Fans Are Calling Out Nintendo And Camelot For "Lazy" Mario Tennis Aces

How sad.

I traded this game in within a week of purchase. Relieved i bought it on cartridge. It's a bare bones game with decent multiplayer. Not worth €55 in my opinion.

I haven’t played this so can’t really comment. But if this has been rushed with the “fix it later in patches” mantra then this is sad as Nintendo felt like ones of the last bastions against this.

And honestly, I believe a fair share of the blame lies with the general gaming public and the willingness to accept this. It seems a developer / publisher has to screw up Assassin’s Creed Unity level before large numbers really throw up a fuss. The days of taking time to iron out issues and apply spit and polish are long gone. Now its about hitting deadlines and fixing any problems later.

Le Gasp! An easily patchable glitch! The horror!

Now if they don't patch this within another month, and it seems like they wont, then, that would be lazy.

But it is better to give it some time, find a few bugs to patch at once, then to have a whole bunch of little updates left and right. Almost every time I log into Steam, or turn on my PS4, there are a half dozen or more updates waiting to happen.

Mario tennis Aces is less than an average game.

The biggest flaws are :

The total unbalanced players that ruin the game.
The "adventure mode" that Nintendo made is a joke.
The unlockables in the game are crap, 5 gadget courts, a joke.
Bowser Jr and Chomp are OVERPOWER as hell, go online you'll understand... :/
You cannot set the lenght of you playtime in multiplayer mode, WHAT ?
You cannot select your own court, god just a select court screen Nintendo is it too much ?

So many flaws... They could make a really great game but facts are facts, it a 4/10 for me. (sadly).

Twitter and Reddit. This "news story" could also be described as lazy.

Here is a news story for you to consider: Why wasn't any of this brought up in Nintendo Life's review for the game?!

Both Kirby and Mario Tennis are very cheap games. The adventure mode is disappointing and not for the lack of gem models...

That said I'm enjoying the online multiplayer a lot, the tournament system is brilliant and you get a sense of progressive difficulty like in a real tournament, more or less.

You just have to skip Bowser Jr. which is OP, and well completely ignore Toad and Toadette, you're not going far with them.

I'm quite good with Peach lately, 3 tournaments and a 76% win rate in july.

I don't expect Camelot to read these complaints and patch the game by nerfing and buffing characters. I'd like to be proved wrong though

The core gameplay is fun enough to keep me playing, but there are major issues that have been ignored that should've been patched by now. This is Nintendo's Street Fighter V currently, although unlike Capcom, I don't know if they're racing to fix these issues.

We definitely need a patch as soon as possible. Come on Nintendo, fix all the issues this (great) game has!

So they tacked on an adventure mode to Ultra Smash, added some more characters and called it a day.
At least it's more than what they did for most of the other Wii U ports.

I liked the demo so thought I'd give the game a shot (plus it was reviewing decently) but on getting the full game and looking at what was on offer I was immensely underwhelmed by it. At launch the tennis gameplay felt fine and multiplayer was fun, if challenging; yet outside of the online tournament mode and the single player adventure there's literally nothing to do. When NintendoLife called this is a deluxe port of Ultra Smash they weren't wrong. I'd rather fire up my Wii or GCN and play Mario Power Tennis to be honest.

I have to admit that I'm disappointed too.

I was aware that the focus would be on online mode, but didn't expect it to be that much online oriented.

So far I've been entertaining myself with a little adventure, a few tries on CPU tournament on hard difficulty and yesterday I got the chance to try online. And it is as everybody says: overpowered charaters you have to avoid.

But in matches against normal characters what I see is that even in first round there are people doing things I can't manage to do, for instance curve balls that really work, meaning going outside the court, not inside, which doesn't make sense. Of course I lean the analog stick to the direction I want the ball to go, but curve balls just don't go where I want, just the other way around. But my opponents do as they please with this kind of shot.

Such difficulty makes me kind of hate the online mode, but this is a problem I have with most online gaming actually. People that were already too good on day one. And I'm left out.

So that leaves us the local multiplayer, which I won't really be taking advantage of considering I never have people over.

I might just try to sell it, because I feel they could have made better things to single player, i.e.:

-Worthy unlockables: put characters and costumes that unlock after playing a number of matches, finishing the Adventure Mode, et cetera.

-A season mode: several tournaments a la Virtua Tennis

Just that.

Well, in terms of game story, Nintendo is not good at all to tell a tale in their games, let alone a Tennis games.
Some of their games I don't mind having a silly story but other games they really should step up.
I would love to see a proper story on Metroid 4 for instance but I'm afraid that they will stick with the basic

Everybody knows that if you've got £45 and you want to spend it on a top-tier multiplayer Mario game that you'll be coming back to for years, it doesn't usually have Tennis in the title.

@blockfight it was £55 bloody ripp off half a game again lol

@Moroboshi876

I understand. But this is up to you. Play matches, lose a lot and learn something every time.

This is because the gameplay mechanics are almost too deep and it takes time to master them all. Focus on one character at a time and learn how to manage their strenghts and weaknesses, then try to study your opponent during the very first points

Glad I hesitated to get this. Not because a cu tscene is missing a model, I can overlook stuff like that, but unless Nintendo actually puts time and effort into polishing this for an update, it might as well be Ultra Smash 2.

@SuperCharlie78 As a matter of fact, although I admit I'm bad, I've figured out the mechanics, but it's just not enough.

I didn't pick Ultra Smash back in the day but read that it was multiplayer and nothing else, and like many other people here I can see Aces is just the same with a little extra. And also think the marketing here was excellent, because they sold us a game that's not what it looked like it would be.

Like in Kirby Star Allies, it's just too expensive for what it has to offer. Its price should have been like in Captain Toad's new version. But at least Kirby isn't an online game and I will be able to play it with my daughter when she grows up. Tennis too, I know, but it gets boring pretty quickly and, let's face it, in 5-6 years the servers won't probably be there anyway.

My take is this game doesn’t have one gigantic, horrendously unforgivable problem that really destroys my experience. Rather, it has a dozen or so smaller problems that add up. Fine but not great.

Why are people moaning? It is BRILLIANT. Online is flawless..swing mode is perfect for kids or families..adventure mode is super tough. People just sit round waiting to be angry at anything

Interesting how after the hype leading to release and praising reviews (though a lot of the praise was "it's not the previous Mario Tennis game") it looks like it died down up until this. Though I guess Mario sports games are pretty niche and not typical Internet discussion topic.
I couldn't make sense of the controls in the demo so I didn't buy it and don't plan to.

