2000 · Game Boy · Game story
MARIO TENNIS GB (2000): The School Where Every Rally Counts
Camelot and Nintendo’s Japanese Game Boy Color original turns a tennis academy into a lively career: make a student and partner, win a place on the ranking ladder, decide where experience goes, then find out whether that new game can stand up to Mario.
In this story
- 01 The academy makes a new player the lead
- 02 Rankings turn practice into a school year
- 03 Experience is earned on court, then shared deliberately
- 04 Four attributes keep growth readable
- 05 Exhibition keeps tennis immediate
- 06 Mario characters arrive through play, not by assumption
- 07 Mario is a horizon for the GBC original
The academy makes a new player the lead
Mario Tennis GB starts somewhere surprisingly specific: in front of Royal Tennis Academy’s main building. The Japanese manual has the player choose a male or female character, set handedness, name that character, then name a partner before Story Mode begins. GameSpot describes the resulting Mario Tour as an RPG-style setting in which a player trains and rises through the academy’s ranks. That opening changes the role of Mario. He is not the avatar who carries the whole game from the first screen. The lead is a beginner with a roommate, an institution to navigate, and enough room to turn each new rally into evidence of improvement. The invitation has an extra charm because the player is not treated as a mascot’s understudy. The academy gives the newcomer a name, a hand, and a companion before the famous faces arrive; that small act makes the first ranking match feel like the beginning of somebody’s season. 2 4
The academy is more than a decorative menu hub. Nintendo’s own description names a café, dormitory, repair counter, workout room, and academy grounds to explore; the manual directs the player to training centres, training courts, and ranking courts. The spaces establish a rhythm between movement and tennis. A player prepares, talks, practices, competes, returns, and decides what to improve. They also give equipment and conversation a practical role alongside the score: the career is built between matches as well as inside them. Nothing here needs a later Mario Tennis story, a Game Boy Advance school, or a Nintendo 64 tournament to make sense. The 2000 Game Boy Color original already presents a small, coherent sports campus whose daily routines turn a tennis game into a career. 3 2
Trivia Japan received マリオテニスGB on 1 November 2000. Nintendo’s exact C-9947_j record identifies the target title, and Nintendo Life’s release archive corroborates the Japanese date. The record is for the Game Boy Color original, not Mario Tennis 64, Mario Tennis: Power Tour, or a later reissue’s platform-specific conveniences. 1 5
See it in action
Rankings turn practice into a school year
Story Mode’s central progression is explicit rather than mysterious. The manual says the new student begins in the Junior Class. Winning ranking matches at the Junior Class court raises rank, and beating the class champion permits advancement to the Senior Class; Senior ranking victories then continue to raise rank. This structure gives matches a clear identity. They are not merely AI exhibitions selected from a list. Each opponent sits on a visible institutional ladder, so a victory can mean a change in status as well as a scoreline. Tennis becomes the school’s examination system, conducted point by point. 2
The ladder’s modest scale is its strength. A player does not need an elaborate fantasy crisis to understand why the next match matters. Reaching a higher-ranked opponent is enough, because the prior training, equipment, and shot choices have made that opponent a test of the student actually built. Nintendo Life summarises the arc as training a novice into a pro through Royal Tennis Academy before taking on Mario. The school setting makes that claim concrete: the career develops by moving from learning facilities to formal rankings, not by replacing tennis with unrelated quests. Its stakes stay pleasantly local: a better rank means access to the next person who can expose a weak return, a slow approach, or an unreliable partner. That is enough drama for a sports game whose most persuasive stories are told by a ball landing just inside the line. 5 6
Trivia Story Mode does not create only one name. The manual asks for both the student’s name and the partner’s name before the academy sequence starts. That is why doubles can feel like a continuation of the same career rather than a disconnected multiplayer checkbox: the partner is part of the saved school story from its first moment. 2
Experience is earned on court, then shared deliberately
