Six years ago, Nintendo's Wii Sports served up a simple game of tennis.

Despite your not being able to directly control your player's movements on court, Tennis's accessible nature made batting balls back and forth a peaceful practice that blew up like a modern-day Pong.

Six years on, Mario and co.'s long-overdue return to the tennis stadium has picked up more influence from the Wii version than previous handheld iterations.

Giving a toss

First off, though: the way in which you hold your 3DS for Mario Tennis Open is just as important as the way you'd hold your tennis racquet in real life. ...

Putting accessibility over its heritage, Mario Tennis Open is likely to win over more newcomers than returning players

RATINGS
Audio/visual: 8
Gameplay: 7
Value: 7
Innovation: 6
Overall: 7