For content and great gameplay play the n64 or gamecube versions I'd say. Last one i played was the wii u version and it bored the life out of me after a few hours.

Why do people always have to jump to extremes? Either the game is excellent or their disappointed. I mean yeah these supposed glitches (maybe it's intentional who knows) and the lack of some options (match length and retry option) is dumb but do we have to drag down the whole game because of that?
I mean the core mechanics are awesome, pretty much everyone agrees on that and multiplayer is solid. I thought the singelplayer was pretty good i just don't get the people expecting more than a 5 hours campaign on a multiplayer focused game.
So yeah sure the game has some glarring issues but that doesn't make it a 'mess' or 'inacceptable'. And if you really think so maybe you should have kept your expectations realistic especially regarding storymode. I mean it has a story mode, lots of characters, varying courts and a solid online multiplayer. What more do you want?

I had high hopes for this, but after all the reviews I read and the demo not quite managing to convince me, I'll think I'll continue to hold off. Maybe if it ever goes on sale, I'll pick it up, because I'm really looking for a tennis game to play and it was not that I actively disliked the demo ... still, it felt to arcade for me and even though there is apparently a classic mode for multiplayer, I'm rather unsure if that will be enough to warrant a purchase. There is just too much else to play to settle for what seems to me like a decent game.

I really wish Sega would bring out a new Virtua Tennis. That always hit the sweet spot for me, kinda like Forza. I guess Aces is still a better choice than Tennis Tour, which I felt was a complete bust, even if there are hints of a solid foundation, calling it 'rough' would be a euphemism.

I thought the dumbest part was the ridiculously limited options for setting up matches.

Saw this coming, lots of things in this game were done lazily. Good luck hiring out Camelot again and expecting anyone to buy it. Keep them far away from other Nintendo titles please, haven't liked anything they've made since 2010.

I knew I wasn't crazy when I said this game is bad. I fell for the hype, don't know what's worse the terrible online or the boring as hell single player. it's worse than ultra smash

The so called adventure mode is just a bunch of mini-games tied together with dialogs between characters.

I'd rather there's no adventure/story mode, with just a selection of mini games like they used to do. It makes replaying those mini-games easier.

I'm bored with it too. The adventure mode is extremely boring. I'm disappointed in the supposed unique special shot for all the characters that's actually the exact same aside from animation.

@SBandy
They were also surprised, that you apparently can't choose the court you're playing on in multiplayer. Makes you wonder, if the really tested it or what layed a few matches and called it a day.

Really gutted I bought this as a download. I was a expecting a keeper, what I got was an underwhelming Mario Tennis game that is plain average at best.

I really liked this game, but it is so barebones... After one week I was already tired of doing the same thing over and over again. There is barely anything else to do on your own besides the online tournament. The adventure is 2-3 hours long and after that there is nothing there to have you go back and play more.

For the amount of content you get, this definitely wasn't worth the 60 euro price tag.

@SBandy Precisely what I was thinking! Did Nintendo Life fully playtest the game?

Well hopefully we still get a golf and a strickers.

A port is a port. Saying it is a port but is almost unrecognisable as one does not make it less of a port. As I guess, Smash Bros is.

I avoid Wii U ports so I've not played this game. But what puzzles me is, there is a lot of negitive comments about the game yet it gets a score of 80, yet the original Wii u game only got 50. It seems that the reviewer does not view the game in the same way the gamers do.

Also I think any ported game score should be adjusted to include a 'value for money' score for anyone who has already paid full price for the original content.

I pre-ordered this game but it seems to have been lost in the post, which may be a blessing in disguise as I'll hopefully be able to get a refund on it (not because of this glitch, but because of how many people are saying it's underwhelming). I'd like to play it but I'll wait until I can find it a bit cheaper (Nintendo Selects maybe?)

Disappointing. I have never seen such a glaring bug in a Nintendo game before. Still, if it were any other publisher than Nintendo, it would be business as usual these days. So this is kind of the exception that confirms the rule.

I was thinking Mario Tennis Aces were quite good, but was not really Fantastic as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Still has lack of something despite i was quite satisfied with Quick Play.
Overall, i gave it 6 / 10 (Not Bad but i expect better than 6 ).

@denis09

Ya know, I totally respect you level of acceptance about quality for games.
We just have a different level on it, that's all.

Look, if I had to mark Super Mario Odyssey for example, I'd give a 6/10 even if everywhere on the net you find zillion 10/10.

Just a question of point of view.

Glad I skipped the game, too bad there's nothing for August since j was looking forward for some First Party August titles but whatever

@Ensemen I can speak for me, but when previews and reviews deem it excellent, it's easy to be disappointed with a game that lacks content that could have easily been implemented. For me it's a 7. And it's a 7 because gameplay is fun.

I understand it couldn't be a professional sports game, and that wouldn't be a regular Mario game. I get that. But when they made you expect much more, like it was the best in the Mario Tennis series, you have the right to feel disappointed if the final product is not excellent.

What else do we want? Lengthier single-player modes. Another single-player mode also, a meaningful one. Unlockables. Why all characters available from the beginning?

By the way, I didn't find online to be flawless. When searching for a rival maybe 40% of the time I get the "connection lost" message. And it's not me.

Another by the way: does anybody know if at least it can find friends who are online at the same time as you? And give them priority over strangers? It should, as in Mario Kart.

Great game,with 30 hours logged so no complaints from me.

What a strange article though.

"Perhaps the adventure mode was a bit of an afterthought?"

As the world's biggest independent Nintendo site, perhaps you should point these flaws out in your reviews? That is what reviews are supposed to do after all? Very strange to report on gamers complaining about a lacking adventure mode a month after NL reviewed the game.

@SonOfVon Online is more or less flawless for me. Quick to find opponents and providing the connection has 1 or 2 bars it's a completley lag free experience. I'm in Thailand with poor internet and a long distance away from most of my opponents.

Bought this day 1 and am hooked on it. Great game. Great mechanics. Online is great too. Just stay away from waluigi and bowser junior. I hope they nerf these players.

Swing mode is fun extra.
Adventure mode is short but treat it more like a tutorial. Remember this is a tennis game. A Great tennis game too.

I was tempted to buy this but going into my local cex to sell some old games I noticed the switch games and a whole shelf full of this that’s not a good sign

and what was your review score Nintendo life?

Here we go. Well go play ultra smash then.

This site awarded the game an 8/10 in the review. Make up your mind, guys.

@SuperCharlie78 Toadette is my main. I can consistently win tournaments with her. I don't think she's at all bad.

