Retro Game Friday: Mario Tennis 64

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with another Mario game. It’s Mario Tennis 64!

Plot Synopsis: There’s a competition with plenty of familiar faces from various Mario games.

Gameplay: The game was pretty fun, and the physics was actually really well done for it’s time. There were plenty of ways to trick your opponents and it got really hectic when you played with some friends. I remember trying to trick my friends by constantly switching between the different returns and them getting more than a bit pissed off about that.

Art: The art sadly has aged really poorly, but that’s to be expected when it’s an N64 game.

Music: Classic Mario, no more need be said.

Overall: A fun game, but definitely not a must play.

For those who like: Sports, Tennis, Mario, Multiplayer.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Manga Monday: Prince of Tennis by Takeshi Konomi

This week I’m going over one of the best sports manga of all time, and if you ladies out there enjoy hot guys you’ll like it even more, it’s Prince of Tennis by Takeshi Konomi.

Plot Synopsis: The series is primarily set in Tokyo, and centers around Ryoma Echizen, a tennis prodigy who attends Seishun Academy (青春学園 Seishun Gakuen), or Seigaku (青学) for short, a private school famous for its strong tennis club and talented players. Ryoma quickly defeats numerous upperclassmen shortly after entrance to secure himself a spot as one of the team’s regulars. In pursuit of their ultimate goal of winning the National Middle School Tennis Championship, members of the team make new friends while learning and mastering increasingly complex techniques. Ryoma also begins to develop his own style of tennis, and eventually realizes what the sport really means to him.

Plot: It’s a fairly standard plot, but the characters are what drive it and the characters are all amazingly deep and detailed. The shallowest one is actually Echizen, but he does get better over the course of the series.

Characters: My favorite character is probably Momo, but I enjoy almost all of the characters in this series, because they are all badasses and that’s not even counting what they do in the sequel series.

Artwork: The artwork was pretty amazing for it’s time.

Overall: If you enjoy sports series, or really hot guys, or just amazing characters you’ll like this series.

For those who like: Sports series, Tennis, Amazing characters, Bishonen.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or a pretty standard sports series plot.

Manga Monday: Baby Steps by Hikaru Katsuki

This week we are going over my most recently read Sports series, Baby Steps by Hikaru Katsuki. It just started an anime adaptation in the last two weeks, but if you are like me and are intrigued by the plot and want more the manga is amazing. 

Plot Synopsis: Eiichirō Maruo, a first year honor student, one day decides he is unhappy with the way things are and lacks exercise. He finds a flier for the Tennis Club and decides to check it out. He is instantly captivated by it. With no prior experience and poor physical conditioning, he embarks on a tennis journey using his smarts, dedication and work ethic. He uses his inherent studious nature to develop an extremely strategic approach to tennis, taking notes on the habits and tendencies of his opponents thus allowing him to predict their shots before they make them.

Plot: While this is a shonen sports series, its not like Prince of Tennis. Prince of Tennis is more like a battle series than Baby Steps is, and there are way too many good looking guys in Prince of Tennis for my liking. Baby Steps also has a romance sub-plot which I think is pretty well done, and it doesn’t detract from the main plot, which is Eichiro’s goal of mastering tennis.

Characters: While we get introduced to many different characters Eichiro and Natsuki, the female lead, are the main characters and we don’t see much of anyone else really take a spotlight. We have the friends who get turned into info dumps that is common to series like this. We also have Eichiro’s opponents turn into recurring characters that show up now and again to either help or hinder his goals. Pretty standard stuff, but the main focus always stays on the lead characters.

Art: I enjoy this art style, while it’s not as pretty as Prince of Tennis is, it’s good in its own way.

Overall: For those who like sports series, or tennis, this is for you!

For those who like: Sports, Shonen, Tennis, Romance that doesn’t detract from the main plot, A smart protagonist.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.