The academy’s progression works because it keeps experience connected to actual tennis activity. The manual states that practice at the training centre or training courts, and matches themselves, can award experience; failed practice may award none. Nintendo’s English description likewise links training programmes and defeated students to experience points. The result is not passive accumulation. To improve, the player must complete drills or win against opponents, which gives each point of experience a recognisable sporting source. A rally, a service practice, and a ranked match can therefore participate in one progression system without becoming identical tasks. 2 3
Crucially, the experience is not locked to a single athlete. The manual says it can be freely allocated to the player character or the partner. After enough allocation, that character levels up. Nintendo Life’s retrospective explains why this matters to the game’s particular RPG flavour: training challenges and match victories can build either the student or the roommate who becomes a doubles partner. The player is asked to decide whether the next improvement strengthens a singles specialist, a reliable partner, or a more balanced pair. The school career becomes a choice about team development as well as an individual climb. Spending a point on the partner can be as gratifying as spending it on the lead, because doubles makes the pair’s rhythm visible on every return. The game asks for a small coaching judgment: who needs the next improvement, and what kind of match will make that choice pay off? 2 6
Trivia Created characters can also earn experience from Exhibition matches. The manual makes the condition plain: configure an Exhibition match, then use one of the player’s created characters. This is a useful bridge between the story career and a freely chosen quick match, rather than a claim that every menu option awards progress automatically. It lets a preferred format serve both recreation and long-term development. 2
Four attributes keep growth readable
A level-up is a decision, not an invisible statistic. The Japanese manual lets the player choose one of four abilities to raise: Spin, Power, Control, or Speed. It also spells out their related qualities: spin covers top and slice; power covers serve, volley, and stroke; control covers hitting angle and placement; speed covers movement speed, braking, dash, and agility. This creates a readable bridge between a menu choice and a court behaviour. A player can make a coherent case for more force, sharper placement, better movement, or more varied ball rotation, then watch the choice change what feels plausible in the next match. 2
The attributes do not erase the need to play tennis well. The manual still demands timing and position: a well-timed serve at the toss’s highest point becomes a faster ‘Nice!’ serve; the shot list distinguishes topspin, slice, drop, volley, and smash. GameSpot highlights the same two-button depth, including lobs, drop shots, volleys, flat shots, and smashes, as well as court surfaces that affect the ball’s path. Progression therefore supports technique rather than replacing it. A stronger player character can make options more potent, but timing, placement, and the decision to use the right shot still determine whether a point is won. It is a neat antidote to the idea that a character sheet alone wins the sport. The numbers create possibilities; the player still has to notice the ball, arrive in time, and choose whether a safe reply or a bold finish belongs in that particular rally. 2 4
Trivia The manual describes a smash point with a star marker on court. Reaching that position and charging with both buttons can produce a smash only when the ball is at an appropriate height; otherwise the shot becomes a flat shot. It is an especially clear example of the game demanding spatial timing even after a character has gained levels. 2
Exhibition keeps tennis immediate
Exhibition is the necessary counterweight to the academy schedule. The original manual lets the player choose singles or doubles, a two- or six-game format, and one, three, or five sets. It then offers built-in characters or up to six created characters, followed by court selection. This is not a watered-down form of Story Mode. It is a direct way to stage precisely the tennis match wanted now: a short set for a quick test, a longer match for concentration, singles for responsibility, or doubles for partner interaction. The settings preserve a conventional sport beneath the career wrapper. It also makes the game unusually generous with its own core: a saved academy player can be taken out of the school timetable and placed into a match designed for a friend, a rematch, or a few focused minutes with a favourite court. 2
