Seeing Stars - An Advanced Mario Tennis Aces Guide on Star Points

INTRODUCTION

UPDATE - 6/5/2018: Added a new strategy section and various information tidbits in the overrides section. Fixed wording.

NOTE - 3/27/2023: Hi. This is the original creator of this guide, "Amigo" (yikes, what a name), speaking. If you're reading this, I could use your help. I would like to know if this guide is still useful to the MTA community in any way (if it still exists), seeing as I haven't played Mario Tennis Aces or interacted with the community in almost 5 years now.

I still recieve edit suggestions for this document regularly, even though I am nearly certain all of this information is probably incorrect and outdated. They show up as notifications on my phone. I'm glad people still apparently read some mess of text I wrote when I was a kid, but I have no idea what suggestions to approve or deny and frankly I remember nothing about this game. I'd like to transfer ownership of this document to someone else if possible or necessary.  Otherwise, I would like to delete this document permanently.

If you have any information in this regard, or are invested in the community enough to care about the survival of this document, please reach out to me on Discord: Scallions#9620. Thanks for reading

Hi everyone, I’m AmigoLiquido, but you can just call me Amigo. I’m a Yoshi main from the U.S. who loves studying game mechanics in-depth. :)

The following guide was written using information gathered from gameplay videos of the Online Tournament Demo and the help of the wonderful people at the Mario Tennis Aces Club (special thanks to Smalt, Xeroskia, and Accel). If you want to join, click here: https://discordapp.com/invite/zfceR6C

A few other small notes on the lingo of this guide, I personally have nicknames for some things in the game to make them easier to refer to. Please take a look at them before you continue on, you might get a little confused!

  • Trick Shots with incorrect timing (they use zone speed to catch up to the ball) are called False (or Bad) Trick Shots.
  • Normal Shots (with a light-green trail and are slow) are called Weak Shots.
  • The hit that comes after the serve is called the serve return.
  • The player about to hit the ball is called the attacking player (striker).
  • The player waiting to receive the next shot is called the defending player (receiver).

BASIC OVERVIEW

Star Points are a mechanic in Mario Tennis Aces that gives the player the ability to perform Zone Shots and Star Shots, which add bonus speed to Flat Shots if used upon them. (They seem to have little to no effect on other Shot types.)


A Star Shot that is hit overhead with a Flat is called a Star Smash (or simply just Smash/Overhead). These have even greater speeds and ball control than normal Star Shots. These types of Star Points are easily identified because they do not rotate like normal Star Points.

WHEN DO STAR POINTS APPEAR?

Star Points do not appear randomly. There are rules that govern when one will appear. In order for a shot to produce a star, it must meet the following two criteria. Note that this is from the attacking player’s perspective.

Rule #1: The shot must not be a: Trick Shot, Zone Shot, Special Shot, Max Charge Shot, Star Shot, Serve, or Block.

This rule has a couple of exceptions.


1.) Special Shots used to block other Special Shots are considered Weak Shots, and as such are capable of producing stars.**

2.) Any Trick Shots (whether successful or a Bad Trick Shot) that hit a ball from off the court are capable of producing stars. **

3.) Failed Zone Shot Blocks (“Too Early!”) are capable of producing stars.


Evidence 1:  https://clips.twitch.tv/ModernRamshackleVanillaDansGame (it is hard to see, but the star appears in the back of the court for a few frames)

Evidence 2: https://twitter.com/Rodrigogodzilla/status/1003073345376563200?s=19

Rule #2: The receiver must have at least enough ( ⅓ ) of the Energy Meter filled to do a Zone Shot.

In other words, the Energy Meter must not be red. It does have two exceptions:

  1. This rule is completely ignored by Lobs.*
  2. If the attacker has a full Energy Meter and the shot is uncharged, this rule is ignored.

Note: This rule is determined upon the energy of the defender before the attacker hits the ball. This is important because in the event that the next shot triggers a “Shots Rallied: [number]” energy bonus (which applies to both the attacker and the defender) and said energy bonus would fill the defender’s meter to yellow, it will still fail to trigger a Star Point.



OVERRIDES

There are instances that override both of the above two rules entirely, whether they pass or fail, resulting in a Star Point or lack thereof. These overrides are used as mechanics that favor one player in certain situations as a reward for good play or a punishment for poor play. These are:

  • #1. If the ball has been hit hard and the defender is knocked back when they return the ball (this includes Good and Nice Serves), a Star Point will often appear on the attacker’s side when the ball comes back, unless the return was a Block.
  • #2. If a Zone Shot or Special Shot has been successfully Blocked, a Star Point will often appear on the defender’s side after the attacker returns the Block.
  • #3. * Returning a Weak Shot that breaks form (meaning the player lunges to reach the ball) with an uncharged shot (this includes another Weak Shot) will never produce a star.
  • #4. ** False Trick Shots that end with the meter at 0 will always result in a Star Point on the defender’s side. Likewise, Zone Shots and Special Shots that result in Weak hits (Special Blocks Special, or energy elapses before pressing A) will result in a star for the opponent.
  • #5. Properly countering during a serve return will never produce a star. This overrides the first override. Double override, if you will.

