Coming in second behind his mightily successful karting exploits, Tennis is Mario's next most prolific pastime - that is if you don't count partying (which we don't). He's not bad with a golf club in his hand, either, but it's centre court where the plumber has the most sporting titles to his name.
But what's the best Mario tennis game? We're serving this list of every Mario Tennis game, ranked for your pleasure, to peruse at your leisure and get the measure of every treasure. Yessir.
Ahem. Spanning Game Boy Color to Switch, let's begin at the bottom and work our way up to the top seed. Quiet, please.
9. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Wii U)
There are positives with Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, like the strong basic gameplay and neat visuals, but we cannot emphasise enough how phoned-in and thin the content offering was, nor how throwaway Mega Battle was as a tentpole feature.
Given the severe lack of content at release, it's a difficult game to recommend to even the most passionate Mario Tennis fans. Still, if you're after local multiplayer fun in which you simply mess around with the various court types, you can't really go wrong. It's just a shame the rest of it felt like a rush job.
8. Mario's Tennis (VB)
The small character roster makes the tournaments laughably short but this is a solid, if simple, tennis game. Good music and graphics combined with the excellent 3D effect of the court ensure that Mario’s Tennis is an excellent introduction to the Virtual Boy, plus it's cheap and easy to find these days. If only Nintendo had released that link cable, though...
7. Mario Tennis Open (3DS)
Mario Tennis Open was a strong and accessible entry in the beloved series, and a group of friends gathered around could lose themselves in it for a long time. Solo players could still have a good time perfecting their skills, and playing online was a nice way to keep things interesting, but the missing RPG mode left a pretty big hole that this 3DS entry struggled to fill.
Unless you're part of a cabal of 3DS-owning pals, you'll miss out on the real heart of the game: punching your wily opponent in the arm after a hard-fought match.
6. New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (Wii)
If you loved Wii Sports Tennis and couldn’t get enough of it, New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis was a great investment. There are a lot of modes to get through, the controls work fairly well, and it’s a bash with your mates around.
The only trouble is that it doesn’t feel like the mechanics have been properly refined; precision is somewhat lacking and we can't help but wonder why Nintendo didn’t wait until the Motion Plus attachment was out. (The answer is likely so that anyone with a Wiimote — not just the upgraded version — could buy the game and get out on the court.)
Worthwhile for a fun whackaround, but not a top seed.
5. Mario Tennis Aces (Switch)
We’re used to seeing Wii U games transfer to Switch, but for Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash to have moved across without a substantial makeover would have been disastrous. Mario Tennis Aces, wonderfully, is anything but that – it’s a superb arcade sports game that’s generous with its suite of player options and only occasionally guilty of being a little cheap in its Adventure Mode.
The presentation is spot on, and the core tennis action is absorbing whether you’re trading simple strokes or firing off special shots. Some animations and voiceovers are identical to Ultra Smash’s, but everything around them has been overhauled and rebuilt to reach quite splendid heights.
This is something of a Switch Port Plus, then – not quite a whole new experience, but so improved as to be near unrecognisable.
4. Mario Tennis: Power Tour (GBA)
Veteran developer Camelot proved it still belonged on Centre Court with this one.
With a comprehensive story mode, tight and entertaining tennis gameplay mechanics and a surprising amount of depth, Mario Tennis: Power Tour (or Mario Power Tennis as it's known in Europe) is a winning return for the plumber and his pals.
It's pretty dialogue-heavy, but there’s a deep, rewarding experience to be found underneath all the waffle, with the story mode serving up a satisfying sense of progression from the very beginning to this Game-Set-Match.
3. Mario Tennis (GBC)
What's a Mario sports game without iconic characters such as *checks notes*... Alex, Kate, and Harry, eh?
Camelot's handheld Mario sports entries were bizarre; not only is Mario absent from this game until you unlock him in the story mode... but there's a story mode.
Mario Tennis may not have swords, magic, or random encounters, but each Tennis match is tied together in a charming overworld that feels like it's ripped straight out of a traditional RPG. Just imagine rounds of Tennis replacing battles and it becomes much clearer why many consider these more than simple sports games - and some of the best games in Mario's sporty lineup.
2. Mario Power Tennis (GCN)
Mario Power Tennis was packed with cool courts, items, and effects that had forms or simpler equivalents on N64 but this entry nevertheless stepped it up a notch. It really was the core experience from the 64-bit entry once again, but powered up.
In addition to Mario Kart-esque items and quirky court types there were also plenty of modes, with various tournaments that were straight-up tennis or 'gimmick' focused. There were also eight minigames, some of which were fun diversions, but like with its home console predecessor, many fond memories revolve around local multiplayer.
1. Mario Tennis (N64)
The first in the Mario Tennis series (second, if you count Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy) was one half of a winning doubles team in the Mushroom Kingdom sports department from Camelot — the studio also released the brilliant Mario Golf for N64, as well as Game Boy Color versions of each game that linked up with their home console cousins via the Transfer Pak.
Mario's played a lot of tennis over the years, but this remains one of his finest on-court displays.
Game, set, and match! Well done for making it through to the final.
Best Mario Tennis Games FAQ
Before we head into the dressing rooms, let's grab a fresh shirt and have a quick post-match ceremony followed by an awkward chat with a royal and getting our pictures snapped with a big shiny plate.
Oh, and let's answer some common Mario Tennis questions during the press conference.
What was the first Mario Tennis game?
Mario's Tennis for Virtual Boy was the first game in the series. It launched in Japan on 21st July 1995, and in North America on 14th August. The Virtual Boy was never released in Europe.
Camelot's Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 was the first game in the series to be released in all three major territories. It launched in Japan on 21st July 2000.
Mario did appear in the excellent Tennis for Famicom / NES / Game Boy as a referee (as he did in several other early Nintendo sports games), but he wasn't a playable character.
Hang on, what about Mario Sports Superstars? That's got Tennis!
That's true, Mario Sports Superstars for 3DS does feature Tennis as one of the five sports, although it's not exclusively a Tennis game, so we didn't include it in this list.
If you're interested to see how it ranks with the games above, check out our Mario sports games list which ranks all the plumber's sporty escapades.