What are your favourite Mario sports games? (This excludes Karts and Parties)

I'm wondering if any are worth getting. Recently the demo for Mario Golf: World Tour came out, and I was surprised at how addicting it was even though I can't stand golf (I don't think I liked the N64 version, as far as I can remember.)

I plan on grabbing that sometime, the only one I really remember playing for an extensive amount of time was Mario Tennis 64. It's a shame that Nintendo took so long to realize that demos are a great idea, would've liked to try Mario Tennis Open but I'm simply not interested because I can't.

I like Mario Tennis for the Wii, though it was a remake of the Gamecube game if I remember. I did check out the Mario sports mix, (I can't remember the name of it) but I only really enjoyed the hockey part. The soccer part was good too, but Mario Strikers already did soccer. Past that, I haven't played much.

Mario Tennis for the Gameboy Color is pretty fun. You go to Tennis School and work you way up each class, ultimately becoming the World Champion and then playing tennis with Mario (and Peach if you're doing doubles) in the Mushroom Kingdom. You gain levels and develop your character (and your partner) as you go along.

Tennis, though I heard the reviews of 3DS and don't want the series ruined for me.

What did you hear, if you can remember any of the salient details?

I've played Mario Tennis 3DS.

I was not impressed with it at all.

Mario Tennis for the GBC was one of the best things ever. And then you could transfer your character to the N64 game, which made you feel COOL AS HECK.

I hadn't actually heard anything about the 3DS iteration, but it makes me sad that it hasn't seemed to have impressed people.

Taiyz wrote:

What did you hear, if you can remember any of the salient details?

I've heard that it wasn't as charming as the previous titles, and the means to unlock content isn't fun.

The soccer games were pretty awesome, I really liked playing them with friends to be honest. The sports games (as do the party and kart ones) tend to just be an overall better experience when shared with friends.

Tennis 64 and to a lesser extent Power Tennis were the only ones I gave the time of day. Mario spin-offs don't do much for me, and the handheld versions are even worse because a lot of them are only fun on a TV to start with.

Dis wrote:

The soccer games were pretty awesome, I really liked playing them with friends to be honest. The sports games (as do the party and kart ones) tend to just be an overall better experience when shared with friends.

Oh man, I forgot all about Striker's and Striker's Charged.

Those games were awesome.