See I think this is classic Nintendo. Some of their brands they push out the best quality, but many of the others are just filler. They never think customer first, always what they want to put out.

The success of "games as a service" means we'll see more of this I think

I’m disappointed they cut some of the stuff from former games out.

More cups needed and ability to edit length of matches and more custom options and unlockables for solo mode outside of adventure.

@denis09

Yeah, I agree.
We also must say the gameplay here is stellar, no less. It's easy to pick, (very) hard to master.
This is not enough for some players, I can't blame them and it's the reason why I give it a 7 at best.

Not that I like this trend, far from it, but there's room for improvement here, they must balance some characters and add options that are lacking atm. Better than nothing I think. Question is: will they support the game this way? I think they won't, but let's see

After the Wii U one being rushed, why is anyone surprised? When was the last time Nintendo put any effort into their Mario spin-offs?

@NinjaAceTrainer
Oh good for you then. I found her very weak, maybe I should've kept on her to discover her strengths? Fact is, in almost 150 online matches I've never met her.

This is kind of funny because I just read the Nintendo Life review yesterday. I bought the game at launch and I agree with the sentiment there’s not much to it. The Adventure mode, while difficult, is nothing more than a glorified tutorial. Online is what it is, it’s the meat of the game. Tournaments versus the com get stale quick as there is not much incentive to play it outside of the joy of the match itself.

However, when I read Nintendo Life’s review of the game this part really jumped out at me: “Where Ultra Smash’s extras were a pure Monkey Island’s worth of living without that particular piece of junk – here’s your context, kids – Aces stuffs its kit bag with activities until the zip’s positively pinging off across the locker room like a smartly volleyed can of energy drink. Not everything is evenly fleshed out, but whatever your preferential way to play, there’s plenty to get stuck into, both solo and with pals.”

Really? This reviewer and I couldn’t disagree more! Also, per the review online wasn’t even working yet when the review was written. So the Adventure mode, tournaments vs the com, and local multiplayer were what the reviewer based plenty of content on. It’s not to me, but to each his own.

@Moroboshi876 I know what you mean, but I also enjoy working out how to break an opponents tactics, even if I don't win the match. There was a person I was playing the other day who would serve and then cone right up to the net and knock the ball to the furthest corner from me where even my trick shot couldn't reach, until I sussed what he was doing and followed up with a lob and then they had to change their game. I've yet to win a tournament, but I've had some real close matches and back and forths.

There has been a noticeable drop in quality since the change in editorship - but giving a game like this 8 / 10 smacks of something dodgy going on. I’m sure this isn’t the case, but it does seem strange.

@Shinnos I know, it's fun for me too, but can get frustrating.

I specifically remember a rival who scored aces all the time thanks to curve balls. I hated that. There was nothing I could do.

@norwichred to be honest they couldn't review the online part but yeah, they totally over sold the single player

They managed to rush a re-release of a rushed game?

For shame, Ninty. Don't keep Camelot on such a tight leash budget-wise, you KNOW those guys are good for it.

"Nintendo's (usually near-flawless) quality assurance".

Yep, in the 90s.

If I had gotten the cartridge, I'd definitely be trading this in. Feels like a knock-off. Not a solid Nintendo effort. The core gameplay is great, but the lack of basic options kills the fun. And adventure mode is not good. I am wondering if Nintendo's efforts to release a steady stream of titles on Switch is affecting the quality of the games.

@Moroboshi876
Wah he using Boo or Rosalinda?
The slice serve with the blue trail?
Just stay close to the service line, no more aces!

Multiplayer with friends is fun... IMHO. Single player is a chore. Period. Overall I expected a little more, to tell the truth.

Had a little fun from this game but a barebones story mode, few multiplayer options, and a general lack of content really hurt this game. I really enjoyed the core gameplay and I might have bought the game if Camelot had put in more effort.

@SuperCharlie78 Yes, but I tried it with her too and my curves go inwards, not outwards.

Anyway, if I stay in the service line then I definitely can't reach the ball in time. Because it leaves the court way before getting near the service line.

.......
Did they not test the game?

It’s not that bad, this place is littered with extremists.

Yeah the game is sadly one big mess. Was really looking forward to it but I just can't enjoy it with how shallow and unbalanced it really is and I can't understand why it got all those high review scores. What an underwhelming experience. It's only barely better than Ultra Smash unfortunately. Ugh.

@Moroboshi876
You can believe me. Just play in advance.
If you're righthand the slice will go outwards if you serve from the right, inwards if you serve from the left. If your character plays with the left hand then it's in reverse. There's no escape from this lol

I agree with cdougyfresh in the article, after seeing how barebones Ultra Smash's gameplay was, I couldn't wait to have a Mario Tennis that I could both play online and easily carry with me for local multiplayer matches. Played the demo, hated the new trick shot, racquet health and time slowing mechanics and deleted it. Hoping Mario Power Tennis is eventually available on the Switch's Online Service, and has some form of added WiFi play

This game was a huge disappointment.
The adventure mode is annoying. a few good ideas but a lot of frustration, especially on the boat with the mast that will randomly send the ball the other direction.

Having no option for a normal 2 or 3 winning sets of 6 games each is the worst part for me.

This game is worth £20, not 45

This assumed since the adventure mode has such stupid difficulty spikes that no one would ever defeat the end boss. Therefore, no Gem assets needed.

I’ve really be enjoying the game but play very casually. Usually just local co-op vs my daughter using motion controls. Haven’t touched the single player mode yet.

@zool it isn't a port.

Such a shame because the gameplay is great. I'm enjoying the game, but I agree with the complaints, especially the OP characters. I am starting to get bored with it. Absolutely not worth $60.

@Nunya Tell me about it...bunch of gamers crying? Stop the presses.

People whining on Reddit and Twitter are news now? Christ.

While I agree that the game is rushed, I don't consider sports games good singleplayer experiences. The adventure mode was more than I expected for a game like this to be honest, because the only thing I planned on getting out of this was playing it locally with my fiance and family, or hopping online. On that note I'm satisfied. It does need more options like playing full tennis matches and letting you completely remap button controls, but the core gameplay is so fun that I don't mind so much. I'd personally give the game a 7, but I think it's worth the full MSRP just because I know I'll keep coming back to it for the multiplayer.

My biggest problem with the game is the lack of unlockables. The courts in adventure mode are definitely not enough. Why are all the characters unlocked from the start? There's absolutely no reward for completing the COM Tournaments, which are very laking compared to previous entries, btw. Star Cup is too easy. They even have better AI programmed into the game, I don't understand why there aren't more cups. And unlocking characters over time just adds to that frustration. But I do like the game, I just wish it was on par with other Nintendo games.

