Copyright Info This FAQ is currently available on Neoseeker (www.neoseeker.com) and is credit by Josh M. (neo14789) Update History 1.04 Fourth Version. Navigation Note The identifiers I use in the Table of Contents will be used in the actual document, so you can just Find the part you are looking for by hitting Ctrl+F and typing in the letter and number combo that you want to go to. ---------- Table of Contents - Copyright Info and Update History Navigation Note Section 1:Controls and Techniques Section 2:Walkthrough:Power Tour Section 3:Beginnings of Power Tour 3a:Junior Class:Singles Junior Class:Doubles 3b:Senior Class*Incomplete 3c:Varsity Class*Incomplete Section 4:Island Open and Aftermath Section 5:Training Center and Power Shot Training Section 6:Miscellaneous Info and FAQs ---------- Section 1:Controls and Techniques The controls here aren’t too hard to work, especially if you’ve played a past Mario Tennis game. The controls for in the field (Power Tour) and in menus: A Button: Confirm choice; examine; talk B Button: Cancel choice; run (Power Tour) START: Open the Pause Menu D-Pad: Move around; select menu item L/R/SELECT: Not used The controls for in-game work a bit differently depending on what’s going on, and also by the control style. But in general: A Button: Hit with topspin; toss ball (serve); drop shot (after pressing B); Offensive Power Shot (while holding R and full Power Gauge)*; dive shot** B Button: Hit with slice; toss ball (serve); lob shot (after pressing A); Defensive Power Shot (while holding R and full Power Gauge)*; dive shot** L Button: Dive for ball (press A or B to impact)**; cancel charged shot R Button: Check Power Gauge***; Offensive Power Shot (press A to impact)*; Defensive Power Shot (press B to impact)* START: Open the Pause Menu (before the serve) D-Pad: Move around; direct ball (while charging, but before impact) SELECT: Not used * - In Normal style, the Power Shot is selected automatically based on distance to the ball and its current location (and your Power Shots). In Easy style, a Power Shot is used automatically if the Power Gauge is full and you don’t select a lob or drop shot by the time the ball arrives. ** - In Normal and Easy styles, the character will dive automatically if a normal attack on the ball will not reach it. *** - In Easy style, the Power Gauge is always displayed; thus, since Power Shots are automatic, the R Button is not used. There are also a few special techniques you should learn to use well: Charged Shot – All shots can be charged for greater power and control. Rapidly press the button for the shot you’re using to charge. A topspin shot glows orange when charged, slice glows blue, and a smash glows bright pink. Uncharged shots and lobs/drops do not glow and simply leave a faint green trail. Lob Shot – A high shot that places the ball somewhere in the rear court. Press A, then press B rapidly to charge. Use this to counter an opponent who is playing right up at the net. Be careful, as this places a Smash Star on the court, usually in the middle of the opponent’s side. Drop Shot – A low shot that places the ball right up at the net. Press B, then press A rapidly to charge. Use this to counter an opponent who is playing from far away. Smash Shot – A powerful shot that sends opponents reeling. Press A and B at the same time after the toss to serve with it, or use it when a yellow star – a Smash Star – appears on the ground by rapidly pressing A and B together. A smash hit in this manner will often score a point. ---------- Section 2:Walkthrough:Power Tour Well, here’s the meat of the game (and this FAQ): the Power Tour mode. This mode acts much like an RPG, giving you limited starting skills and allowing you to level up to improve. This mode will allow you to choose one of two characters: Clay (male; inclined for high power) and Ace (female; inclined for technique). You also unlock every character you beat, bar none. You can use both Clay and Ace (and unlocked characters) in all other modes as well. Let’s talk a bit about experience points, EXP, before we start. Experience points are earned for all activities that use a ball and racket. You’re awarded varying amounts of points for different tasks; a practice on the teaching courts might be worth 50 EXP if you pass, whereas a final round tournament win is worth no less than 800 EXP. Also note, though, that points are also awarded – though you get far fewer – if you fail a challenge. You can apply EXP to your characters as you like, with no restrictions. Press Up on the D-Pad to give EXP to a character. Each time a character’s bar fills, they are promoted to the next level. After you finalize, each character may raise a stat once for each time they leveled up. First, raise a main stat of