When comparing Ironcast vs Mario Tennis Aces, the Slant community recommends Ironcast for most people. In the question“What are the best games for the Nintendo Switch?” Ironcast is ranked 71st while Mario Tennis Aces is ranked 81st. The most important reason people chose Ironcast is:
Choosing which gems to focus on matching each turn results in some fun combat choices. For example, you could focus on pooling your ammo gems for several rounds, only to turn around and unleash a devastating assault on your enemy. If your enemy is relentless, you could work on matching only repair and shield gems to keep your shields up. The combat revolves around deciding which gem matches should take priority versus working around what gems the board is providing. Since it's always random, it can lead to some pretty exciting choices where you'll have to think and react on the fly.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Fun and exciting combat
Choosing which gems to focus on matching each turn results in some fun combat choices. For example, you could focus on pooling your ammo gems for several rounds, only to turn around and unleash a devastating assault on your enemy. If your enemy is relentless, you could work on matching only repair and shield gems to keep your shields up. The combat revolves around deciding which gem matches should take priority versus working around what gems the board is providing. Since it's always random, it can lead to some pretty exciting choices where you'll have to think and react on the fly.
Pro Gameplay feels fresh and new due to the puzzle based combat
Combining match three puzzle solving with resource management results in an extremely fresh combat system that is rarely seen in the roguelike genre. By taking turns with your opponent and matching various colored gems on a 6x6 grid, you'll build resources. These resources do such things as fire your weapons, power up your shield, repair, and keep your mech from overheating. While you are only able to make 2 gem matches per turn to build resources, you can take as many actions as you want provided you generated the resources needed to pull them off.
Pro Loads of strategic combat choices
While each mech has its own overall health bar, each of their subsystems (weapons, shields, and drive) also has its own individual health bar. That means you can target your opponents various systems to disable their weapons or shields, or even disable their drive so they're unable to maneuver away from your attacks. Deciding which system to go for at opportune times can result in some rather strategic and exciting gameplay.
For example, you might take down their shields so your weapons hit harder. Or you may opt to take out their weapon systems so they will have to repair before they can unleash more attacks.
In addition to being able to target various systems, you can also choose a pilot and a mech separately. The pilots and mechs all have their own special abilities and cooldowns, meaning you'll be able to mix and match quite a few different setups.
Pro A new experience each playthrough thanks to randomized missions
You must defeat 9 missions in order to win the game, however these missions are randomly generated and you are allowed to select 1 from a group of 3 each time you advance. The missions are also highly varied. Some missions require you to only do enough damage to your enemy so that your foe's mech can still be salvaged. Another may require you to battle waves of enemies until reinforcements arrive. Some require you to collect a certain amount of resources or even diffuse bombs. There's enough variety where you'll always be trying something new, so the randomized mission setup helps to keep the game feeling fresh.
Pro Unique setting
The game takes place in an alternate timeline 1886 victorian England, but with a steampunk twist. England and France go to war over Voltite, a recently discovered resource which causes a great surge in mechanical and engineering advances. From this new technology springs the Ironcasts, a war machine that is a cross between a tank and a mech. In the pilot seat of your Ironcast, you play on the side of England as it attempts to thwart a French invasion.
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 Permadeath doesn't feel like it fits in a luck based game
Sometimes you simply won't get enough ammo gems to do much damage, or enough shield gems for a proper defense. This will result in a loss, and because of the randomness, it never quite feels like it was your fault. In a game based on RNG and luck, permadeath just doesn't work and can feel extremely frustrating. When you die, you lose all your gold, xp, blueprints, weapons, and upgrades.
Con Favors RNG over skill
Due to the randomness of the gem matching game used for combat, an element of luck will always be present. Pure RNG determines what mix of combat gems (ammo, energy, repair, and coolant) are placed on the board, which may turn off those who want to truly master a game through skill.
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.