@OorWullie Same, I've enjoyed the online experience more than anything. Although my friend and I had a grown up gaming day last week ('grown up' meaning pausing for bouts of groceries and laundry), where we tried Big Ball swing mode. That was a blast!!

I'm not quite sure what folks were expecting. It's an arcade (read: not realistic) tennis game with a plumber and friends as the players. It's not Virtua Tennis ft Mario. Mario Hoops didn't have career mode and draft picks, Strikers didn't have Franchise. And there's plenty of ways to play online with techniques and methods. I've never even come across these supposed Bowser Jr or Chain Chomp players, either.

Hey, anyone remember that time in Ocarina of Time that if you saved and quit while fighting Ganon, you would lose your Master Sword? That was a 'glaring bug', right? Did the flawless, mighty, do-no-wrong Nintendo make that game?

Hmph... haven't gotten that far into the story yet. I do like the back and forth mechanic though when goon g against another opponent.

@Tulio517 This is probably my only real complaint, the lack of unlockables. I get they wanted folks to have choice of characters, but it feels sort of like MK8 Dx in that there's no deep reason to play single player other than 'git gud'. Wish there were outfits or cups, too.

Game is far from perfect but I'm still enjoying the hell out of it

Okay so first of all, Mario Tennis on the 3ds, GameCube, and also the Nintendo 64 are superior games, and I have all those so I've got my Mario Tennis fix, so the disaster that the Switch version is has no impact on me. Secondly, if this game has so many flaws that need to be "patched", do you realize that going forward this will make the game forever flawed? Online service only lasts so long, and in the future you won't be able to connect your Switch to download game patches so all these rushed, messed up games they keep coming out with will be junk - regardless if they are cartridge or digital. Game developers need to step it up and make COMPLETE games that are tested and in need of no improvements or patches before they hit store shelves. It's appalling how lazy they have become in recent years. Disgusting, in fact. 🙄

@Moroboshi876 The reviews deemed it excellent? I mean nintendolife gave it a 8/10 and if you know nintendolife that sure doesn't mean the game is excellent. The metacritic score ils also around 75 i think so yeah half a point off of your score. I suggest looking at multiple sources.
And again i think this is on you. no one said it was gonna be the best tennis game ever.

So by what i've read from you, you're searching for a singleplayer experience and if that's the case i understand you're disappointed. But that's not what mario tennis is, i mean if i had no friends to play i would never have bought this game. the way i see it is the awesome mechanics and multiplayer are the main dish and the single player story being a fun little extra, like splatoon.

I think i got like two disconnects since i've bought the game so yeah it probably is you.

TL;DR: Don't follow the hype

Ridiculous. Such minor things, that are likely a glitch, and could be patched. Nintendo put's out there best console, and some of their best games EVER, this past year, and people lose their minds over a minor glitch in a Tennis game.

Ridiculous. Such minor things, that are likely a glitch, and could be patched. Nintendo put's out there best console, and some of their best games EVER, this past year, and people lose their minds over a minor glitch in a Tennis game.

Ridiculous. Such minor things, that are likely a glitch, and could be patched. Nintendo put's out there best console, and some of their best games EVER, this past year, and people lose their minds over a minor glitch in an extra mode, that doesn't even have to exist, in a TENNIS game.

Last time I checked this was Mario tennis. Not a full fledged EA Sports (Random Player) 2019. If you expected anything else you were silly to begin with. I'll pick it up in the barging bin. Just like I would any other Mario sport game.

@Ensemen A little harsh, but I can't say you're not right.

Anyway I don't have a bad internet connection. Maybe it was bad luck.

About excellence, I saw the 8, but I also read other reviews and focused on the text, and reading it... well, it looked like it was going to be really great. I just mean it's not that good.

And again, I understand it isn't single-player heavy, no one said it was going to. But it definitely could have benefited from something else and managing what it has differently, like what I said about unlockables. Replay value, simply.

I never like any of the Mario Tennis, Party, or Golf game. The only spinoff I do like are Mario Kart and that's it. I did enjoy Mario Party 2 but not to the point that I would praise it, same for games decent offerings like Mario Golf: Advance Tour and Mario Power Tennis. Everything else are just meh to me.

@zool It’s not like you can improve something. And isn’t Ultra Smash a port of the 3DS Mario Tennis game, anyway?

@Moroboshi876 Sorry that i sounded harsh wasn't meant to be like that. I wasn't reffering to you with my original post i think most of your criticisms in your first posts were valid. My problem are people trashing the game just because they didn't like certain aspects (e.g. extremes). And the other thing is that how disappointed in a game you are depends on what ypur expectation were and that's on you so you shouldn't blame it on the developers.

And i don't know about the internet connevtion, i think it's really weird. Maybe reguonal differences?

@The_Pixel_King @SBandy

Thinking the same thing!

This is the same site that gave Poly Bridge an 8 out of 10! The game was basically broken on one of the earlier levels until they pushed an update out about a month after it launched. yet Nintendolife still gave it an 8 out 10.

It's a shame. The GameCube game is so polished.

I'm beginning to think the only good Mario Tennis games were the N64 original & the Game Boy Color game.

@Spudworthy just quoting NL.

You have to give them credit this might turn out to be a good meme 😂

@SBandy Best comment in ages. NintendoLife certainly isn't as great as it used to be in terms of reviews and articles in general.

Aside from the mentally unstable saying Nintendo is responsible for the development of the game, I agree with most of the points.

Bought Aces on day 1...possibly the most disappointing day 1 buy ever.

Why are people upset?? The game is digital, which means it can be patched, for me it's 10/10 because i don't play tennis, I don't care about mario I don't even have a switch, it's perfect for me

The game does feel lazy, there's hardly any content in it and now bugs? How?

Give Camelot as much time and budget as they need and have them put a new Golden Sun title on Switch to remove the mildly unpleasant taste of an uncharacteristically rushed Mario game from players' mouths.

Yea, not much here if you aren't going to pour lots of time into multiplayer.

I do expect patches for more content, but I think it'll mostly be multiplayer stuff and might cost extra money, so... probably won't be jumping on that lol

@blockfight same, getting Toad with the trade, paying more for Toad as I had it on Amazon for £29 but at least my MTA cash isn’t a complete waste.

I feel a lot of reviewers dropped the ball with this game.