your choice: Power, Control, Side Spin, or Speed. Each of these has a direct effect on your entire game. Then raise a secondary stat of your choice: Serve, Stroke, Volley, Topspin, or Slice. Each of these has an effect on one specific action type. You get choose one item from each category for each level you gain, and you can choose the same one again if you’d like. The red bar is the current level of the stat; the yellow bar is the final effect, adding the granted bonus and subtracting any losses the stat may experience. Stats drop each time you level, so you can’t just pick the same thing over and over. You have to balance your stats. Power Shot EXP works in a different way. By completing Power Shot Training in the Training Center from senior class up, your Power Shot attributes increase. At certain levels for each stat, you learn a new Power Shot, which you can set right away or from the Pause Menu outside of a match. Your characters share the same Power Shots and attributes, and they never go down. Please note that this section of the FAQ, in its entirety, will by nature contain spoilers. If you don’t want to have the story spoiled, I would advise that you not read ahead. Now, having said that… turn the system on, select your language, and press Start. ---------- Section 3:Beginnings of Power Tour To begin a game, select a character to use: Clay or Ace. Whichever one you choose is your character for all games using that file; whichever you don’t is your doubles partner for that file. The difference between Clay and Ace at this point is not much, so pick whichever character you’d like to use. (You can change the name if you’d like.) Then pick the dominant hand (both Clay and Ace are naturally right-handed) and a difficulty. If this is your first time playing a Mario Tennis game, you’d be best served by choosing the Easy mode. You have to beat the game once to unlock the Technical difficulty. I’m writing this FAQ by starting a new file as Ace in Technical difficulty, but the matches you play shouldn’t change. I’ve also recorded the play styles of each enemy. After this somewhat flashy character selection, you are greeted by a black screen, and then your partner appearing and knocking on the door to greet you. Finding you don’t appear to have gotten up yet, they barge in. Darkness again, then they comment on your condition. The blackness clears, and your partner wonders if you’re in a vegetative state, then remembers about the Welcome Workout yesterday. This is why your character is still on the bed, oblivious to the world. After you roll over, you are greeted again, then your partner cleans up your room a bit. They make a comment about how stupid the Welcome Workout is, then assures you will make a wonderful doubles team. Then you are yelled at to wake up. Upon doing so, you’re asked a series of questions to see if you remember where you’re at and who your partner is; answer either way for a brief (one box) explanation. Then you’re asked if you’re hungry; either way, you’ll be instructed to get dressed, at which time you can head for the restaurant. The screen cuts to black, then comes back to outside the lodge, where you’ll be staying for the duration of the game. Your partner says a bit, then asks if you think it’s big. Regardless of your answer, your partner agrees it’s quite large. Now you get to lead the way to the restaurant. Your partner makes this sound like quite a task. Head down when you get control. When you get to the next screen, head right, then move to enter the restaurant. Your partner admits to tricking you into thinking you could possibly get lost, then urges you inside. Normally the place is crowded with people enjoying beverages and meals and more than happy to give you tennis tips, but at the moment the place is dead. Your partner asks what’s going on, and finds out that the academy has been challenged to a game of tennis by a group of masked people. You’re informed that Coach Alex (the hero of the last Mario Tennis for GBC, where he was just a student) beat them before, and now they want revenge. To make matters worse, they’ve already plowed through the other coaches like nothing. Your partner runs like the wind to center court, assuming you can find the way. Take your time; no matter how fast you run, you’ll arrive just after the match ends. Exit the restaurant, then head right, going south as soon as you can. A group will pass you, commenting about how Alex lost, worrying about what will happen if the masked players enter the Island Open, and noting the veils the girls wore. Your character goes forward until your partner calls out to you, then runs over to you, commenting that they never thought they’d see Alex lose. Then some coaches enter from the bottom screen, chatting