Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color)

Released alongside Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64, the Game Boy Color game is far more than a cut-down port. Camelot, the studio behind Mario Golf, built it around a story mode with role-playing elements, so you play as your own young tennis player rather than as Mario.

It was the third game in the Mario Tennis series and its first on a handheld. It came out in Japan as Mario Tennis GB in November 2000 and in North America and Europe early in 2001.

In Mario Tour you join the Royal Tennis Academy as a new student, playing as either Alex or Nina. You choose singles or doubles at the start; Alex’s doubles partner is Harry and Nina’s is Kate. From the Junior class you work up through the Seniors and the Varsity Squad to the academy’s travelling team, and finally the Island Open.

Matches and training earn experience that you spend on four areas: speed, power, spin and control. Win the Island Open and the final opponent is Mario himself, on the Castle Court in singles or with Peach in doubles.

Outside the tour there is an Exhibition mode for one-off matches and, with a second Game Boy, a second copy and a link cable, two-player games.

The academy’s students make up most of the roster, alongside a handful of Mario characters. Luigi, Donkey Kong and Baby Mario are playable from the start; Mario and Peach are unlocked by beating them at the end of Mario Tour, and further students join as you win titles. Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi and Bowser can only be brought across from the Nintendo 64 game with a Transfer Pak.

Grass, Hard, Clay and Composition courts are open from the beginning. Castle, Tropics, Jungle, Star and Warehouse courts are unlocked by clearing minigames and other goals.

Each Mario character has a minigame of their own, nine in all, from Mario’s Boo Blast and Luigi’s Shooting Star to Peach’s Perfect Shot, Baby Mario’s Target Shot, Donkey Kong’s Banana Bunch and Yoshi’s Fruit Fantasy. Wario and Waluigi share Treasure Box, Waluigi teams up with Luigi in Medallion Match, and Bowser takes on Wario and Waluigi in Two-on-One. Clearing higher levels of some of them opens new courts.

With a Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak, characters can travel both ways between the two games and keep their stats. You can level up your Mario Tour player on the Game Boy Color, use them on the Nintendo 64, and send them back to keep improving. Linking up also unlocks Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser and their minigames on the handheld, and finishing those minigames and reconnecting opens extra courts in the Nintendo 64 game.

The link cannot be used in the 3DS Virtual Console release, so the transfer-only characters and the Warehouse Court are out of reach there. The Nintendo Switch Online version unlocks everything that once needed a transfer from the start.

Reviewers liked how much depth Camelot found on the Game Boy Color, and the game holds a GameRankings average of around 91%. It was nominated for GameSpot’s Best Game Boy Color Game of 2001 and sold 357,987 copies in Japan, where it was the eighth best-selling Game Boy Color game. Its role-playing approach continued in Mario Tennis: Power Tour on the Game Boy Advance. The game was re-released on the 3DS Virtual Console in 2013 and 2014, and on Nintendo Switch Online in 2024.

• It is Waluigi’s only Game Boy Color appearance; he debuted in the Nintendo 64 version of Mario Tennis.
• Mario has to be unlocked, which makes this one of the few Mario games where he is not playable from the start.
• Daisy appears at Peach’s side but is not playable.
• The Tropics Court music doubles as the theme for Fruit Fantasy, and the Jungle Court music plays in Banana Bunch.

• Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color) Review by pikachu1221

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