Jaquette Switch de Mario Tennis Aces : Mario frappe la balle raquette tendue, Peach en retrait

Mario Tennis Aces: the evil racket Lucien

1388 words | Reading time : 6 minute(s)

GameMario Tennis AcesCamelot

An evil racket that possesses anyone who picks it up. Released on 22 June 2018 on Switch and developed by Camelot, Mario Tennis Aces brings back the first true Adventure mode since 2005. This guide breaks down the plot of the racket Lucien, the five Power Stones of the Kingdom of Bask and the Zone Shot mechanics.

Mario Tennis Aces landed on Nintendo Switch on 22 June 2018, once again developed by the Camelot studio. The title, spelled exactly the same in French and in English, hides far more behind its net than a simple sports game: a genuine Adventure mode with the feel of a role-playing game.

Its big idea rests on an evil racket named Lucien (Jeseth in the French version), able to possess anyone who grabs it and to plunge an entire kingdom into chaos. It falls to Mario to repair the damage.

Contents

The first true Adventure mode since 2005

Usually, a Mario Tennis game is happy to line up one match after another. Aces changes course by offering the first genuine story mode in the series since the 2005 Game Boy Advance instalment, sold as Mario Tennis: Power Tour in North America and Mario Power Tennis in Europe. The saga had not attempted a story-driven adventure for more than ten years.

This Adventure mode strings together cutscenes, levels and boss fights like a real platformer, while doubling as a long tutorial that doles out the mechanics one by one. You earn experience along the way to push up Mario's stats, the only playable hero of the campaign, and you unlock rackets with varied profiles as you go.

The Kingdom of Bask, setting of the Adventure mode in Mario Tennis Aces
The Adventure mode unfolds its plot across an entire kingdom, a first since 2005.

Lucien, the racket that possesses its wielders

It all starts with a poisoned trophy: Wario and Waluigi dig the racket out of the depths of some ancient ruins and hand it to Mario and Peach at the end of a tournament. Despite a warning from Toad, it is Luigi who grabs it first, curious to give it a try.

The moment he takes hold of it, Luigi is possessed by Lucien, soon followed by Wario and Waluigi, who fall under its spell in turn. This ancient racket had once laid waste to an entire kingdom before a king stripped it of its powers and sealed it away. Ever since, it has sought only to come fully back to life.

Five Power Stones in the Kingdom of Bask

To cut that resurrection short, Mario teams up with Toad and sets off to recover five Power Stones scattered across the Kingdom of Bask (Royaume de Rakhet in the French version), the very place where the racket was sealed away long ago.

  • Mario claims the first three Stones through duels and trials, crossing a forest, a haunted mansion and a snow-covered mountain.
  • The possessed Wario and Waluigi beat him to the last two, hidden away by a raging sea and on a volcanic island.
  • Not every trial is a standard match: some ask you to return a precise number of balls, dodge traps or solve small puzzles against oversized bosses.

At the end of the journey, Bowser seizes Lucien and merges with it for the final showdown, staged in a sanctuary perched at the top of the kingdom.

Ancient ruins of the Kingdom of Bask, a stop on the Adventure mode
The ruins guard one of the five Power Stones you have to recover.

Zone Shot and Special Shot: tactical tennis

On court, Aces imposes an energy gauge that fills up as rallies go on and gates the most devastating shots; the whole art lies in knowing when to spend it rather than waste it.

  • The Zone Shot (Frappe Instinct in French): standing on a star marked on the ground, you slow the action down to aim to the millimetre, at a corner of the court or straight at the opponent's racket.
  • The Special Shot (Super Frappe Instinct in French), the signature blow: unleashed on a full gauge, it can smash the opponent's racket in a single move.
  • The Zone Speed (Course Instinct in French): it slows time around the player to chase down the tightest balls.

A striking new feature: rackets can break: three Zone Shots taken, or a single Special Shot, are enough to snap one, and losing every racket loses you the match on the spot. Mario tennis becomes a genuine duel of resource management.

Mario mid jump smash on a Mario Tennis Aces court
The Zone Shot freezes time so you can aim: it is the tactical heart of the game.

A roster expanded for free after launch

Outside the Adventure, Aces piles on the formats: tournament, free matches, Rally mode and Swing Mode playable with motion controls, in the style of the older Mario Tennis games on Wii.

Above all, Nintendo expanded the cast for free after launch: some fifteen characters joined the game through the monthly online tournaments, such as Koopa Troopa (July 2018), Blooper (August 2018), Diddy Kong (September 2018) and Birdo (October 2018).

The roster therefore never stopped growing month after month, rewarding the most dedicated online players without a single piece of paid content to buy.

Character select screen in Mario Tennis Aces
The roster filled out for free after launch, one character at a time.

What Aces changes for the series

By marrying arcade tennis with a real layer of strategy, Aces stands out as the most tactical entry in the saga, where any rally can swing on a racket snapped at the wrong moment or a gauge spent too early.

Between its generous Adventure mode and its stream of free characters, the game has settled in as a lasting pillar of the Switch catalogue, as enjoyable in a laid-back match on the sofa as in a nerve-racking online tournament.

Mario Tennis Aces at a glance

Title Mario Tennis Aces
Developer Camelot Software Planning
Publisher Nintendo
Platform Nintendo Switch
Worldwide release 22 June 2018
Genre Sports / tennis with an Adventure mode
Evil racket Lucien (Jeseth in the French version)
Adventure objective Gather 5 Power Stones

🍄 Want to keep the adventure going? Discover our Mario toys in the shop.

FAQ

  • Does Mario Tennis Aces have a story mode?
    Yes. Its Adventure mode is the first genuine story mode in the series since the 2005 Game Boy Advance instalment. Mario crosses levels and takes on bosses to free Luigi.
  • Who is Lucien?
    Lucien (Jeseth in the French version) is an ancient evil racket that possesses anyone who picks it up. It first takes control of Luigi, then of Wario and Waluigi.
  • How many Power Stones do you have to recover?
    Five. They are scattered across the Kingdom of Bask, and Mario has to gather them all before the racket comes fully back to life.
  • Which console can you play it on?
    On Nintendo Switch, where the game came out on 22 June 2018. There is no version for any other platform.
  • Can you play as characters other than Mario?
    Yes, outside the Adventure mode. The cast includes many characters, and Nintendo added more for free after release through the online tournaments, such as Koopa Troopa, Blooper and Diddy Kong.
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