E3 2015: Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash demo first impressions

<p>Despite personally being disappointed by Nintendo&&num;8217&semi;s E3 announcements&comma; I <em>will<&sol;em> say that there are two of them I <em>was<&sol;em> excited about&period; Star Fox Zero is one of them&comma; but I also liked the potential underdog &&num;8211&semi; Mario Tennis&colon; Ultra Smash for Wii U&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04213211&sol;mariotennis-screenshot&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-medium wp-image-85952" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04213211&sol;mariotennis-screenshot&period;jpg" alt&equals;"mariotennis screenshot" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"169" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We&&num;8217&semi;ll attack the first impressions from a demo standpoint&comma; since that was the majority of what we got to see at E3&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>First&comma; some basic facets of the game&comma; based off of what we saw in the demo&colon;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04213146&sol;Mario-Tennis-Ultra-Smash-doubles-selection&period;png"><img class&equals;" wp-image-85954 alignright" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04213146&sol;Mario-Tennis-Ultra-Smash-doubles-selection&period;png" alt&equals;"Mario-Tennis-Ultra-Smash-doubles-selection" width&equals;"259" height&equals;"145" &sol;><&sol;a><br &sol;>&NewLine;&ast;Singles and Doubles play available&ast;Mario&comma; Peach&comma; Toad&comma; and Bowser are playable characters<br &sol;>&NewLine;&ast;New item &&num;8211&semi; The Mega Mushroom&comma; turns any player who grabs it into a giant<br &sol;>&NewLine;&ast;Button combinations produce a different kind of shot&semi; for example&comma; &&num;8220&semi;A&&num;8221&semi; has top-spin&comma; &&num;8220&semi;B&&num;8221&semi; is more of a low-straight shot&comma; &&num;8220&semi;X&&num;8221&semi; for special&comma; etc&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&ast;New style of shot called the &&num;8220&semi;Jump Shot&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&ast;Toads and Shy Guys put aside any differences as they sit in the crowd to unite&comma; for tennis&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>From my perspective&comma; the game seems like it will be incredibly fun when the full version of it is released&period; The demo at E3 was extremely limited&period; Four playable characters &lpar;the Mario Kart 8 E3 demo in 2013 had half the roster available&rpar;&comma; two game modes &lpar;who knows if there will be special kinds of skirmishes and game modes in the final version&&num;8230&semi; online maybe&quest;&rpar;&comma; and only one stage&sol;level&period; We really have to arm our imaginations to think of what <em>could<&sol;em> be in the final version&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As far as controls and gameplay goes&comma; I would say the E3 demo was quite fluid and made for a fun experience&period; It seems as though a common mistake of players &lpar;even Nintendo&&num;8217&semi;s &&num;8220&semi;Treehouse&&num;8221&semi; staff&rpar; is to continuously press the button&comma; whether it be A&comma; B&comma; X&comma; or some combination&comma; over and over again until they realize that they&&num;8217&semi;ve actually just spent the entire time charging up for the shot and the ball is already over their heads or behind them&period; Perhaps that can be considered a flaw&comma; but I consider this more of a warning for you&colon; after you&&num;8217&semi;ve pressed your button combo&comma; remember to let it go&excl;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;04213157&sol;mariotennisultrasmash2-640x360&period;jpg"><img class&equals;" wp-image-85953 alignleft" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;mariotennisultrasmash2-640x360-300x169&period;jpg" alt&equals;"mariotennisultrasmash2-640x360" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"144" &sol;><&sol;a> The only other word of warning I could give is to go for the Mega Mushroom only when you&&num;8217&semi;re prepared to do so&semi; there are times where the mushroom will be thrown onto the court right when you&&num;8217&semi;ve just knocked the ball back at your opponent&comma; and if you&&num;8217&semi;re too distracted by getting the giant mushroom&comma; your opponent may be able to just smack the ball in the opposite direction&period; This makes for a bit of a strategic decision on your hands once those mushrooms are out on the court&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All in all&comma; it seems as though Mario Tennis&colon; Ultra Smash will please fans of existing Mario Tennis games while also bringing in new players seamlessly to the franchise&period; Be looking out for Mario Tennis&colon; Ultra Smash on Wii U this holiday season &lpar;2015&rpar;&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;