A week with Mario Tennis Fever on Nintendo Switch 2
Mario Tennis Fever is Nintendo’s newest tennis game, released February 12, 2026 exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2. We received a review copy from Nintendo on launch day, and we’re very grateful for that! It meant we could start playing right away and spend a full week with the game to see how it feels and what it offers to players of all kinds.
Alina, my wife, has played a lot this week. I’m totally blind, so I haven’t been able to experience it on my own, but I’ve been right there beside her listening closely to every match, asking questions, and picking up what’s most important about the experience. After a week, here’s what we think.
Tennis with a Mushroom Kingdom twist
At its core, this is a tennis game. You run around the court, rally with your opponent, time your shots, and try to score points. But it’s Mario style: playful, energetic, and full of surprises.
One of the big additions in this game is the Fever system. As you play, you build a Fever Gauge. When it fills up, you can use a Fever Shot, which is a powerful hit with a special effect. That can turn things around fast if you time it well in a match.
Another big feature is the Fever Rackets. There are 30 of them, and each one adds its own twist when you trigger a Fever Shot. Some rackets freeze parts of the court, others shrink opponents, or add lightning, fire, and other effects that make matches feel fresh and exciting.
A big roster of characters
Nintendo includes 38 playable characters in Mario Tennis Fever, which is the most in the series so far.
You’ll find familiar faces like Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Bowser, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Wario. There are also fun choices like Toad, Rosalina, Goomba, Piranha Plant, Baby Wario, and Baby Waluigi, so there’s something for everybody.
Characters have simple differences in how they play: some are more powerful, some are faster, and some balance everything out. It’s easy to understand and gives you a reason to try out new characters instead of always picking the same one. Alina changed characters a lot during the week, and that shows the roster really works to keep things fresh.
Adventure mode: simple and fun
The main single-player mode is Adventure mode, and it takes around four to five hours to finish. The story is light and playful: Mario and friends are turned into babies on a remote island. They’ve lost their tennis skills, and you help them learn again through matches and challenges until they return to normal.
It’s not a deep story, but it does a nice job of introducing the game. It teaches you the mechanics, ramps up the challenge slowly, and keeps things structured instead of dropping you straight into random matches.
Multiplayer, online play, and GameShare
This game is meant to be social. You can play with friends locally, or you can play online with both casual matches and ranked matches. There’s also an Online Room where you can set up a custom game with friends.
Nintendo also includes GameShare, which lets one person with the game share it with up to three nearby players. That’s great for families who want to jump into matches together without everyone owning their own copy.
There’s also a motion control option called Swing Mode, where you can gently swing your controller like a racket. It’s a fun, casual way to play that works well for kids and for parties.
Sound and music that pull you in
If you play with headphones, you can hear the ball flying through the air, hitting the court, and even get a sense of where characters are moving on the court. The sound effects feel classic Nintendo – lively, crisp, and full of character. The music is engaging and keeps the mood upbeat and playful in every match.
Accessibility: still not there
Now we need to talk about the part that’s hard to ignore. Mario Tennis Fever has almost no accessibility options for blind players like me. There is no text-to-speech for menus, no menu narration, and no way to navigate the game on your own without help.
There are a couple of small options, like changing the ball speed and remapping some buttons, but that’s about it!
What’s frustrating is that we’re now about nine months after the Nintendo Switch 2 launched, and we still don’t have games that support text-to-speech or menu narration. Nintendo added a screen reader to the home screen, but it still doesn’t reach the games themselves.
So for blind players, it still feels like we’re left on the sidelines, outside the actual court.
One week later
After a week with Mario Tennis Fever, we can tell you that this is a fun, lively game that’s easy to pick up and play. It’s colorful, the matches are exciting, and the mix of tennis with the Fever twists makes it enjoyable for both kids and adults.
If you like Mario characters and sports games, this one is going to land really well. It’s just disappointing that accessibility is still being ignored. The Switch 2 screen reader is a start, but it needs to work inside games too, not just on the home screen.
Review copy provided by Nintendo via CD Media
Victor Dima
Latest posts by Victor Dima (see all)
- Accessibility Review: Resident Evil Requiem – PS5 Pro - Feb 26, 2026
- PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for March 2026 - Feb 26, 2026
- PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for February available now - Feb 24, 2026
