The early days of arcade sports were often dominated by what Nintendo and Mario brought to the table. That’s still largely true, though, thankfully, we do have some other choices that give a wide range of gamers a chance to enjoy them. Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! fits squarely in that mold with some really great characters you can hit the court with and a slew of fantastic visuals.
It might not be the deepest sports game out there, and it may only challenge younger or less seasoned gamers, but it still has a decent amount to offer. If you’re looking for an easygoing sports game that features a range of Nick characters and offers real fun with its power-ups, Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! is the place to be.
Off the Screen and On To the Court
The game is what you might expect on the surface: a group of Nickelodeon cartoon characters are facing off on the court, and hilarity ensues. Each of the 15 characters has its own “story,” with Normal and Hard difficulties to work through. Aside from that, you can queue up a tournament solo or with friends, do a simple head-to-head match, or play a few mini games that are essentially a match with a bunch of power-ups. None of it is surprising or all that unique, but it’s just enough to keep players engaged, especially if it’s with friends.
I spent the vast majority of my 6+ hours playing in the solo story mode. Here you can choose from any of the first 13 Nickelodeon toons: SpongeBob SquarePants, CatDog, Arnold, Mikey from TMNT, Ang from The Last Airbender, Angelica, Eliza, and more. No matter who you choose to play at any point, I found Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! roster very impressive. Each toon has its own class as well, with an emphasis on speed, power, and accumulating energy that gets translated into an ultimate smash move during matches.
Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! Is Pure Arcade Sports Action
Each character’s solo story is also predictable, as it simply sets a scene for them to play tennis. Garfield just wants to get through the matches so he can nap, Mikey wants his pizza, and Eliza is trying to earn some money to get her parents a new camera for The Wild Thornberrys. Each match has three stars to earn, which range from hitting 10 backspin shots to collecting a number of powerups to unleashing your ultimate smash move twice or even standing still for 30 seconds.
It’s all very competent, but it’s also very, very easy for anyone with experience with a game like this. Have you played Mario Tennis for longer than 20 minutes at some point in your life? Then the Normal mode will be a breeze. I found the difficulty a little all over the place: once I made it through a Normal set of matches, Hard was a much greater challenge. Because of that, it was a lot more fun for me. I was honestly bored after the first few head-to-heads in Normal. Your experience may vary, though. Rewards are also a little lacklustre, with only some goofy cosmetics for the toons. Nothing special, but at least it’s something.
Breaking down some of the gameplay, Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! does a great job of making your favourite characters come to life in the game of tennis. Aside from their unique movements and audio quips, you’ll have the ultimate moves to unleash on the court. These look really great on screen, popping with personality and fun animations. They’re also nearly impossible to stop. So whether it’s your shot or your opponents’, expect a point to be earned. And with each match only going to 7, likely at least 3 or 4 of them will be utilized in any particular match. The downside… you’ll accumulate energy so fast that they lose their lustre after a while. The shots always look and sound the same, making it a pretty repetitive process.
All in all, the gameplay is pretty tight. I didn’t run into any glaring issues, never felt cheated even in the toughest matches, and found that having power-ups and four different types of shots gave me lots to think about on the fly.
Verdict
Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! includes much of what you might expect and have seen before, but there’s still plenty of flashy, colourful fun to be had.
It all feels good to play, with the real standout coming from the large roster of Nick toons, new and old. It’s pretty great to see Rocko, CatDog, and Invader Zim dash around the courts and all with their own fully voice-acted on-court quips. It’s not the deepest or biggest arcade sports game available, but it’s a pretty fun time.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: Switch 2