Evidence 1: [coming soon]

Evidence 2: https://twitter.com/AccelTurbo/status/1003427309917880320?s=19 

Evidence 3: https://clips.twitch.tv/RudeShyJellyfishLitFam

Evidence 4: [coming soon]

Evidence 5: [coming soon]

WHERE WILL THE STAR POINT BE?

Similarly to the rules that govern when the Star Points appear, there are rules that dictate where they will appear on the court. These are much less strict/confusing, fortunately, so I’ll explain them quickly without all the structure.

Star Points typically appear at the area where the ball would reach its first bounce. However, if that spot would be too far away for the defender to reach even with Zone Speed (as a result of the ball moving too fast or too slow), the point is typically placed closer to the player for a realistically attainable Star Point. This often results in the point being after the first bounce.

Sometimes, Star Points appear on the ground underneath the ball’s trajectory before the ball would even reach the ground for the first time at that point. It usually happens when returning a high or floaty shot that would normally land close to the outer bounds of the court otherwise, like a Lob or Slice (especially with Tricky characters like Rosalina).

Additionally, Lobs are special in that they are capable of producing two different star points, one at the first bounce and one at the second. This happens more often with charged shots.

With powerful or long reaching shots, you might not be able to see the Star Point much at all until you back up. Watch out for those!

(NEW) CONTROLLING STAR POINTS

So now that you know what stars do, when stars appear, and where, what do you do with that information? Well, the logical conclusion is that you should avoid giving your opponent stars and try to keep Star Points on your side of the court. The question is, how do you go about doing so?

Here are a number of ways to gain control over Star Points on the court:

  • Try to hit a Star Shot every time a Star Point appears on your side. 
  • This nearly guarantees that your opponent will never get a Star Point, and their returns will generate easy Star Points on your side.
  • The shot type you choose should ideally be a Flat, but if you want to mix your opponent up, you could always go for a Topspin or a Slice, or even a Drop Shot. Be wary of using Lobs, though.
  • If you have your Special Shot available, don’t be afraid to use it!
  • Remember the exception to Rule #2. You don’t want your opponent to catch up with you.
  • Try not to waste your Energy Meter.
  • Energy usage can be minimized in various ways, but the main ways are to avoid taking too long to aim a Zone or Special Shot, time your Trick Shots better, and avoid using Zone Speed unless necessary.
  • Keep your Energy Meter up!
  • Charging your shots, using plenty of Trick Shots, Blocking, and keeping up long rallies are good ways of gaining meter.
  • Don’t overuse Lobs. 
  • They nearly always give the opponent a star point, even if they don’t have any meter. Try not to risk it unless you know the opponent will have a tough time catching the ball.
  • Do not use your Special Shot to Block an enemy Special Shot.
  • This is almost never a good idea anyway; it gives your opponent an easy score with a Drop Shot or a Star Smash.
  • Be consistent with your Blocks and Trick Shots.
  • This will both minimize Stars for the opponent and maximize Stars for you.
  • Use more charged Topspins and Slices when the opponent has/will get a Star Point.
  • The reasoning behind this is that they can’t be countered by Flats. Thus, trying to Star Shot with one against a Topspin or a Slice will more likely result in a knockback. The more cornered the opponent is, the more likely you will be to get a Star Point because they won’t have time to Max Charge. Of course, this is countered by the opponent simply not going for a Flat Star Shot, but it’s helpful to know.
  • Zone Speed might help you (if you have the energy).
  • If pushed to the back of the court with little energy, try to Trick Shot.
  • It’s a last resort option, but if successful you’ll not only get an energy boost, but the opponent won’t get a Star Point. It’s likely that on the next return or three you’ll be the one in control of the stars.
  • Hit weak shots with charged shots!
  • This one is pretty self explanatory, it causes the third override.
  • Play a Power character! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • They make it easier to force the first override. Them’s the facts.

Remember, he who controls the stars controls the match.

...Well, that’s not exactly true, but it’s a neat little mantra.

That’s all! Hope you learned something from this guide. Until next time!

The information detailed in this guide is subject to change upon the game’s official release. Please pardon any errors and make a comment if you find something incorrect. Provide video evidence with your comment! It will help improve this guide. Thank you for reading!

Unconfirmed information is in red