I will agree that the game is very barren. Adventure mode is wayyyyy too small to be considrered a legit part of the game and not just an extended tutorial. It needs more stuff, and there should be a separate "adventure" for every playable character. There should be more "diversion" modes (look at what Mario Power Tennis had with painting and hit-the-correct-quadrant minigames among others). If you're running free play, especially locally, you should be able to set the game, set, and match counts as you desire.

So I'm not gonna blame or attack anyone who doesn't see the game as worth it. But I gotta say, I just really lke tennis and this game does provide tennis. So I play it and enjoy it and am happy with what exists. But that's just me,

I haven't tried anything but Adventure Mode yet but I love it. That being said I can see where people feel little things were left out due to laziness. Also no customizable controls in 2018 is ridiculous and no quick way to restart is annoying.

People just love to whine and moan about anything and everything.

@MarioThePainter to be fair, this time they have very valid criticisms of the game. No way is it worth $60.

How come no reviews mention this big flaw?? DId they even play this game?

Mario Tennis on N64 is the only Mario Tennis game I really need.

First game I regret buyIng on the switch

Happy I avoided this!

Waluigi called it best when referring to "fans" these days. Waaaaaah

Uninstalled the demo after about 30 mins of playing. The game was barebones, but didn't expect much from a tennis game, anyway. That's why I don't trust reviews, good or bad

I knew this was not worth $60 from preview videos. The Demo confirmed it. "Lazy" describes Nintendo's 2018 effort in general.

I'm annoyed you can't play Swing mode online with friends. Why?! That's literally the only mode I care about, yet there's no option to use motion controls online.

Glad I chose to get Ys 8 over Aces after reading all of these comments. I wasn’t thrilled with the demo, but assumed the actual game would have a lot more to it. I was going to pick this up eventually, but now it’s in my “wait for a sale” category at best.

The good thing about games today is that you can update them after release, and hopefully they add more content and variation to this. I usually do advance research before buying a game, especially with a high price tag, but I jumped at the pre-purchase for this and while it's not a total miss, it doesn't offer enough at this time to justify the cost imo. Should have waited until they put it on sale.

Bright side is I got extra gold coins from the pre-purchase that will be added to the stash getting used on Octopath Traveler this Friday.

It got initial praise for having a bit more meat on the bones than Mario Tennis Wii U. But alas, that's still not a lot of meat.

I know I've encountered 3-set matches in adventure mode... why can't we have them in multiplayer? The scoreboard in multiplayer clearly has room for the full 5 sets too, so the only question is why not? Did Camelot have a secret clause in their contract that they must not make a game better than Mario Tennis in the N64?

@Moroboshi876 I'm kind of with you in terms of online in general and this game in particular. It's exceedingly frustrating when you join in, and where a single player game eases you into the game with a difficulty curve, once you jump online you're basically up against people that have no life except to practice, hone, perfect, and spend all day watching 30 YouTube streamers learning to master the game, treating it like a profession. No way you keep up with them so why bother? Splatoon somehow has an addictive loop to keep you trying, and that's the genius of that game. Arms did, too. But most games don't, and this sadly is one of those.

The thing I didn't realize coming into this one is that there's a big player base much like Smash (mostly consisting of people that are also Smash enthusiasts), that seem to be really really into this, and also that it's an old established franchise so those players have been playing this, basically for the past decade, perfecting it, while we're total noobs. Splatoon, everyone was new, so everyone was learning. Same for Arms, which is probably why I got into those. But something like this that on day 1 where you don't even know the controls you're against people that know them like the back of their hands with years of experience, it's not going to be a good mix. Which is a shame because I actually like the game, and the online, but these people are really good, knowing all kinds of tricks and timings.

Also keep in mind, just as Punch Out!! was not actually a boxing game, but a puzzle game disguised as a boxing game, Mario Tennis isn't really a tennis game. It's a fighting game disguised as a tennis game. It's exceedingly technical like Street Fighter or Tekken. Casual players have no hope against seasoned veterans.

I was telling people this is going to be not as great as they think but alas, people tried to convince me how convinced they were that this is going to be amazing.

LAZY GAMERS!

Why can't they use their brains and IMAGINE all the missing assets?

Stap being lazy, gamers!

@FX102A Yup and it will get worse as long the fans keep letting Nintendo go, because it's "Nintendo".
Nintendo it's a good company, but they make A LOT o bad moves that people tend to ignore.

If a glitch like that defines "laziness", then Ubisoft would be in a coma.

This game is rushed and incomete, barebones is a good name for it.
Nintendo tried to sell this game based on their name alone. This game it's not worth it, not for it's price tag.

I feel like this article is glorifying a really horrible trend of calling developers lazy. Bugs happen , but I'm willing to bet these devs aren't lazy.

I cannot think of a single Mario Tennis game with more content than this. Rival, sure, but none of the past games had much to begin with.

And judging by the lot of comments here, many bought it for the single player experience alone. Not a smart move, the game is based on a sports game that literally need more than one person. And looks to be here quite a few expected Skyrim levels of content.

Yeeesh, I'd get the game is not for you (Splatoon is also very sparse if you're looking in single player as well), but wow the expectations were set so high for this. Which is weird, since the last one should have placed the bar really low.

I decided to avoid the game after I played the demo. The mechanics to break a racket and the punishment took out all the fun of the normal mode. It was more of a race to charge your special and if your opponent got it before, you better let them score since the window to block it effectively is way too small and the punishment for trying is way to big. Simple mode is like playing Mario Kart without items. It is just not the same.

I'm a ultra Ninty fan and I couldn't stand this game so I traded in after a week... It's all just awful... Best one is on the cube

Funny, I didn't notice that at all. Maybe I'll try it again.

I wonder if this glitch has been noticed by others when playing? And, no, I'm not going to bother searching because I just really don't care. It's a good game.

Ultimately, it does feel lazy. It's better than Ultra Smash for sure, but there is a lot of stuff missing still. Even the "adventure mode" left me feeling underwhelmed. It was promoted as being a return to the RPG format of the GBA game, but it's no more than a series of challenges with nothing but a few elemental racquets as a reward, which don't even have much purpose. There's no customisation in the mode, there's nothing carried over to the online mode. It's disappointing. It's a shame because the 3DS games were great. They were missing a little bit from the GBA/GC days but still great with decent online content. I think it's time Nintendo let someone other than Camelot have a stab at Mario Tennis and Golf. Let Camelot loose on another project like a full RPG....hey maybe a new Golden Sun at last! I saw Motoi Sakuraba's name in the credits and I despaired. He's a fantastic composer for RPGs and other games that tell a story yet Nintendo get him working on Mario Sports titles. Get Camelot onto another Golden Sun with him composing the music.

