Mario Tennis Fever

and Bowser on one team against Peach and Daisy The gameplay of Mario Tennis Fever consists of playing matches of tennis as 38 characters from the Mario franchise, which is the most in the series' history. The character roster also includes the debut appearance of Baby Waluigi. The game features 30 different rackets, each with their own abilities. Multiple game modes exist, including "Tournament", "Trial Towers" and "Mix It Up". Tournaments contain live sports commentary from the Talking Flower introduced in Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023). During matches, players can now perform slide and leap shots on their opponents. The game's main mechanic is the introduction of 30 "Fever Rackets", which allow the player to perform a variety of effects during a match, by building up a "Fever Gauge", then performing "Fever Shots". Fever Shots can have advantages for the player, such as causing the opponent's side of the field to have an icy patch where the ball bounces, or making Mini Mushrooms appear, which can shrink the opponent. If the player takes too much damage, their health will deplete and they will be KO-ed, temporarily removed from the match to heal. Fever Rackets can be disabled to play "Classic Tennis". ==Plot==

Princess Daisy falls gravely ill before the Mushroom Kingdom Tennis Tournament, much to the concern of her friends, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and Donkey Kong. The group are soon approached by Wario and Waluigi, who inform them of a magical golden fruit on a remote island that can cure Daisy. Via Peach's airship, the party travel to the island, where Mario and Luigi successfully find the golden fruit. Meanwhile, Wario and Waluigi search for treasure on the island and accidentally provoke three mysterious beasts, which curse Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, and Waluigi into becoming babies. Returning to the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi are taken to the Mushroom Tennis Academy, where they receive training in order to defeat the monsters that cursed them. After graduating from the academy, Mario and Luigi board Peach's airship and begin their journey back to the monsters' island, accompanied by several Toads, Wario, and Waluigi, only for the latter two to betray them by setting the airship on fire with Flame Rackets. After Mario and Luigi put out the fire, it is revealed that Wario and Waluigi are working with Bowser, who wants to have the monsters defeated himself in order to win over Peach. Due to the airship malfunctioning, Mario, Luigi, and the Toads land it at sea, where they continue their journey to the island. Throughout their journey, the group is joined by Donkey Kong, Daisy (who has regained her strength thanks to the golden fruit), and Peach (who was kidnapped by Bowser in an attempt to impress her). The party eventually find and defeat two of the three monsters, restoring Luigi and Peach's adult forms. They are soon confronted by Bowser, who wants to use the monsters' power for himself. The group manage to defeat Bowser and the last monster, which completely undoes the baby curse. Afterwards, the group decide to fix Daisy's airship in order to escape the island and return to the Mushroom Kingdom. ==Development==

Mario Tennis Fever was announced in a Nintendo Direct presentation on September 12, 2025, during the introductory segment celebrating the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. (1985). The reveal presented both old and new gameplay mechanics, the new story mode, and announced that the game would be released on February 12, 2026. ==Reception==

Mario Tennis Fever received generally favorable reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval from critics. IGNs Logan Plant commended the game for its "exciting multiplayer moments, great controls, and a huge character roster" while viewing Adventure Mode as "more of an extended tutorial than an actual adventure". In his review for Nintendo Life, PJ O'Reilly referred to Mario Tennis Fever as his "favourite game in the series thus far, by finding an addictive balance between Mario's madcap antics and real-world tennis fun", though he criticized the lack of single-player content, as well as Adventure Mode, which he viewed as "a letdown" for being "disappointingly short and rather basic". Reviewing the game for PCMag, Jordan Minor summarized Mario Tennis Fever as "a must-have Switch 2 game that I recommend to anyone who fancies a bonkers spin on traditional racket competition", praising the game modes, "[c]risp, colorful" presentation, and unlockables while criticizing the linearity of Adventure Mode, as well as mild lag in online matches. Donovan Erskine of Shacknews deemed Mario Tennis Fever "a competent tennis game with plenty of variation and a high skill ceiling", particularly for its on-court gameplay, extensive character roster, and new Fever Racket gimmick. Steve Watts of GameSpot felt that the Fever Rackets helped create "the best Mario sports game in years", as well as viewing Adventure Mode as "a short and sweet story with lots of variety and clever boss fights". Several critics highlighted the high price. On Giant Bomb, Jeff Grubb felt, "the mechanics are solid, but nothing outside of the core tennis gameplay is that much fun...At $70? A game like Fever feels lazy and rote." The review from The A.V. Club felt that despite the overall competence of the game, Nintendo was wasting the potential of the developing studio, with critic Dia Lacina openly calling for Camelot Software to make a new RPG; "Instead of hamstringing the company that gave us Golden Sun...Stop asking the Takahashis and their studio to sleepwalk through Mario-branded sports games, and let them cook again." ==Notes==