Mario Tennis Aces devs on the game’s mechanics, story mode, how new characters were decided, name, more

The Nintendo Switch Helped Realize Swing Mode – Boss Battles in a Tennis Game!?

Hiroyuki: Coming up with the rules for the boss battles was also tough. Missing once shouldn’t result in a game over in a tennis game; so instead, missing results in seconds being deducted from the time limit. Having your racket break can also result in a game over if you aren’t careful.

Izuno: And if the fight is difficult, you can just raise Mario’s level a bit and challenge it again.

It being a tennis game, it’s pretty shocking that the player can lose seconds by actually being attacked by the enemy.

Shugo: In the same way that being able to execute a body shot was shocking, right? (laughs)

To that point, I didn’t think you’d be able to use Trick Shots to avoid boss’ attacks, either!

Shugo: It was hard incorporating that into the boss fights; the staff asked, “how can you pull off a Trick Shot without a ball!?”

Hiroyuki: “Having something like that is unheard of!” they said. It was an absolute necessity though, so we had them incorporate it.

So, were boss battles born out of the Story Mode?

Hiroyuki: That’s right.

Izuno: At first, we were experimenting with the idea of a Piranha Plant gimmick-centered court. That evolved into a forest world that had normal courts, gimmick courts, and a boss fight – that all flowed together nicely as if it were three sets in a tennis match. That’s where bosses basically came from.

Hiroyuki: We were also battling the deadline in trying to come up with new boss characters that would fit within the world.

Shugo: A lot of the material we put forth was rejected.

Izuno: When designing a new character – like the Mirror Queen, “Mirage” – it has to fit into the Mario universe; there was a lot of arguing back and forth until we came to a compromise.

Hiroyuki: In order to make the story more enjoyable, I wanted to include more varied designs to give the world a more fantastical atmosphere. Since the story was already a bit complicated, I decided to work on the gimmicks first and incorporate the story afterwards.

Shugo: While we’re talking about gimmicks though, I might mention that Mirage Mansion took the longest to come up with.

The game is full of content because of it, though! It’s a tennis game with the story of an RPG, boss battles, and action-esque segments too!

Hiroyuki: For some people, the mission by which you get the Wooden Racket might be tougher than the Petey Piranha boss battle. The challenge – Spike’s Sure Shot Challenge – can help you improve your Zone Shot, though.

The Motion Control-Centered Swing Mode

Can you tell us about how the Switch’s Joy-Con and HD Rumble are present in the game?

Izuno: Have you tried out the Swing Mode, yet? The vibration you feel when playing that mode was actually implemented by playing tennis at Nintendo’s company tennis court; we attached a measuring device to that racket and implemented the recorded vibrations. A member of the company’s tennis club actually invited me to do so!

Hiroyuki: Making something like that normally would probably boil down to guesswork, like being told “that’s not what it should feel like when you miss!”

Izuno: Right, instead, we hit the rim of the tennis racket and measured those vibrations!

Shugo: By all means, please try out Swing Mode! The Mario Power Tennis port for the Nintendo Wii was a way for us to try to implement Swing Mode-esque controls with the Wii Remote, but you couldn’t really differentiate the shots. We did our best to implement some differences between shots and the motions you used to control them, but it was far from what we wanted. I guess you could call Aces’ Swing Mode revenge for that!

At last you were able to realize your idea!

Shugo: If at all possible I’d like players to be able to swing as if they were holding a real racket! Clever players might be able to get away with small, frantic shots, but that’s not real tennis. (laughs) Check to see if your surroundings are clear and swing as best you can!

It seems like this game really does live up to an actual tennis experience!

Shugo: Well, we had to make it a bit more relaxed for the game’s actual release. (laughs) It was closer to real tennis during development, but that would’ve been extremely difficult to play by comparison. Tennis is really difficult! But because it’s a game, anybody can play like Nishikori or Djokovic!*3,4

If you implemented a realistic swing mode, it might be more difficult to enjoy the game.

Shugo: Right, during development it was more of a game that made you realize you can’t play like Nishikori or Djokovic.

(all laugh)

Hiroyuki: It’s really hard to hit a ball in just the right place; the “sweet spot,” if you will.

Shugo: It made me remember when I actually started playing tennis for the first time.

And in the end you applied those memories to make the game feel more real!

Hiroyuki: What are video games for but transcending reality? If the real world was more impressive, then what would even be the point? I think it’s the same across all mediums in the entertainment industry: movies, manga, everything.

Developer Q&A!

After the interview, we asked the developers a few lingering questions. Since more information is bound to come out following the game’s release, stay tuned for future updates!

Question: I can’t clear Kamek’s Rally Challenge mission in Story Mode, please help!

Shugo: Ah, really!? There was a point where I also felt like it was too strong – I felt like keeping a rally going with him was pointless! Try challenging it again with an attitude like “I’ll crush you!!”

Question: Where did the “Aces” in the title come from?

Izuno: Nintendo was actually responsible for that. It’s referring to becoming a sharpshooting ace!*5 Players will become aces at using each character’s Special Shots and Zone Shots one by one, and then one by one set their sights on becoming an ace online as well! That’s where the name came from.

Shugo: Great tennis players are also sometimes called aces, so I think the name really suits the game!

Question: Can you tell us about what we’re looking at here?

Shugo: When it came to the graphics, the tennis shoes were actually the hardest to make!

Izuno: We included even the smallest details, as if it were a real tennis shoe! For instance, there little crevices in the heel, differences between the mesh texture and the rest of the shoe… So on and so forth.

Shugo: All of the details are incredibly small, so it must’ve taken the most time out of everything!

Question: Tell us more about the place names from Story Mode!

Hiroyuki: The Sol Sanctum – called the Temple of Bask in the English translation – draws inspiration from Latin, in which “sol” refers to the sun, or light. Other names also derived from the four seasons. Razu – or, Aster in the English version – is a reference to the Latin word for light, “lux.” And Ester – or, Lucien in the English version – is a reference to the Latin word for existence, “est.”

Final Messages from the Developers!

Shugo: Truth be told, we’re still working on the game. So, I think the game will continue to evolve as we gather everybody’s feedback. We hope we can continue developing while enjoying everybody’s reactions to the game!

Hiroyuki: We sincerely hope that this change in direction will please everybody that plays the game, and that the Mario Tennis series as a whole will continue to do so. I hope everybody enjoys the game!

Izuno: Not only will there be plenty of online tournaments in the future, but new characters too! We’ll continue to add new features to keep the game exciting, and we sincerely hope you’re anticipating what awaits this game in the future!

Translator’s Notes:

*1: In Japanese there are two ways to say the word “energy” – 「エナジー」(enajii) and 「エネルギー」(enerugii). Enerugii is more commonly used in everyday language, while enajii has a more special connotation. For instance, in the Japanese version of Golden Sun, the “Psynergy” mechanic is referred to as enajii – as is the “Energy” mechanic in the Japanese version of Mario Tennis Aces. This is why Hiroyuki makes the connection between the two.

*2: Furutachi Ichiro is a Japanese television announcer.

*3: Kei Nishikori is a famous Japanese tennis player.

*4: Novak Djokovic is a famous Serbian tennis player.

*5: Zone Shots are referred to as “Sharpshooting” in the Japanese version.

Translation by provided by Nico Thaxton on behalf of Nintendo Everything

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