about the players having entered the headmaster’s office. Even they think something’s not right here. They head for the Training Center. Your partner suggests you head for the headmaster’s office, but you’ve got a stop to make before that. Enter the Training Center, the large building on the right. The coaches are already here, interrogating Coaches Kevin and Mark. They don’t realize you’re there, and eventually spill most of the beans, but only give you half the name – but half is probably all you need. After you hear all this, head back out of the Center, then through the south exit of the plaza. You end up in the Academy Main Building. The headmaster’s not in his office, so head out the front door of the building, then go to the academy gates. Coach Alex and the headmaster are here, having just seen their friends off. Both remark that they are happy they came to visit, but will not name any names. Your partner goes off on them big time, eventually getting so loud as to make everyone take a step back, your character included. But Alex says that if you get good enough to win the Island Open, then they’ll surely come back for you. Alex advises that things will get serious starting tomorrow, so you should get some rest to be ready. Then your partner asks if you think you can win. Then they complain that they never got to eat in the rush. The two dash towards the main building as the screen fades to black. You reappear outside the lodge. Your partner says some stuff about training machines being built for tomorrow, then notes that training starts tomorrow. He also notes that you’re in the Junior Class. Past Junior is Senior and then Varsity. You have to be in Varsity to enter the Island Open. Your character enters the lodge and the screen blacks out again. The following day… Your partner comes to get you again, but finds you already awake and ready to go. After some idle chat, you’re asked the big question that determines the path you’ll be taking to start off: will you start playing doubles right away? You can switch between dragging your partner behind you for doubles and flying solo for singles at any time by returning to the lodge, but be aware that your ranks in singles and doubles are separate entities. If you choose doubles, your partner tags along with you; if not, he stays in your lodge room, and will be there any time you return. Either way, exit the lodge and head for the area in front of the restaurant. Go to the sign with one star on it and go down the path to its left. Welcome to the junior class courts, overseen by Coach Mark, instantly recognizable by his reddish-brown hair. He greets you as soon as you walk onto the composite surface, explaining who he is, talking about the Welcome Workout a bit, then telling you a bit about what you’ll be facing here in the junior class. Once you get control, you have two options. The first is to train outside of normal games, either by learning and refining techniques at the teaching courts, or by heading for the Training Center and trying out the new machines. The second is to begin your climb to greatness by starting matches. The first option is a good one, so let’s start there. Head outside of the junior courts and go all the way to the right. If you’re dragging your doubles partner behind you, they’ll excuse themselves and step aside, returning as soon as you come back out. Since this is your first time entering the teaching courts, you’ll be shown around by Coach Kate. Her first stop is the top-left serving court, where her request for someone to show it off comes back with nervousness. The lower-left court is the stroke court. Kate is then asked to return to her court, the net-play court on the lower-right. After a moment of chatting with you, she goes off, leaving you to train if you’d like. Each station offers one level of training; you’ll need to come back later for the next level. The other option is the Training Center. As before, your doubles partner (if present) will dismiss himself or herself, allowing you to train alone. The Power Shot Training area is closed to anyone below senior class, so you can either do Wall Practice or take on the Tennis Machine. Both are available in levels Beginner, Standard, Expert, and Master; higher levels are unlocked by beating lower ones. I won’t explain the modes in detail here; check out section 4 for a list of training activities and what they’re all about. Wall Practice is a simple affair. Given one ball, keep it in play for as long as possible, hitting the screens on the wall for points. The Tennis Machine is a bit more challenging. Given a limited number of tennis balls, return to the specified area for maximum points. ---------- 3a:Junior Class:Singles As you’re in the junior class, you’re not