STACK #256 February 2026

GAMING FEATURE

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MARIO GIVES US FEVER!

The biggest entry in the series yet, Mario Tennis Fever features 38 playable characters, including debuts from Baby Wario, and Baby Waluigi. Techniques like topspin, slices, and lobs return, joined by 30 all-new Fever Rackets, adding chaos like freezing the court, and shrinking opponents. New modes include Trial Towers, Mix It Up (with unconventional rule sets), and Wonder Court matches, inspired by Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Add online play options, a motion control mode, and a story-driven Adventure outing and Mario Tennis Fever is shaping up to be, well, ace!

GENRE: Sports MULTIPLAYER: Yes

FORMAT:

Tradie, adventurer, rescuer of princesses… Mario does a lot. He’s also proven to be a dab hand at whichever sport he turns his attention to, and there have been many over the years. With MarioTennis Fever hitting Switch 2 this month, let’s look back at Mario’s stellar sporting career. Words Amy Flower YOU'RE A GOOD SPORT, MARIO! MARIO!

Mario Strikers: Battle League filled the soccer void for Switch players. Other sporting dalliances have come and gone, including basketball with 2006’s DS release Mario Hoops 3-on-3 , and games compendiums Mario Sports Mix on the Wii, and Mario Sports Superstars on 3DS. These saw the moustachioed wunderkind throwing his cap into the ring for a wide world of sports including dodgeball, volleyball, ice hockey, and even horse racing. OLYMPIC GLORY! After years you could name, it wasn’t a surprise when Mario headed to the Beijing Olympics. What was a surprise, however, was that he teamed with former mascot rival Sonic the Hedgehog – all in the spirit of friendly competition, of course! Since Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games , the pair have united for both the London and Rio games, as well as the taking on pretty much any sport

MARIO’S NO FLOG! It was a golf game that first showed us Mario’s sportier side. That was 1992’s NES Open Tournament Golf on the Nintendo Entertainment System, which was known as Mario Open Golf in Japan upon its original launch in 1987. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until 1999 that Mario returned to the links, this time in Mario Golf , initially on Nintendo 64 and soon after on the Game Boy Advance. Ensuing years saw a few more rounds played by Mario, mainly on handheld. In 2021, Mario Golf: Super Rush on Switch marked his first console-based golfing exploits since the GameCube back in 2003. Gaps in his golfing endeavours can easily be explained, for Mario was busy trying out other sports. A man only has so much leisure time! KART AND SOUL Perhaps the most notable of Mario’s forays into the sporting world are his Mario Kart

adventures. These began with 1992’s ground breaking Super Mario Kart on Super Nintendo, after which you couldn’t keep Mario off the track, with all major Nintendo consoles and handhelds boasting Mario Kart games. These ranged from Mario Kart 64 on the N64, through GBA, GameCube, DS, Wii, 3DS, Wii U, and Switch iterations, right up to Mario Kart World on Switch 2. Mario and pals even escaped into the real world with the release of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit , combining a real RC kart with the Switch to bring racing quite literally into your home. A TRUE ALL-ROUNDER While his karting exploits kept Mario busy on track, he still found time to master other sports. Next came tennis, with Mario’s Tennis making its debut on Nintendo’s ill-fated Virtual Boy. The host system may have been a flop, but the game concept wasn’t, with Mario later swinging racquets on the N64, Game Boy Colour, GameCube, GBA, Wii, 3DS, Wii U, and Switch, before the latest (and greatest) in this month’s Mario Tennis Fever for Switch 2. Getting Mario to stand still is challenging, especially so in 2005’s GameCube days when he made his debut playing baseball ( Mario Super Star Baseball ) and soccer ( Super Mario Strikers ). He also plugged – and slugged - away at the two sports on the Wii, and while he hasn’t made a return to dedicated baseball,

Tokyo’s 2020 event. These outings saw Mario taking on numerous Olympic events, yet he still wanted more! Two years after his first summer jaunt, Mario teamed with Sonic for the winter

• Mario Tennis Fever is out Feb 12

Olympics in Vancouver, and they also attended Sochi four years later.

FEBRUARY 2026

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