Tournament Mode

Master Mario Tennis Aces Tournament Mode, including Online and COM tournaments. Learn about Standard and Simple Class rules, participation bonuses, and COM Cup unlocks.

Before diving into Tournament Mode in Mario Tennis Aces, ensure you are comfortable with the game's fundamentals, including identifying shot types, countering Zone Shots and Special Shots, and understanding each character's strengths and weaknesses.

Tournament Mode offers two main options: Online Tournament and COM Tournament.

Online Tournament

To participate in an Online Tournament, you must agree to share information such as your Nintendo Account nickname, country, and other statistics. You can then choose between Standard Class or Simple Class tournaments.

Standard Class Tournaments

Standard Class tournaments in Mario Tennis Aces allow the use of energy-based skills. The rules are as follows:

• Matches are two-game, one-set matches.
• Each player is given two rackets. Losing both rackets results in a knock-out.
• Points towards rankings are earned by winning the match or by winning via KO.

Simple Class Tournaments

Simple Class tournaments in Mario Tennis Aces do not use energy-based skills, relying purely on your mastery of the five basic shot types. The rules are:

• Matches are two-game, one-set matches.
• Points are earned by winning the match.

In both Standard and Simple Class online tournaments, you must win five matches to win the tournament. Each character can compete, and winning a tournament with a character earns them a crown on their title card. Rankings are separate for each class. Simply playing at least one match in an online tournament grants a participation bonus character. If you do not play for a given month, the bonus character becomes available to everyone at the start of the next month. For July 2018, the participation reward was Koopa Troopa.

Rankings can be viewed under the Rankings tab, showing points, win-loss ratio, and player rating. You can switch between World, National, and Friend rankings. Points are awarded based on playtime and tournament progression, with bonus points for advancing:

• Round 1 Bonus: +25 points
• Round 2 Bonus: +50 points
• Quarterfinals Bonus: +100 points
• Semifinals Bonus: +200 points
• Finals Bonus: +500 points

COM Tournament

For those who prefer to play against computer-controlled opponents, COM Tournaments are available in Mario Tennis Aces. There are three cups to earn, each representing a difficulty level: Mushroom Cup (easy), Flower Cup (medium), and Star Cup (hard). To play the Flower Cup, you must have won at least one tournament with a character in the Mushroom Cup. To play the Star Cup, you must have won at least one tournament with a character in the Flower Cup. Each playable character can earn each cup, indicated by a crown on their title card.

Before starting a COM Tournament, you can toggle control settings like gyroscopic controls, left/right and up/down inversion, and right joystick controls by pressing . You can also switch the character's play hand by pressing , which swaps the Topspin Shot and Flat Shot buttons while leaving Slice Shot and Lob/Drop Shot the same.

Opponents in the tournament bracket are randomized. Match rules vary by cup difficulty:

• Mushroom Cup: Match 1 (2-game, 1-set), Match 2 (2-game, 1-set), Finals (2-game, 3-set). 6 rackets.
• Flower Cup: Match 1 (2-game, 1-set), Match 2 (2-game, 3-set), Finals (2-game, 3-set). 7 rackets.
• Star Cup: Match 1 (2-game, 1-set), Match 2 (2-game, 3-set), Finals (2-game, 5-set). 8 rackets.