Mario's Tennis

Mario's Tennis is a sports game reminiscent of Tennis (1984), described as a tennis simulator. The player participates in singles or doubles matches with an AI, or in a tournament, choosing between a one-set or three-set match. Singles tournaments allow three games, while doubles tournaments only allow two. There are seven playable Mario characters , each with their own attributes, including Mario , Luigi , Princess Toadstool , Yoshi , Toad , Koopa Troopa , and Donkey Kong Jr.

The action on the court takes place behind the player character from a third-person perspective. The Virtual Boy 's stereoscopic 3D allows the player to perceive the depth of the court, allowing them to perceive the distance between a tennis ball and the character. The player can perform serves, forehands, backhands, groundstrokes, volleys, smashes, and lobs. Unlike later installments in the Mario Tennis series, which added gameplay elements not present in traditional tennis, such as power-up items , special power shots, or gimmicks that interfered with on-court play, Mario's Tennis focuses on the fundamentals of tennis.

There are three difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, and Hard. The player can increase the difficulty by entering a cheat code on the title screen.