Mario Tennis Aces: Advanced Tips & Tricks to Conquer Tournaments

Precursor: Learn the 3 C’s of Mario Tennis Aces

Advanced Tips & Tricks for Mario Tennis Aces

If you’re sick of getting thumped in online play, you ought to try out some of these advanced techniques, opening your mind and allowing you to experiment with new strategies you never thought possible. Before you tackle any of them, however, you’ll want to make sure that you have mastered the 3 C’s.

What are the 3 C’s? So glad you asked.

The first C stands for centered. The center of the court is your control room, your hub. From this point in the middle, you can read and react to any shot that comes your way, and if you’re able to make your opponent chase shots left and right, the point is as good as yours. It’s up to you whether you want to rush the net or live on the baseline, but as soon as you’ve made contact, do not linger on the fringes – get back to the middle, reset and ready to rally.

The second C stands for cancel. The charging mechanic of Mario Tennis Aces is crucial to building enough power to send your opponent reeling, but it can often be the undoing of inexperienced players who don’t know when to cancel out of it. The easiest way to weed out beginners in the early stages is to liberally apply lobs and drop shots, and see how they react. If they have the wherewithal to cancel, you know that they have at least some idea of what they’re doing. Otherwise, you can cruise to an easy victory by placing balls in areas away from them, then watching as they haplessly charge their shot in bewilderment. Don’t be that person: get used to the L button, it will soon become your best friend.

The final C represents caution, and it is the main key to victory. You may want to press the issue by playing aggressively in the early stages, and though this is fine for the first few rounds, the deeper you get into the tournament, the more prepared your opposition will be. If you’ve gotten a sense of their strategy, react accordingly – know how to counter it before enacting your own. When you think you know what their playstyle is, go hard and expose their weaknesses. The more you improve, the earlier you can strike – but even the best players exercise caution early on.

Service Mind Games

Advanced Tips & Tricks for Mario Tennis Aces

Applicable: Standard and Simple modes

Before the ball even hits your racket, the match has already begun, and you can get an early read on your opponent. When you are about to serve, take note of the opponent’s stance. Advanced players will typically move forward to press the issue and claim momentum, while timid beginners will frequently hang back.

If you are returning, get used to two things: knowing where the ball will land so that you can get on it early (but not so early that you concede the point by hitting it before the bounce), and the shot counter system: top spin (red) counters slices (blue) and vice versa, whereas flats (purple) are countered by a flat in return. If you don’t apply these counters correctly, you will get pushed back further and further on each volley, and this is especially true on ‘nice’ serves that are hit at the highest point of the toss.

A quick – albeit cheap – method to slow returners that approach the net is to simply fake the serve. Remarkably, there is no penalty for throwing the ball into the air and not hitting it. Do you have a feeling that the opponent is set up perfectly to return it? Fake the serve, reposition yourself and force them to do the same. You probably won’t be winning any friends with this kind of tomfoolery, but you’re here to win a tennis match, dammit.

Break the Rally Pattern

Advanced Tips & Tricks for Mario Tennis Aces

Applicable: Standard and Simple modes

Conventional wisdom suggests that the best way to gain control of a rally is to send your opponent back and forth across the court, making it harder for them to return, but sometimes you just can’t get them out of rhythm; this is particularly true of rangy characters that don’t have to chase shots, and those who are able to maintain the first C by remaining centered after a volley.

Tennis is just as much a mental game as it is a physical one, and one way of surprising your opponent is by occasionally aiming a shot directly at the side of the court they are still on. If you catch them off-guard by breaking the left-right-left-right rally pattern, you can sometimes get them to reach and put up a lame duck. Make sure that you’re only using fast shots like the topspin or the flat for this, because the point is to surprise them, not to feed them an opening. If you are aiming slices or drop shots anywhere near the opponent, you are basically inviting them to crush you.

Once you’ve managed a couple of these, you can get into the opponent’s head and make them second guess where you’re planning on targeting next. With this advantage, you can begin adding more wrinkles into your style and keep them on the back foot.