I enjoyed what I played on the game. I put in some hours in to the online play. To tell you the truth that is all I played. I still haven't started he story mode. Since it came out close to Wolfenstein I stop playing it. Wolfenstein has my time and then it will be octopath. I did at one point jump back in to only get rek'd by Bowser Jr. (I already knew he was OP just need to see how bad). Plus I wanted to see how good Koopa Troopa was since he is my favorite.

I get the complaints re: cut corners, lack of balance between characters (though as a non-competitor, that's less of an issue for me), and it being so far removed from tennis as to be shocking / disappointing for those of us who loved the still-wacky-but-truer-to-the-sport stellar earlier installments. But perhaps because I read a lot of the hate-mail before I took it for a whirl (I had pre-ordered; I probably wouldn't have bought had I waited to read the reviews), I actually have found myself heartily enjoying Aces, warts and all.

The rallies are intense (even with the AI); the adventure mode is cheeky (and, at least some times, satisfyingly challenging) fun; and the racket-breaking, while ultimately something I'd prefer dropped from a subsequent installment, is not the game-ruiner I expected it to be and does make this game feel like a new direction. It's fast-paced (bordering on chaotic), it's gorgeous, and it's definitely distinct.

So in the end, while this isn't a timeless classic the way earlier iterations were, I still love the hell out of being able to pull out my Switch on a long train ride and blast through a tournament or nab a powerstone.

All of Nintendo's 2018 Switch releases that haven't been Wii U ports have felt pretty rushed and with extremely light content. Kirby Star Allies can be beaten in about 5 hours, and people seem to have quit talking about the Labo kits after about a week. Even if they are putting the series back on track, this has me very worried for Super Mario Party. I'm confident Smash Bros. Ultimate will deliver, but that's only one game.

Why didn't we get headlines like this when Pilotwings 3DS came out?

That was literally a glorified demo selling for full retail!

Considering how bad Mario Tennis was on Wii U most shouldn't be shocked .

@datamonkey Because that is all Pilotwings has ever been, a technical demo of the system that occasionally makes a decent game.

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash was lazy. Mario Tennis: Aces is just a rushed port.

@HobbitGamer Ikr?! At least in MK8D you unlock the Kart/bike parts, and there's an incentive to get Gold Trophies on 150cc and even 200cc. Even Time Trials unlocks something. Mario Tennis Aces is very very lacking in comparison. I've done the 3 cups with all the characters just because, and got nothing but a little crown next to their name. Not even an alternate title screen. Absolutely nothing. If that's not lazy, I don't know what it is. Now if you excuse me, I'mma wait till next month so I can play an online match and unlock Blooper with no effort at all. (JK, I actually play online a lot)

@Freek That's not at all correct but okay.

@Paraka It's kind of funny. Plenty of people bought Aces for $60 expecting loads of story driven RPG content and got disappointed. Few bought Sushi Striker for $60 and it has loads of story driven RPG content.

Nintendo can never win

I can definitely say it feels half finished. Which is hilarious cuz Ultra Smash managed to have even less content. US feels like an proof of concept demo and Aces just feels like they took that concept, started making a decent game, but then stopped about 70% through

Couldn't agree more. Yes, the gameplay is great, but you can definitely feel they cut corners in pretty much everything else. The Adventure Mode is fine to me, but not being able to retry challenges or the missing gems definitely threw me off. Also, there's absolutely no incentive to replay Cups once you beat them, no unlockables, no trophies, no rating, nothing. Also, the music is pretty much the same throughout every match. As much as I felt Arms could have used more content, at least what was there was very polished, not the case with Mario Tennis. After 10+ hours of gameplay I'm out of incentives to keep coming back.

I don't understand what is so difficult about this whole thing. Do any of you remember the Mario Tennis for GBA? Fantastic game. If you any of you have a gamecube and the attachment to play GBA games to throw it on your tv. Please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

It had strong RPG elements and a pretty fun yet simple story that always kept you playing a few extra minutes to level up a little more and eventually create a powerhouse of a tennis player. Mario Golf did this as well for GBA and you could send your story mode character to the Gamecube verison and tear up the golf course.

So give me that kind of game with beautiful graphics, an expanded roster, online play, and perhaps leaderboards for those amazing training minigames that you had to play to level up your character. Like why are they over thinking this? That GBA title is so old and easily still my favorite over all the console versions.

I was going to buy this game, but I held off because I didn't care for how the online was set up when I played the demo, but I'm kind of glad I didn't buy the game now.

While we are talking about disappointment with Nintendo, how come Kirby got away with people being barely disappointed with that game?!? A $80 CAD game that I easily beat 100% in like 7 hours, and the mini games are fun for about 20min. tops. That kind of thing for full price is just not acceptable in 2018.

So far this year, I've been more impressed with the third party offerings on Switch then I am for the first party games.

i really think most of it is simply irritating stuff which could be fixed quickly by a patch. Since I believe that I think its currently a 7.5 and with a patch a 8. The core gameplay and graphics are great. Its the rest of the package which is a little off.

@NEStalgia - I can see where expectations are coming from, but one has to curb the enthusiasm a bit and reflect of what product they picked up.

Aces is probably one of the better Mario Tennis games to date. Do I think it's worth 60 bucks? Kind of, maybe. But if someone is out there saying they expected more I can see that. But they got less because of laziness? No, not in the least.

I got what I was expecting, though I think some form of single player challenges would been tops, especially if there was tiers of difficulty yo challenge an array of players.

Also, Sushi Striker will be a hidden gem in the end, mark my words.

I'll admit that the game seems slim in the content department, but this game has been a delight for me and ended my dreadful 14-year wait for a good Mario Tennis game (since Mario Power Tennis GCN). I hate toxic...

Then again, ARMS and Spla2oon weren't much to look at either at launch...

Yeah some of the issues here are kind of glaring and unacceptable. BUT! The core mechanics of this game are so fun. I knew the issues going in, played a bit with a friend who bought it day 1, and decided that it was something I still wanted to play. And man it's been fun! Even despite those issues, the gameplay is so damn good.

Wow. NL cherry-pick much? Click bait headline. Sad coming from NL.

A ROBUST 76 metascore and over 7 user score is far from LAZY. I love Mario Aces. Worth the price alone just for the online tennis portion of it.

@blockfight If you pay retail for any game, you suck at finding deals. Learn to how to buy.

*Looks at the retweets
Yeah ,all 33 of the fans are having an outcry!

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the game. It's not perfect, but whatever. It was satisfing to defeat that boss.