up for a major challenge. Go talk to people and note the balloons over some of their heads. They indicate their rank within the class; four is lowest, one is highest. Matches in this and all other classes are two games to a set and two sets to win (2 game set, 3 set match). As an unranked player, you’re gunning for rank 4. Your opponent for the rank 4 match is Sophia (All-Around), whom you’ll find sitting on a bench between the second and third open courts from the left. She’s not a fast player – or, to be honest, a remarkable player in much of any way. She’s still got enough juice to hit the ball, though, so don’t slack off. If you get too close to the net, she’s not afraid to let loose with a lob shot that you’ll never get to in time at this point, so be careful. You may want to try a drop shot to get her close, then swat it away, but again, watch out for that lob. A strong smash shot might get you a service ace, which is always helpful. After losing, Sophia begins the tradition of getting really annoyed and/or angry (usually at you) for losing their rank. Most players do this, after which the coaches sigh and tell you how wrong their attitude is. In any case, you’re now ranked in the junior class. Congrats! Your next victim is rank 3 Mason (Power), the self-professed tennis phenom who often refers to himself as “yours truly”; he can be found on the middle open court, and stands out because of his dark green hair. He’s got a big bark, but his bite is anything but vicious. He has a bit higher power stat, but is not as ready with the lobs. The exception is that if you’re in the service court soon after you return his serve, he’ll hit a massive lob that drops a Smash Star somewhere in your back court, which is going to be horribly difficult to get to. He’s also a bit faster, which means he can return most of your shots. Without Power Shots to call on, Mason dies hard. Put pressure on him so he creates a Smash Star, then blast his face in with a topspin or smash shot that either sails over him, or passes cleanly under his racket. As before, a smash shot when serving to the right might be worth a service ace. The next match is against Sasha (Technique) for rank 2. You’ll find her standing to the right of her doubles partner on the south side of the leftmost court. She’s quite fast, but her shots are weak and her reaction time is a bit slow. Her serves, on the other hand, are nothing to sneeze at, so be ready for them. Her dives are also fairly wide. She’s not too tough, though. She leaves so many Smash Stars that you can get plenty of points that way without much effort at all. Finally, it’s time for the high man on the ladder: rank 1 Chris (Speedy), who’s located in the upper-left corner of the junior courts on a bench and is eager for a good match. He’s practically a blur, moving pretty fast indeed. His other attributes are in good shape, too. The only thing he needs now is an infusion of strategy – he’ll rarely use anything other than a topspin shot or a plain volley. How he got this far is beyond me. He puts up a decent fight, but eventually goes down without much trouble. You earn about 100 EXP for your trouble. After you beat on Chris, he complains and vows to get you back on the senior courts. Coach Mark reflects on the fact that it’s harder to get into the senior ranking, but it’s the only way to get good enough for varsity. He then presents you with the junior championship medal. You now hold top rank in the junior class and are an unranked senior. If it weren’t for the fact that the junior class is a bunch of slackers and won’t battle you for your rank, you might have a bit of a problem, but you don’t. Welcome to the senior class! ---------- Junior Class:Doubles The junior doubles rankings aren’t hard to climb. Each of the junior singles ranked players also holds that same rank in doubles, along with their partner. Go hunt for rank 4 and bring the hammer down. Sophia (All-Around) is very much still annoyed you beat her in singles (if you did already), but will take you on all the same in doubles with her partner Meg (Technical). The pair is waiting patiently in the same place Sophia was after you beat her: middle unoccupied court, bottom half. Talking to either can start the match. A well-placed topspin serve is out of Sophia’s reach; a decent smash or slice serve will avail Meg. Your partner is innately aware of how to play - and also how to win - but plays fairly conservatively, not opting to go overboard and risk not getting the shot. When they’re in the front, know your place – the back. When you’re covering the net game, neither of the two girls can react anywhere near fast enough to counter most of your strikes if you’ve leveled a bit already. Also, as you receive, a well-charged topspin