by mocbucket62
Mario Tennis Aces has been around for a while and I feel its time to look at one key element about this game, the Special Shots. These are the most powerful shots as each character does a fun animation for a jacked up zone shot that can break an opponent's racket or use it as a quick way to earn points. They are basically the equivalent of a fighting game super where you build enough meter to launch a devastating blow. Do any of these special shots act differently? No. They all effectively act the same no matter which character you choose. However, I'm ranking these special shots based on a few criteria: How amusing the shot animations are, any lore that's tied to that character during the shot and how stylish it looks (1-5 scale). So without further ado, here's my totally scientific and affirmative rankings of the best special shots in Mario Tennis Aces.
Showing 1-10 of 16 items
What a debut for this little guy. Spike was originally just an obscure enemy from Super Mario bros 3 who would spit out spiked balls and throw them at you. Now he's moved on to more modern Mario games like Super Mario 3D World and Cpatain Toad and now he's work his way up to the Tennis elite. Spike earns the #1 spot because his shot has him eat his own racket, then he spits out what was his racket the turns into a spiked club he throws from 3D World and BOOM! You're done. Don't think you can beat someone who eats his own tennis equipment and then powers it up into something more powerful. Amusement: 5 Lore: 5 Style: 4
By far the most stylish special shot of the whole game. Waluigi gets a rose, puts it in his mouth, snaps his fingers and then does a dance into the ball and give the opponent a Flamenco blast! Funny enough Waluigi has done the rose motif before in mario Party 8 and Mario Golf World Tour, and this further elevates Waluigi's Rose gimmick. Surely the Vega of Mario. Amusing: 4.5 Lore: 4 Style: 5
Wario has a pretty strong special too. He eats a whole bulb of raw garlic, bulks up and slams the ball to the opponent with all his Garlic Might. Wario gets extra points for the game giving us some sweet Wario land/Warioware lore where Wario's favorite food is pure, raw garlic. It also gets some points for actually being scientifically accurate for the health benefits of garlic. a 100g of garlic will give you only 6.5 grams of protein, but it helps your eyesight and builds stronger bone tissue if you eat it. You need good eyesight and power for a special shot right? Hooray for Wario and science! Wario even hums a fun jingle before the shot too. Amusement: 4 Lore: 5 Style: 3
The Super mario Galaxy games are great, Rosalina is great and Lumas are by far the best NPC characters in Mario history. Rosie gets her Lumas to bounce the ball around and they let her get set up of a major blow. Good stuff. Amusement: 3 Lore: 5 Style: 4
DK uses his Barrel cannons from Donkey Kong Country to launch him into the ball and then lands his move. Its honestly fun to see Mario Games connect lore from spinoff Mario games like DKC and Warioware into core Mario sports games. Makes for good world building and confirms that Mario is in the shared universe with DKC and Warioware. Amusement: 4 Lore: 5 Style: 2
Boo's is pretty good. He gets 8 fellow Boos to show up, but then they turn into tennis ball and he rallies back as if he is hitting the ball with the strength of 8 tennis balls. That should break some rackets right? Amusement:4 Lore: 3.5 Style: 4
Toad is a surprise. His doesn't have much lore behind it nor is it the most stylish. But what he does is throw his racket in the air, jumps back and on his head and he propels himself using his own head to grab the racket and hit. Toad needs to use his head as a launchpad more often because its funny. Amusement: 5 Lore: 1 Stylish: 3
Yoshi gets wings like he does for Super Mario World (his best game) and flys up to hit the racket. I appreciate the Super mario World love her since Yoshi does get more powerful with wings and even makes the sound effect of him flying. The animation isn't as amusing as I'd hope though. Amusement: 2.5 Lore: 4 Style: 3.5
Luigi's isn't the best, but not the worst either. He gets into a pipe and launches himself out of it like its a cannon. Its fine, but would have been better if Luigi used the Poltergeist from Luigi's Mansion. Then we'd see Luigi much higher. Amusement: 3 Lore: 3 Style: 2.5
Eh, its ok. She does a "Ha Ha" luagh to start off, then starts running in the air using flower power and then launches herself into the ball. Don't think she ever did flower walking in Super Mario Land, but this is probably something in the Mario Sports games. Her launch into the ball is awkward as it looks like she's trying to stab the ball with the racket's edge rather then hitting it. Amusement: 3 Lore: 2 Style: 3.5