Nintendolife’s got a lot of explaining to do

@DownRightSam Exactly. Crunch is a notorious problem in the industry, yet gamers have the audacity to claim laziness. Entitled bootyholes.

@Tulio517 I also wish the characters unlocked in online tournaments were done in the same way as the demo where you unlocked different characters as you earned more points and reached milestones - think it was every 500 points, but can't remember - rather than what we got now where you just have to play an online match, not even win it, to unlock koopa trooper!

@Rontanamo_Bay Haha, when I first read this article, it had me wondering if I had even seen any gems! I'm more concerned with snowballs and what shots to try and block from pirahna plants or take the timer hit. Shows how much that invisible gem kept me from playing, clearly.

@pullmyfinger This site, and particularly articles from Ryan, seem to be getting more and more click-bait-y. He had to edit that article about nintendo blocking pirated games the other week. A shame as I use to come here first for my gaming news but I'm gradually looking elsewhere...

Well Nintendo has been pressured into releasing a major game, every month, so it is no wonder we are starting to see signs of burnout. We will have XB2: Torna the golden country in September, Pokemon in November, and Smash Ultimate in December(I have no idea what else they have planned for August and October). In contrast, the Wii U had high quality games released when they were ready, usually several months apart. We just have to get used to it if we want this schedule to continue. There have to be blunders like this in order to deliver the games you guys want. There have to be sacrifices, and this game is one of them.

i really cannot show this game any LOVE especially when the hype does not MATCH the play.

@Heavyarms55 An easily patchable thing does not mean it actually gets done. This has been out for 18 days and the thing you're literally looking for in the main storyline, these gems, is not being rendered. That's like if you played original Mario and got to the end and Princess Peach wasn't rendered. Whoops!

I wanted to like this game so bad. I loved GBC mario tennis and 64 tennis a TON but this game is just nothing like those and 80% frustrating 20% fun. I just sold it.

You should also absolutely be able to restart a challenge. And like the said, multiplayer is extremely unbalanced. It's like if you had a smash game come out where everyone online was playing with Luigi. What's the fun, why even have 20 characters if you lose unless you pick 1 of 2 characters?

@Cobalt “Look, if I had to mark Super Mario Odyssey for example, I'd give a 6/10”

Wow

YES! Now hopefully Nintendo will get Camelot to focus on Golden Sun 4 and to STOP THE CRAPPY SPORTS GAMES!

Hopefully.

@Gerald

It's what Odyssey deserve for me.
The best marks on Switch games will go to basically Wii U games... That's sad but true.

Zelda BOTW : 9/10 until the Ganon castle, the castle 7/10, the final fight against Ganon 4/10
Bayonetta 2 : 9/10
MarioKart 8 : 9/10
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze : 8.5/10

It's really what I think.... Without Wii U games, the Switch has only one really good game :
Kingdom Battle : 8/10

I hope that Octopath Traveler will be the 2nd one because after 1 year and 1/2 it's almost a disaster from my point of view.

Weird. I've been enjoying my time with the game. Though I do wish adventure mode had a retry button.

@Cobalt no worries, that’s your opinion, i’m Cool with that, I was just surprised at 6/10, even if it’s not preferred over 3D world, I thought 6/10 was harsh, to each their own

@Gerald

I personally prefer BY FAR Super Mario 3D World, espacially the 2nd part of the game which is absolutely awesome.

8/10 for the entire game and 9/10 for the second part alone.

@SBandy You really need to edit this post and @Dom and @Damo on it.

@Cobalt Xenoblade 2 and Splatoon 2 are both great. Maybe not your cup of tea but still great games.

I've got a few gripes with the game but, they're small gripes (no retry button, sure it's a 15 second aggravation, glitch of a gem model not appearing that I haven't encountered? Ok that sucks I guess)

But overall Aces is a terrific game. I love it. Single player rocks, love the mechanics, the graphics, just the game itself is really fun.

People have a tendency to go to extremes. Couple aspects that fall short and suddenly it's a supposed distaster. It wasn't just N-Life that gave it an 8/10. It averaged close to that on MC meaning most reviewers agreed. Maybe the reviews aren't wrong, but rather the extremist responses.

I havent bought a tennis game since Super Tennis on the snes... and thats not going to change, I don't know how much detail goes into a tennis game, but I can imagine its not a lot.

It is awkward beyond belief how you now address all these errors and yet scored it 8/10 in your review. It's just another example of how review scores on this site makes no sense.

@Prof_Yoshtonics

Xenoblade 2 : 7/10 inferior to Xeno Wii and Xeno X. The game is full of flaws, full of technical issues and insanly bad performence in handheld mode...
Splatoon 2 : I don't mark this one because I'm not fan even if I recognize the quality of the game (from a gameplay standpoint)

My real problem with Splatoon 2 is that it's more Splatoon 1.5 for me...

Calling developers lazy is the quickest way to invalidate all your videogame criticism.

As if every game is completely perfect at release anymore.
The ones that complain tend to be the loudest because the ones that aren't complaining, aren't talking.

We all know balance patches are coming, why complain? they'll probably do it on a monthly basis, to keep the tournament leaderboards the same throughout the patch. Many companies do this.

The only thing I wish was in the game was tournament doubles. Doubles is just that much more fun to me.

Looks like I dodged a bullet (or a tennis ball) by skipping Mario Tennis Aces

This is exactly why I look and read your reviews but don't give much thought about them; you gave this barebones game an 8/10. 8!!!

If this was a rushed Nintendo game, I’m sad because there was so much in June, that I think they could’ve delayed this until Aug or September if they’d really needed to. July will have some big Switch exclusives and Nintendo ports.

Glad I skipped this. I was less than impressed with the 3DS Mario Tennis and wasn't going to bite again unless this game somehow got like, universal praise. And it hasn't.

Please Nintendo, bring back the Mario Tennis RPGs... those were actually fun.

@hYdeks You are much better than I am. I think I have about 15 hours in it so far and I can't get past the first round in the Star Cup nor can I get past Blooper in the Adventure Mode.

@MegaTen

LOL, that brings back memories. I remember the days when people would throw that out there when to make a criticism what even worse troll about a crappy game or whatever and not really knowing what the seal actually meant or stood for. Please tell me you're not one of those folks LOL

I mean they can't even change the color of your opponent. Really annoying when playing online.

And everyone said this game would be amazing. lol

It could be rushed or just laziness. That's modern Nintendo for ya. Though it seems Camelot isn't that strong anymore anyway. Besides living up to the awesome Mario tennis 64 and Mario power tennis is very hard. Overall the mario-sports titles have all gone downhill. The only thing that keeps strong is Mariokart.

