When comparing Riptide GP: Renegade vs Mario Tennis Aces, the Slant community recommends Mario Tennis Aces for most people. In the question“What are the best sports games for the Nintendo Switch?” Mario Tennis Aces is ranked 1st while Riptide GP: Renegade is ranked 4th. 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 Solid sense of progression for all skill levels
You don't have to be the best racer to get the most out of this game. Even if you lose a race, you will still earn experience and money to keep upgrading your hydrojet until you can finally beat the track that has been giving you problems. Upgrading your craft and purchasing new moves to perform is continuous throughout the game, regardless of your skill level, meaning everyone can progress at their own pace and unlock all of the various stunts and crafts.
Pro Water-based racing is a new way to enjoy the racing genre
Rather than rubber on asphalt as in other racing games, Riptide GP: Renegade features racing your hydrojet in semi-submerged cities, with the flooded streets serving as the race track. Rather than driving a car around a track, you will be racing robots (and friends!) by cruising your hydrojet through the wreckage of a flooded city, jumping waves, and running from cops who are chasing you. This puts a new coat of paint on the racing genre, resulting in a unique look and feel that can't be accomplished in standard racing games.
Pro Excellent hydrojet handling
The controls for your craft are finely-tuned and completely lag free as you turn tight corners on your hydrojet. Some of the turns are very sharp and sudden, but due to the way the game controls, making these turns is more about seeing the action play out and less about losing control due to a sudden change in the course. Acceleration is natural and exciting as you race your hydrojet through the various waterways as you can gain speed without losing control. Performing stunts while airborne off a big jump come natural, as the controls to do so are the same as piloting your craft.
Pro Never a dull moment with lots of action
Levels are designed to be action packed, with a generous amount of ramps and waves to jump off, twists and turns, and opponents trying to gain the lead. Race through waterways and flooded streets and use waves to make those big jumps and perform airborne stunts. The surface tension of the water is noticed as you race your way around the various tracks, take tight turns, and perhaps even wipeout. The riders around you leave a foamy wake in their path, waves crash from side to side knocking you around, and the water churns as you splash around and perform stunts resulting in some authentic and fast paced water-based racing action.
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 The police only target players and not the AI racers
During races, the police hydrojets will only pester players and not the other AI racers. Getting constantly knocked off your hydrojet as the computer controlled AI racers zoom past you completely ignored by the police feels unfair.
Con Low number of tracks
There's only nine different racetracks to choose from, meaning the player will have to keep grinding the same maps over and over. After a while, the same maps starts to get old fast and once you learn all the shortcuts and tricks to the various races, racing the same tracks time after time loses it appeal.
Con Some sound effect levels are mixed poorly
A few of the water effects such as hitting the water hard after a big jump are too loud, resulting in a sound effect that will drown out and overpower the background music. This sudden burst of sound can be jarring at times and break your concentration from focusing on a tough race or opponent.
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.