Mario Tennis Aces: Tips & Tricks to Get You Ready For Online Tournaments

Use Zone Speed if You Can’t Get Block Timing Down

Mario Tennis Aces Tips and Tricks

Zone Shots can be very difficult to counter without help. You’ll need to not only predict where the opponent will put it (and it literally can be anywhere) AND you have to time the return just as it’s about to hit the racket otherwise you’ll take racket damage and risk losing the game if you run out. Having experienced the feeling of playing someone online, being two points away from Match Point, and losing because I suck at returning Zone Shots and ran out of rackets, let me tell you, that feeling sucks and I don’t want anyone to experience it ever.

So if you’re like me, and you know you suck at returning Zone Shots, do yourself a favor and use Zone Speed whenever your opponent uses that or a Special Shot. When you slow down time you can simply run up to the ball and easily get the timing right. This keeps the rally alive and both you and your opponent had to expend a little energy.

Conserve Your Energy, Don’t Just Zone Shot Every Time

Mario Tennis Aces Tips and Tricks

This one is a two parter from the tip above. It’s tempting to just Zone Shot as soon as you can. Adventure mode essentially trains you to do this. But in Tournament and online Free Play, it’s not the wisest move. Like I just explained above, your opponent can simply Zone Speed, and block the shot pretty easily and you’re wasting energy qucickly if you’re constantly trying to Zone Shot.

Instead, save your energy, Keep a nice bank of energy ready in case you need to Zone Speed, and use the Star Shots for souped up charge shots instead. Then, when your opponent least expects it, after a few Star Shot rallies, bust out the Zone Speed and catch them completely off guard.

Stay Towards the Back of the Court Until You Get the Hang of Things

Mario Tennis Aces Tips and Tricks

When you’re playing up front, it can be tricky to get to balls that are hit over your head and to the other side of the court. Naturally, you’ll have less time to react if the ball is already behind you because you’re so close to the net. There are certainly times when you want to play up at the net, but when you’re first starting out, stick to the back of the court.

From the back you have a lot more time to react to volleys from your opponent and you can still take advantage of Star Shots too. You can try to predict where the ball is going to go and still take an advantage, and, if you guess wrong, you’ll have more time to use a trick shot to get over to where the ball is going.

Get Your Butt in That Star Shot Zone Whenever You Can

Mario Tennis Aces Tips and Tricks

The Star Shot Zone is more than just a place for you to set up for a Zone Shot. If you’ve been playing Adventure mode, you’ve probably gotten used to Zone Shotting, but there are other benefits of the Star Shot besides that. Returning a ball while inside the Star Shot will give you a souped up charge shot that – if you time it perfectly with a max charge – can almost be just as fast and powerful as a Zone Shot without having to burn up energy.

Also, rallying from within the Star Shot builds up your energy very quickly and is the next best way to build up energy aside from timing trick shots well.

The best defense in Mario Tennis Aces is a good offense. If you’re the aggressor, firing off max’d out charge shots from the Star Shot space constantly you’ll eventually be able to wear your opponent down and cause them to mess up. Or if not, you’ll have built up enough energy to preform a Special Shot and force the matter.

Be The Aggressor, Be Unpredictable

Mario Tennis Aces Tips and Tricks

Again, tying into the tip above, you’re almost always in a better position being the person that dictates where the ball is going rather than the opponent. Hit the ball hard from your position and force your opponent to run around the court, not the other way around.

If you find that you’re the one playing catch up, try to turn the tables by doing something that you haven’t been doing. Mix in a lob, drop shot, Zone Shot, something, anything that forces your opponent to move out of their comfort zone to somewhere else on the court can turn the tide in your favor. Ideally, you want to be rooted, in a Star Shot, ripping of max charge shot after charge shot.

Practice Your Trick Shots

Mario Tennis Aces Tips and Tricks

Finally, fully understand how your Trick Shots work on each character. Every character has a few different Trick Shots that will 100% be mandatory for usage at higher level of play. There are some balls that are impossible to hit if you don’t use a Trick Shot. So, pick a favorite character and test them all out aganist the computer, understand how they work and how to best time them.

Then in online games or local multiplayer, make sure to use them to go from one part of the court, to another. That’s what they are there for. Sure you can Zone Speed, but you’ll save a lot of energy if you can get the Trick Shot down instead. Plus, if you time it perfectly, you’ll get a chunk of energy.