Court choice adds another practical variable. The manual differentiates hard, carpet, clay, and grass by ball speed after the bounce and by bounce strength. A player who has built movement or control is therefore not simply choosing a cosmetic background; the court changes the rhythm in which those abilities and shot types are used. GameSpot’s review similarly notes that surfaces have a definite effect on the ball’s trajectory. Exhibition lets the player isolate that relationship, testing a character and a court without requiring the next academy ranking match to be at stake. 2 4
Trivia A best-of-five Exhibition match requires three sets to win, while best-of-three requires two and one-set requires one. The manual’s scoring section also specifies a tiebreak at 2–2 or 6–6 games, won by reaching seven points first. Those options let the player choose not merely a longer match, but a different rhythm of pressure. 2
Mario characters arrive through play, not by assumption
Mario characters are present, but the original does not pretend they erase the academy’s new students. The manual’s character guide describes Mario as all-round, Peach as technique-focused, Baby Mario as speed-focused, Luigi as all-round, and Donkey Kong as power-focused. Nintendo’s description adds that Exhibition offers Mario, Yoshi, Bowser, and other Nintendo stars for winner-takes-all singles or doubles. These roles give the broader cast a clear place: they are recognisable styles and Exhibition possibilities, while the Story Mode student remains the person whose ranking, experience, equipment, and partner relationship are being developed. 2 3
Unlocking is deliberately conditional rather than a vague promise of a larger roster. The manual’s clear-status screen tracks Exhibition results across character pairings and marks cleared Story Mode rankings and training. A contemporary GameFAQs guide documents concrete conditions: creating a Mario Tour file makes its associated academy pair available, while completing the Story Mode route opens Mario for Exhibition. That evidence supports a narrow editorial point. The roster expands through recorded participation and progression. It does not license a blanket claim that every later-series character is available from the start, or that every unlock belongs to the standalone cartridge path. 2 8 9
Trivia Mario Mini-Games use characters such as Luigi and Baby Mario, and the manual records cleared levels with mushroom marks. These are not only diversions: they provide another focused arena for practising reactions and shots, while their completion record sits alongside Story Mode and Exhibition progress. 2 4
Mario is a horizon for the GBC original
The game’s final shape is satisfying because Mario is a horizon rather than a shortcut. Nintendo Life describes the career as a rise from novice to pro at Royal Tennis Academy before taking on Mario, while GameSpot calls the mode a lengthy career built on training and rank advancement. The student must first become legible to the academy: compete in rankings, train at facilities, earn experience, choose attributes, and develop a partner. A Mario challenge after that process can register as a test of the player’s own constructed tennis identity, not merely an obligatory meeting with the brand’s mascot. 5 4
This is also why the Japanese 2000 GBC original stands independently. Its manual gives it a complete sequence of academy story, training, ranking, stat choices, optional Exhibition formats, Mario Mini-Games, and Link Cable play. The historical N64 Transfer Pak connection was real—Nintendo’s official English description says a custom character could be transferred to the N64 version and experience returned—but it is a separate hardware link, not the explanation for the portable game’s school career. No Nintendo 64 modes, Game Boy Advance Power Tour systems, or later characters are needed to understand its core loop. 2 3 7
Trivia The original manual allows up to six created characters in Exhibition. That capacity encourages more than one academy experiment: a player can keep separate students or partners with different statistical priorities, then compare them in configurable matches without rewriting the story of a single save. 2
A few more screens
2 official imagesSources & image credits
Facts were checked against the links below. Official media remains the property of Nintendo and the relevant rights holders.
- マリオテニスGB Nintendo ↗
- マリオテニスGB 取扱説明書 Nintendo ↗
- Mario Tennis | Game Boy Color Nintendo ↗
- Mario Tennis Review GameSpot ↗
- Mario Tennis (2001) | Game Boy Color Game Nintendo Life ↗
- Mario Tennis (GBC) - Camelot’s Ace Little Tennis RPG Is Hard To Fault Nintendo Life ↗
- Mario Tennis (2000) MobyGames ↗
- Mario Tennis FAQ (GBC) by AstroBlue GameFAQs ↗
- Mario Tennis FAQ (GBC) by Ikillkenny GameFAQs ↗