But back to Mario tennis: After the first cutscene I already feared that the game had crashed. I mean, a long and sudden blackscreen, music still playing. Very strange.

I took a chance on this and bought it digitally because I enjoyed the demo. With that being said, I have experienced some issues and the shine of the game has worn off a bit. I can't do much now because it's digital but this is generally why I prefer physical games. I do hope that long term it maintains good couch co-op for me an my son.

This also worries me for Golf. It's a harder game to make than Tennis and yet Nintendo seems to have struggled a bit with the last two Tennis games. Mario Golf World Tour was a lot of fun and I really enjoy that game. I'm holding out hope a Mario Golf game makes it to Switch but I have my reservations.

This article IS lazy. GoNintendo are reporting on a lot of new announcements and Switch game features From NintendoLife..... we get more flamebait on Twitter treated as glorified news.

Reading the comments, it seems that there's a story within a story here:

"Fans are calling out Nintendo Life for "Lazy" Mario Tennis Aces review"

...

This seems to show the trend that there's rarely a middle ground when it comes to Nintendo controversies; if there's even remotely any concern or problem, we go from 0 to 60 in no time flat.

I remember when the Switch not being "USB-C Compliant" was a major point of contention. Left Joy-Cons having issues. Splatoon 2 having a lower tick rate than Splatoon 1. Docks scratching screens. Switches warping. If you took some of the comments at the time to heart, you'd think the Switch's days were numbered.

That's not to say that this game isnt deserving of criticism, but it's funny to me that a minor cutscene flub in Adventure Mode is the straw that broke the camel's back.

As the patches and updates come (because this is likely an evergreen title) most criticisms will be moot by the holiday season.

Cant wait to hear how Smash Ultimate is actually, literally the worst.

@DTFaux Well, the game as it is right now is a little flawed, for the corner cutting and for its hollowness. But I hope Nintendo takes note and brings improvements via free updates. That would be great.

The last good games Camelot made were on N64. Everytime since had been a 'mod.'

I have no doubt Mario Tennis is nothing more than a mod of Mario Tennis on N64 made worse like Rarewares terrible Diddy Kong Racing Mod on the DS.

Couldn’t agree more ! Nintendo used to have standards

I've heard the game is pretty darn fun. Lacking in Single Player content, but incredibly enjoyable online. I think many people are overreacting.

Splatoon 2 launched in a similar state and in a similar tier zero and unbalanced format, but was overtime patched and improved greatly. This game is supposed to hav online events and updates iirc. So I'm assuming the patches will come too. I mean, it takes the Splatoon team a month to release a patch.

@blockfight damn that's expensive. I'll await the $5 dlc patch lol.

@SBandy I was thinking the same thing. "Why does this article make it sound like a surprising revelation if it was thoroughly played for review by this site?"

@MrVariant luckily i was able to trade it in straight swap for Wolfenstein II. No money lost.

@Heavyarms55 I hate to tell you this, but this is INCREDIBLY LAZY. Patchable? That's complete b.s. And it's not just Camelot/Nintendo, although this isn't the norm for Nintendo. Screw every damn developer who throws out unfinished/broken games to the gaming public. It's lazy, it's unprofessional and VERY anti-consumer. If you support the company and buy day one, these days you basically get a beta... and that's bullcrap and lazy. And gamers need to stop make excuses for and enabling this complete idiocy. This isn't the worse lazy build of a game, but patching shouldn't even be a thing. Do your freakin job and release a finished game. And as for publishers, back the hell off and let the professional do their jobs; finish the damn game.

Mario Tennis Aces is a rushed game and Camelot Software Planning has completely lost their touch over the past years. During the GC/GBA era they produced top-notch Mario sports games but everything that came after that has been a disappointment (according to reviews).

Mario Tennis Aces is no different. It's a port of the Wii U game and they STILL couldn't add enough to warrant the price tag:

> local multiplayer has a MANDATORY splitscreen (wtf)
> the "Adventure Mode" is nothing but a beefed up minigame-mode with simple cutscenes; it is nowhere near as complex as the story mode in the GBA title, which Nintendo advertised (false advertising)
> Adventure Mode is only 3-4 hours, repetitive and frustrating
> characters are added via DLC (at least it's free)
> custom settings are horrible (no way to change the number of sets, only way to choose courts is via a weird convoluted exclusion setting)
> no Item mode like in Power Tennis
> only three single player tournaments without any funny winning animations like in Power Tennis (and you don't even unlock anything, making this mode completely useless)
> swing mode is a gimmicky dud
> no customization options like custom rackets
> day one update (1.9 GB)

This is the consensus of multiple reviews that I've read. I also played the demo and the online gameplay was absolutely horrendous, the worst online experience I have ever had in my life. The controls were delayed by one or even two seconds, making all matches unplayable.

The reviewers on this site probably get money from Nintendo in exchange for good scores. I can't possibly think of any other reason why so many titles are overrated on this website. NintendoLife is also quick to damage control / defend Nintendo.

@james_squared really? huh, maybe this type of game is just easy to me I guess? game is decently fun, but I wish they put in a higher difficulty in the story mode for more replay.

Obligatory less lazy than Ultra Tresh comment.

@Tsusasi If you really think patching shouldn't be a thing, you have no grasp of modern game design.

@Varelius Wish in one hand that they will actually add more content with a patch and crap in the other.

@Heavyarms55 I hate to be abrupt, but that was the single most uniformed and absolutely ridiculous statement I have ever encounter on this site.

Not to mention, implying that half-assing, rushing, or punting on incomplete/broken games is somehow part of developer's 'design' process is insulting as hell to the industry... especially to those developers who put in all of the extra work to make sure to release as finished of a product as possible. Chatting with indies several times a week (some of which who have day jobs at big dev companies) and having a few friends working for heavy hitters in my area, I can tell you right now; That is crap and not an attitude or approach to their games/product.

I cannot, however, speak to publisher's deadlines and the sort of pressure they exert or the contents of contracts as it relates to deliverables, launch dates or other externalities that force games to market. But game design? No. Just no.

Making adjustments based on consumer feedback - THAT is what updates should be used for. I applaud that. Adding a feature like multiplayer to a solid game... because releasing that feature at launch would have broken the game or been rushed; cool with that too, as long as the core experience was good.

Fixing or actually completing a broken or incomplete game AFTER launch? Not ok.

What happened to Nintendo's seal of quality? Oh well I guess the shovelware wii games had the seal so it never meant much, apart from the rubbish games had at least been tested for bugs.