Happy Mar10 Day!
This is the first celebration of Mario since Nintendo brought back the Virtual Boy. The short-lived virtual reality-based console was not around for very long. Because of this, it didn’t produce a lot of Mario games; we only got two of them. That being said, the ones we got are memorable, and we’re going to get the chance to play them again soon!
Mario’s Tennis
The Nintendo mascot has been no stranger to the world of sports. Dating back to the days of the NES, Mario played golf in NES Open Tournament and took the race track on the SNES classic, Super Mario Kart. The Virtual Boy brought Mario onto the tennis court for the first time, though even if most people never played it. Mario’s Tennis was a launch title for the Virtual Boy back in 1995, and it’s simple yet awesome fun.
Tennis played well to the Virtual Boy’s attempt at displaying depth. The ball coming at you from the background and the distance you can hit it back into the opposing half of the court works better in 3-D. The game doesn’t have the power shots or gimmicks we’ve seen in other Mario Tennis titles that have come since. What we have here is just basic, fun tennis with a selection of basic characters. The lack of frills gives it a pick-and-play simplicity that is laudable. It’s also a great historical landmark in the development of Mario sports titles.
Mario Clash
If you’re a very old-school Nintendo fan, you know that before Super Mario Bros. on the NES, there was Mario Bros. in the arcade. Nintendo has repurposed this title for the NES as a mini-game in Super Mario Bros. 3. It’s a single-screen arcade game where you control Mario as he moves left and right and can jump between several vertical levels of platforms. Various enemy types come out of pipes. To defeat them, Mario has to get under the platform they’re on, jump up, and cause the ground under the enemy to bump up. This flips the enemy over, and then Mario can run into them and defeat them.
Mario Clash was made in this spirit, but changes the action to be in the background and foreground horizontal planes. Instead of jumping up to hit the ground under an enemy, now you throw Koopa shells into the background and foreground. This is the kind of arcade fun that has largely faded from popularity today. To be fair, even when it was released in 1995, it was dated. The gaming objective of getting the highest score possible over repeated levels was not en vogue.
Our Thoughts
That being said, Mario Clash is really well designed and a lot of fun. Not only does the 3-D effect play well here, but it looks great. This was never going to be a system seller, but it does provide the kind of short burst, arcade action that will draw you back in time and time again. Mario can still jump on koopas that aren’t spiked on top. It’s the throwing aspect of them that differentiates the title gimmick.
It’s highly likely that this is not the kind of thing that most fans would want for Mar10 Day. We get it. We’d much rather have another Super Mario Galaxy title or a true HD remake of Super Mario 64. Despite that, these Virtual Boy titles deserve some love and attention.
Warm up your retinas because Mario’s Tennis and Mario Clash are coming to Nintendo Switch Online on March 10th, 2026.
