There have been tennis games on the Game Boy before, so what makes this one so special? Well, besides the obvious Mario character tie-ins, it's the way the game plays that makes it so much fun. If you've had a chance to give Mario Tennis on the N64 a shot, you'll immediately be right at home with the controls. Even with only two action buttons there are plenty of shots that can be made. By pressing the A button you will deliver a topspin shot, whereas the B button will yield a slice shot. Pressing both buttons simultaneously will net you a smash shot. Just like in the N64 version, if you double tap the A button your character will hit the ball with twice the power complete with an orange streak following the ball. Pressing the B button twice also allows your player to hit the ball twice as hard, but the ball will have a lower trajectory and a blue streak will follow it. If you want to lob the ball you simply press A then B and if you want to hit a drop shot close to the net you press B then A. If you hold down either the A or the B button your character will power up his or her shot. This move is extremely useful at times, but it is also dangerous because it causes your player to move very slowly while charging. By pressing a direction on the control pad while hitting the ball you can control the general area where the ball will end up on your opponent's side of the court.

So far it may seem as if Mario Tennis for the Game Boy Color is identical to its N64 cousin, which is true when playing the exhibition mode. However, the main crux (and the best part) of the game lies in the Mario Tour. Upon beginning the Mario Tour you will select your character. You will have a choice between Alex and Nina (yes, you can rename them if you like). Both are brand new students attending the Royal Tennis Academy. Much like an RPG, you will then be able to walk around the campus and talk to the various coaches and other tennis players. You will be assigned a doubles partner who will be staying with you in your dorm room. Your character begins the game as a novice tennis player. The goal is to win enough tennis matches to raise your ranking. You start off in the junior class, but by successfully beating your opponents you will move up to the senior class, and then maybe even the varsity team. By playing matches and training you will earn experience points, which will allow you to gain a level. When this occurs you will be able to raise one of four attributes: speed, power, control, or agility. This form of character development allows you to customize your player to your liking. You can also divvy up the experience points by giving some to your partner and selecting which attributes to improve.

You won't believe how much the RPG elements add to the game. I found myself as addicted to Mario Tennis as any other RPG out there. One of the first problems I encountered when playing some of the tennis matches was that my character seemed to move too slow. Very often I wouldn't be able to reach the ball in time to successfully return it. I remedied this situation by assigning all of my experience points to the agility category, which boosts speed, dash, reaction, and stop abilities. After increasing this attribute a few levels I was running across the court with ease. What's great is that while I was focusing on agility with my character, I focused on the power attribute with my doubles partner. This level of customization works well and allows you to build the type characters you want.

Besides playing tennis matches, one of the best parts of the game is the training center. Here you get to play some very simple mini-games that reward you with experience points if you do well. For example, one training exercise has you bouncing the ball off the wall. The more consecutive hits you make without missing the ball, the more experience points you will be rewarded. To make the exercise more difficult, there's this panel with arrows on it that is constantly moving around the wall. If you hit an arrow with the ball, the ball is then deflected in that direction. For example, hitting an arrow that is pointing to the left will cause the ball to ricochet off the wall in that direction. Likewise, if the arrow is facing up the ball is lobbed back at you and if the arrow is pointing down it creates a drop shot return. The training exercises may sound boring, but trust me, you will spend some major time here trying to beat them. They're also a great way to gain experience points if you don't have the time to play a full-blown tennis game.

If you own Mario Tennis for the N64 and you have the Transfer Pak, you will be able to transfer characters you've trained in the Game Boy Color game to the N64 game and vice versa. In fact, in order to open up Wario, Bowser, Yoshi, and Waluigi in the GBC version you will have to link the game to the N64 version. What's really cool is that your characters can gain experience in the N64 version, so that when you decide to transfer them back to the GBC game the experience points travel with them. The game also supports the link cable so two players can play head to head. Unfortunately you can't play the Mario Tour in this mode, but you are able to play the exhibition mode. In this mode you simply choose your characters and then play a normal game of tennis.

The GBC never ceases to amaze me in the graphics department. I had my doubts that Camelot would be able to adequately show the entire tennis court on the small screen. I'm happy to report that not only do the courts look excellent, but so do the characters. Each character is very detailed considering the size of the sprites and the colors are extremely vibrant. The screen does move slightly to the left and right (as well as up and down) when the ball approaches the court boundaries. When playing doubles and when your characters are at the top of the screen there are times where the screen will move down to follow the ball and your character will no longer be on the screen. A small icon of your player's face will show where you are. If this poses a problem there is an option to keep the camera behind your character at all times. That way you'll always be playing at the bottom of the screen. I found this option made the game much easier to play. The only downside to the graphics is the representations of the Mario characters. They are detailed, but some of the characters look washed out and the colors don't look right. Donkey Kong looks sort of a pinkish-brown and Baby Mario just doesn't look like he should. All of the non-Mario characters look excellent though, and I'm probably just nitpicking.

Let's face it; the GBC has a sound chip that can be beaten by almost any cell phone. That said, the music is surprisingly good. There are some recognizable tunes present in the game, but nothing extraordinary. Gone are the voice clips and trademark Nintendo sounds for the characters, which is a major drawback.

When it comes right down to it, the only disappointing part of Mario Tennis on the GBC is the treatment of Mario and company. It's as if they were thrown in at the last minute to gain the Mario name. The N64 version featured a vast number of characters from the Mario universe. All of them had their familiar voices, gestures, and looked as they should. This is not the case with the portable version. Not only are there fewer characters, but all of them are all missing their charm. I miss Luigi's victory dance (where he excitedly ran around in a circle) and Wario's evil laugh. A big part of why I enjoyed Mario Tennis on the N64 so much was because it actually felt like the Mario characters were partaking in a game of tennis. This feeling is completely void in the portable game, which is unfortunate.

What we have in Mario Tennis for the GBC is a fantastic portable game that is both addictive and fun. You are able to save the game at anytime you wish, so there's really no excuse not to take it with you wherever you go. Some of the matches and games can take awhile to play through, but the end result is well worth it. The RPG elements elevate the game above the competition and it is a feature that would have been welcomed in the N64 version as well. Camelot has proven time and time again that it knows how to make great games and this time is no different. If you happen to own the N64 version and the Transfer Pak, then you have even more reason to buy the GBC version. You really can't go wrong with this purchase!