Mario Tennis Fever is fun, but the ideal tennis sim is still missing

Mario Tennis Fever arrived to a positive reception, with our review calling it "a perfect arcade sports game offering a generous plethora of ways to play it." Its Fever Rackets add pick-up-and-play joy, and the game's tennis fundamentals stay exciting even when those special moves are turned off.

Positioning matters, shot variety matters, and points still often end in high-speed winners. For players seeking a closer-to-real-life simulation, Tennis Elbow 4 left Steam Early Access in January; the developer wrote, "TE4 is leaving Early Access now because I’m no longer working on it full-time." It’s frequently praised for shot-to-shot gameplay and realistic rallies, yet neither it nor Fever provides a fully licensed experience.

Winning the Mushroom Cup as Princess Peach is fun, but some players want to win Wimbledon as Carlos Alcaraz or beat him with a created character.

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