When comparing Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze vs Mario Tennis Aces, the Slant community recommends Mario Tennis Aces for most people. In the question“What are the best couch/local co-op games for the Nintendo Switch?” Mario Tennis Aces is ranked 34th while Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is ranked 49th. The most important reason people chose Mario Tennis Aces is:
Playing with a friend right beside you makes the game much more enjoyable. Reacting to each other in real-time is just better than playing against a computer opponent. There's no online co-op -- only multiplayer matches against random people -- meaning you'll have to be in the same room together to play.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Creative level design
A lot of thought and effort went into the level design in Tropical Freeze. The massive side-scrolling forests, jungles, mines, underwater zones, and many other locations are filled with spectacles that naturally fit into the gameplay. There are gigantic sea monsters following your every move with platforming obstacles, intriguing animal-like creatures who float around as possible pillars and ledges for you to grab onto, and parts of the environment that come crashing down unexpectedly that you have to react to in time. Each of the platforms you encounter are way more than simple, random blocks sticking in the field, helping you feel like you're traversing actual living, breathing locations.
Pro Challenging platformer gameplay
Platforming is a challenge without feeling cheap. The game will push you sometimes, especially with all the moving parts in each levels where you have to quickly adapt to new obstacles. As you run up to a gap of some kind or a wall you have to scale, you might see the solution as you approach, only for the environment to suddenly change on-the-fly. That ledge you thought you could reach is now too high, or the stones you're standing on start to move, or the camera might even shift to cut off your usual side view of the level. The difficulty is fair since it encourages you to think on your feet, meaning you naturally get better as you keep trying to get the timings down just right.
Pro Modernized feel to age old classic platformer action
The look and feel of Tropical Freeze is very reminiscent of the original Donkey Kong Country game for the SNES, offering plenty of nostalgia. The 2D view and traditional platformer play is in-tact, with modern updates like polished graphics, cinematic camera angles, and tight, responsive controls. Everything feels familiar while still improving on the old school ideas. Anyone who loves retro gaming will probably enjoy Tropical Freeze.
Pro Couch co-op with a friend is tons of fun
Playing with a friend right beside you makes the game much more enjoyable. Reacting to each other in real-time is just better than playing against a computer opponent. There's no online co-op -- only multiplayer matches against random people -- meaning you'll have to be in the same room together to play.
Pro Solid roster of Nintendo characters to play as
There's a good variety of characters you can play as. If you're familiar with first party Nintendo games, then you'll see a lot of familiar faces here, like Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Luigi, Peach, and of course Mario. Everyone has their own playing styles, with bigger characters like Bowser and Donkey Kong favoring hard-hitting power shots, and others like Yoshi and Mario that have a more balanced approach. You can go with whichever style or character you prefer, practicing with them until you master everything. Getting to see all of these characters together in one game is great for fanservice as well.
Pro You can compete against others online in multiplayer
When you run out of single-player content to enjoy, you can hop online to play against random opponents. The main game mode is the tournaments you can play, which rewards you with special characters if you score well. Online connectivity is good too, especially with the choice to drop out of matches beforehand against players who have bad connections. Playing online is a really great way to test your skills and improve your play, since anyone you get matched with is an actual player who has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Pro Intense and engaging tennis matches
Mario Tennis Aces is incredibly addicting to play. Matches are fast-paced and exciting, with one particular mechanic that keeps things unpredictable. Every time you successfully hit the tennis ball to your opponent's end of the court, you build up a power meter that you can use in a couple of different ways.
When you want to quickly finish off a match, you can slow down time and take aim at a vulnerable corner of your opponent's court for an instant win. Or, if they try to do that to you, you can instead expend some of your power meter to quickly reach the ball and hit it back. Things can get pretty tricky when you both use up your power meters at the same time, leading to some satisfying wins.
Cons
Con Optional bonus rooms are boring
The optional areas in the game are pointless and boring. They're pretty much a single room with a bunch of floating platforms with bananas on them. All you have to do is reach all of the bananas to "complete" the bonus area. Compared to the huge, creative levels in the rest of the game, these are way too flat and repetitive in design. Thankfully, unless you're going for 100% completion, you can avoid these rooms altogether.
Con Can't use the Wii U touchpad as a second screen
There's no way to use the touchpad as a second screen while playing Tropical Freeze. When playing on your TV, the touchpad goes blank. You have to specifically play with the Wii U gamepad instead of the TV in order to see the screen at all. Since plenty of other games utilize the second screen in some way, it would have been nice to see some Wii U touchpad interactions built into the game.
Con Very wide skill gap between experienced and inexperienced players
Mario Tennis Aces can be unwelcoming to new players. While playing co-op or online, it's tough to catch up with everyone else who knows how to time their power shots with the meter. If you don't pick up on this mechanic fairly quickly, you may feel like you're getting left behind. You don't necessarily have to use the mechanic if you and a friend agree not to, but this sadly makes matches pretty dull. Running against computer opponents is a good way to get your feet wet before moving up to other levels of play.
Con Limited gameplay options for solo players
If you're the type who prefers to game alone, then Mario Tennis Aces might not be for you. There's only one single-player mode, while the rest of the game is mostly dedicated to co-op and online play. The solo mode is also extremely short, clocking in at around four hours. Aside from that, there really isn't much else for you to do.
Con Certain characters are locked behind online tournaments
The primary way to unlock new characters is to win tournaments, but this isn't entirely fair. They're only available for a limited amount of time, with the rewards changing from tournament to tournament. Even though some of these characters are in the actual game as opponents in the single-player adventure mode, you can't get access to them unless you unlock them through these tournaments. If you don't like playing online, or if you don't have the means to pay for Nintendo's online service once it's implemented later on in 2018, then you're basically out of luck.
Con Single-player adventure mode is pretty difficult
The game's adventure mode makes up for its short length with some real difficulty. It's a rough introduction to the gameplay, as some of the matches and bosses are really hard. There's plenty of variety to things, like courts that have certain hazards in your way and uneven terrain such as tall grass, as well as inventive boss designs like a giant squid that shoots out tennis ball-shaped blobs of ink. But all of these things can get quite overwhelming, especially if you're using the single-player mode to get better at the game.