Energy Dictates Ball Placement

Advanced Tips & Tricks for Mario Tennis Aces

Applicable: Standard mode

In Mario Tennis Aces’ standard mode, those who build energy successfully will almost certainly win. For this reason, forcing the opponent to burn up their energy is just as important as managing yours. Zone shots and power shots are the most powerful tool in your arsenal, but you must ensure that you are applying them correctly. When sending one of these dreaded volleys, you have two options: aiming it in a part of the court that they will be unable to reach, or sending it directly at them in an effort to break their racket.

The issue, of course, is that if they time it right, they can block the shot, preventing any racket damage and gaining an energy boost in the process. If they have a lot of energy in the tank, make them use it by placing the shot in a far-off corner. Sometimes they’ll be able to activate zone speed and return it in time, but it will cost them some energy in the process. If their energy levels are depleted, their chances of a clean return are greatly diminished, so put their reflexes to the test by aiming it right down their throat. Even successful blocks on power shots will push the returner back, allowing you to maintain control, and best case scenario, you’ll force a shattered racket and move one step closer to a KO victory.

Lob to Drop Shot Combo

Advanced Tips & Tricks for Mario Tennis Aces

Applicable: Simple mode

This nasty one-two punch can lull an opponent into a false sense of security, though like many of the techniques listed, it comes with its own set of hazards.

The obvious risk of a lob is that the opponent will arrive at its destination in time, and punish you with a nasty star shot flat. For this reason, the assumption is that putting the opponent into this position gives them the advantage, however if your timing is right, you can grab some easy points.

The first step is to make your opponent chase the lob, so if they are dedicated to the baseline, goad them towards the net with a drop shot. Once they are nice and close, send a lob up, preferably in the opposite corner if possible. Watch as they cancel their charge, set up in the corner and begin a charge, ready to punish your mistake. Make sure that you are right in the net and prepared for the star shot.

Once they hit the shot, quickly send a drop shot back, again in the opposite direction. They’ll be too deep in the corner to chase it down, and the ball will drop pitifully into the dirt. This technique works best against the speedy characters, as their star shots are easiest to return. If this is a power player and they get a fully charged star shot off, your reaction times will have to be impeccable, and your range even better.

Know the Roster

Advanced Tips & Tricks for Mario Tennis Aces

Applicable: Standard and Simple modes

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Of course it pays to know what each character’s strengths and weaknesses are, however the important thing is to understand what that means in each individual matchup.

For example, Bowser possesses great range and awesome power, but has trouble chasing down errant balls. Make him move around, and if you think you’ve got enough space, you can finish him off with a lob or a drop shot. The risk of this, of course, is that these specialty shots are slower to develop, and if he is able to sit under it and gain enough charge, you’ll be in trouble.

Boo has the strongest curve in the game, to the point of it being fairly ridiculous. Inexperienced players will be left swinging at thin air when the ball veers off-course, however countering it is easier than you’d think: get to it early, and you’ll be able to take control. Boo players thrive on the baseline in order to build up the most curve, and as a result, many of them can be easily thwarted by rushing the net and hitting drop shots. Get Boo up close, and suddenly its curve is nullified, and it lacks the power to put balls past you conventionally.

Speedy characters struggle to put points on the board without cunning ball placement, so you can pressure them by rushing the net, or push them back by charging shots on the baseline. Just be prepared to move when they try to dictate your positioning with lobs or drop shots.

Defensive characters are by far the hardest to counter, as they have incredible range and enough closing speed to chase down errant balls. The most important thing is to avoid getting into a conventional rally against them; if your skill levels are similar, their superior length will eventually give them the advantage. The best way to counter a defensive player is by playing the long game and (ironically) adopting a defensive style of your own. Stay near the baseline to start the rally, and be ready to move into position quickly. Approach the net progressively, and soften them up with a lob if they are hugging the net. That might be a good time to experiment with that lob to drop shot combo, if you’re ready…

Good luck! Check out our wiki for more Mario Tennis Aces tips and tricks, and let us know if these techniques work for you. Got something else up your sleeve that we haven’t covered? Let us know what other strategies you recommend!