shot aimed to the right will sail in a clean arc neatly around the girl in front and go fast enough for the server to never react in time, resulting in a nice return winner. Your partner now begins his tradition of responding to a team’s comments after losing. In this case it’s Meg’s despair over the inability to freely use the practice courts. Your partner proposes sharing, Sophia says he/she should be practicing on the senior courts anyway and Meg agrees, and your partner smells anti-senior sentiment. Your character steps in to prevent a fight, and the two girls leave. Meg comes back and declares they’ll use the courts after all. Coach Mark notes that they’re sore losers, makes another comment or two, then lets you loose to take on the next duo, if you wish. Phenom Mason (Power) is more than willing to take you out with his partner Chad (Power) by his side. The rank 3 team is waiting across the court from where you found Sophia and Meg. The same shots as before take care of the two during service: topspin for Mason, slice or smash for Chad. The two are fairly fleet of foot, so be careful. Not much else to say on these two. Your next victim is rank 2 Sasha (Technique) and her partner Sylvia (Speedy). They’re on the left-most court, south side. Sylvia is an exception to the rule that you can slice when serving right for an ace, as she can get there fast enough just about every time, barring you being twenty levels higher or something like that. Your smash should still work, though. Her shots are strong, and both of them are pretty fast for this level. They won’t put up a major fight, but they’re something to watch out for. Do be mindful of the lob shots, though… OK, this is it: your rank 1 match against Chris (Speedy) and Kyle (All-Around). They won’t give in easily, so fight for your title! As with Sylvia, your slice ain’t gonna cut the mustard on service against Kyle. Other than that, just play your best against them. After the match, Chris and Kyle complain that they’re out of the junior standings, and that they’re still not ranked in senior doubles. Your partner is about to slaughter them for picking on the little guys instead of testing their skill, but your character cuts them off. After a short speech from Coach Mark, you’re awarded the junior class championship medals. Welcome to the senior class! Senior Class and up coming soon! ---------- Section 4:Training Center and Power Shot Training This section is about the Training Center and the activities within. There are a total of 12 different activities you can partake in here: two for general tennis skills, and ten for Power Shots. Basic activities come in Beginner, Standard, Expert, and Master difficulties, which are unlocked by beating the previous difficulty; Power Shot training has levels 1 through 3 and the Challenge, also progressively unlocked. The first activity, located in the back-left corner of the Center, is Wall Practice. Given one tennis ball and a massive wall with light-up screens on it, keep a point going as long as possible while hitting lit-up screens to increase your score. Dual circle screens give points and spit out a straight shot. Left arrows score points and send the ball back to the left; right arrows do the opposite while still increasing your score. Up arrows grant points and return a lob shot; down arrows do the same except with a drop shot. Try to hit lit screens consecutively without hitting a blank screen or the wall surface, as you get increasingly higher point scores for hitting screens in a chain. If the ball hits you or you can’t get it after it hits the wall, the game ends. You are not allowed to use Power Shots in this Training. The other basic activity is the Tennis Machine, straight ahead from the entrance. The machine, which is red, mobile, and allows tennis balls to pass right through it, spits out a limited number of tennis balls, one at a time. One section of the opposing court will be lit with a green-and-yellow animated square, which you are aiming for, and is worth five points. A larger part of the court is lit orange, and is worth one point. The purple-gray part of the opposite court is worth zero points, as is a ball out of bounds, or a shot that hits the net. You need to get a minimum score within the limited number of tennis balls to pass, and each ball is used only once. ---------- Section 5:Miscellaneous Info and FAQs I’m answering this one first... Q: Can I use a GBA-GCN cable to transfer my character data to Mario Power Tennis? - A: No, no, a million times NO! You would know the answer to that if you read the Mario Power Tennis box. Clay and Ace aren’t leaving the GBA Pak anytime soon. Sorry. …That’s probably the biggest question I’ll get asked, so I wanted to get it out of the way. -