All-Around: These characters are balanced and have equal stats in all five types.
- Technique: These characters are good at hitting the ball.
- Speed: These characters are very fast, but also weak.
- Power: These characters are very strong when hitting, but also moves slowly.
- Defense: These characters can hit the ball from almost any position.
- Tricky: These characters can do very tricky moves.
Default Players
Image | Name | Type | Superstar Shots |
---|---|---|---|
Mario | All-Around |
| |
Luigi | All-Around |
| |
Peach | Technique |
| |
Yoshi | Speed |
| |
Daisy | Technique |
| |
Bowser | Power |
| |
Bowser Jr. | Tricky |
| |
Koopa Troopa | Speed |
| |
Donkey Kong | Power |
| |
Wario | Power |
| |
Boo | Tricky |
| |
Waluigi | Defense |
| |
Diddy Kong | Speed |
| |
Toad | Technique |
| |
Baby Mario | Speed |
| |
Baby Peach | Tricky |
| |
Shy Guy | Technique |
| |
Mii | Varies |
|
Unlockable Players
Image | Name | Type | Superstar Shots |
---|---|---|---|
Toadette | Speed |
| |
Paratroopa | Technique |
| |
Birdo | Speed |
| |
Fly Guy | Tricky |
| |
Luma | Technique |
| |
Rosalina | Technique |
| |
Baby Luigi | Tricky |
| |
Baby Daisy | Speed |
| |
Dixie Kong | Technique |
| |
Lakitu | Tricky |
| |
Lakithunder | Power |
| |
Wiggler | Defense |
| |
Hammer Bro. | Speed |
| |
King Boo | Defense |
| |
Petey Piranha | Power |
| |
Kamek | Technique |
| |
Kammy Koopa | Speed |
| |
Dry Bones | Defense |
| |
Dry Bowser | Defense |
|
QR Characters
Image | Name | Type | Superstar Shots |
---|---|---|---|
Tumble | Tricky |
| |
Mr. Blizzard | Defense |
| |
Shadow Mario | Speed |
| |
Cosmic Mario | Technique |
| |
Slammer | Defense |
| |
Bogmire | Power |
| |
Dr. Mario | Technique |
| |
E. Gadd | Tricky |
| |
Chuckya | Power |
| |
Big Bob-Omb | Power |
|
Players will be able to customize their Miis just like in Mario Tennis Open. A new feature in Mii's customizing is the Superstar Shot Customize. Players can make an own Superstar Shot for their Mii, by selecting different effects and colors on the ball.
Unlocking Criteria
Below is a list showing how to unlock certain characters.
Name | How to unlock? |
---|---|
Beat the Mushroom Cup in singles | |
Paratroopa | Beat the Flower Cup in singles |
Birdo | Complete Ring Shot on level 3 |
Fly Guy | Beat the Banana Cup in singles |
Luma | Beat the Champion Cup in singles |
Rosalina | Beat the Star Tournament with every default character |
Baby Luigi | Complete Bill Blasting on level 3 |
Baby Daisy | Beat the Mushroom Cup and Flower Cup in doubles |
Dixie Kong | Beat the Banana Cup and Champion Cup in doubles |
Lakitu | Beat the 1-Up Mushroom Cup in singles |
Lakithunder | Beat the 1-Up Mushroom Cup in doubles |
Wiggler | Collect all clothes for your Mii |
Hammer Bro. | Beat the Ice Flower Cup in singles |
King Boo | Complete Draglet Mayhem on level 3 |
Petey Piranha | Collect all costumes and rackets for your Mii |
Kamek | Beat the Shell Cup in doubles |
Kammy Koopa | Complete Gold Showdown on level 3 |
Dry Bones | Complete Dark Swingback on level 3 |
Dry Bowser | Beat the Ultra Tornament with every default character |
Alternates
QR Alternates
QR Alternates can be obtained by scanning their respective QR Codes.
Mario Bros.
Athletic Girls
Yoshi Hunt
Toad Rainbow
Lumas
The Bros.
Color Guys
Special Alternates
Special Alternates can be obtained by purchasing them in the Nintendo eShop.
Courts
Below is a list of the actually confirmed courts to be in the game. It is confirmed that the game will have 15 different courts.
- Mario Stadium
- Peach Dome
- Snowy Wonderland
- Luigi's Mansion
- Yoshi's Island
- Bowser's Castle
- Wario Badlands
- Golden Mines
- Daisy's Garden
- Delfino Plaza
- Waluigi Pinball (Unlockable)
- Skyland Resort (Unlockable)
- Good Egg Galaxy (QR Code)
- Dr. Mario Stadium (QR Code)
- Cosmic Shade (QR Code)
Mii Customizing
Like in Mario Tennis Open, Miis are able to wear various costumes and clothes during matches.
Costumes
There are costumes of each playable character in the game, plus there are some new ones too. Most costumes are unlocked by clearing cups and/or winning matches and others with QR Codes.
|
|
|
|
|
Clothing
Some costumes are also available as normal clothes, with some new ones too. Most clothes are unlocked by clearing cups and/or winning matches and others with QR Codes.
|
|
|
|
Rackets
There are rackets of each playable character and also outfits, alongside other ones. Like clothes and costumes, rackets are unlocked by clearing cups and/or winning matches and some with QR Codes.
|
|
|
|
Superstar Shots
There are various Superstar Shot effects and colors that can be added to the ball for Mii's Superstar Shot. Like the other things, the effects and colors are unlocked by clearing cups and/or matches and others with QR Codes.
Effects:
|
|
|
|
|
Colors:
|
|
|
|
|