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The Definitive Power Ranking of Each Characters' Special Shots in Mario Tennis Aces

Mario Tennis Aces has been around for a while and I feel its time to look at one key element about this game, the Special Shots. These are the most powerful shots as each character does a fun animation for a jacked up zone shot that can break an opponent's racket or use it as a quick way to earn points. They are basically the equivalent of a fighting game super where you build enough meter to launch a devastating blow. Do any of these special shots act differently? No. They all effectively act the same no matter which character you choose. However, I'm ranking these special shots based on a few criteria: How amusing the shot animations are, any lore that's tied to that character during the shot and how stylish it looks (1-5 scale). So without further ado, here's my totally scientific and affirmative rankings of the best special shots in Mario Tennis Aces.

List items

1. Spike

What a debut for this little guy. Spike was originally just an obscure enemy from Super Mario bros 3 who would spit out spiked balls and throw them at you. Now he's moved on to more modern Mario games like Super Mario 3D World and Cpatain Toad and now he's work his way up to the Tennis elite. Spike earns the #1 spot because his shot has him eat his own racket, then he spits out what was his racket the turns into a spiked club he throws from 3D World and BOOM! You're done. Don't think you can beat someone who eats his own tennis equipment and then powers it up into something more powerful.
Amusement: 5
Lore: 5
Style: 4
2. Waluigi

By far the most stylish special shot of the whole game. Waluigi gets a rose, puts it in his mouth, snaps his fingers and then does a dance into the ball and give the opponent a Flamenco blast! Funny enough Waluigi has done the rose motif before in mario Party 8 and Mario Golf World Tour, and this further elevates Waluigi's Rose gimmick. Surely the Vega of Mario.
Amusing: 4.5
Lore: 4
Style: 5
3. Wario

Wario has a pretty strong special too. He eats a whole bulb of raw garlic, bulks up and slams the ball to the opponent with all his Garlic Might. Wario gets extra points for the game giving us some sweet Wario land/Warioware lore where Wario's favorite food is pure, raw garlic. It also gets some points for actually being scientifically accurate for the health benefits of garlic. a 100g of garlic will give you only 6.5 grams of protein, but it helps your eyesight and builds stronger bone tissue if you eat it. You need good eyesight and power for a special shot right? Hooray for Wario and science! Wario even hums a fun jingle before the shot too.
Amusement: 4
Lore: 5
Style: 3
4. Rosalina

The Super mario Galaxy games are great, Rosalina is great and Lumas are by far the best NPC characters in Mario history. Rosie gets her Lumas to bounce the ball around and they let her get set up of a major blow. Good stuff.
Amusement: 3
Lore: 5
Style: 4
5. Donkey Kong

DK uses his Barrel cannons from Donkey Kong Country to launch him into the ball and then lands his move. Its honestly fun to see Mario Games connect lore from spinoff Mario games like DKC and Warioware into core Mario sports games. Makes for good world building and confirms that Mario is in the shared universe with DKC and Warioware.
Amusement: 4
Lore: 5
Style: 2
6. Boo

Boo's is pretty good. He gets 8 fellow Boos to show up, but then they turn into tennis ball and he rallies back as if he is hitting the ball with the strength of 8 tennis balls. That should break some rackets right?
Amusement:4
Lore: 3.5
Style: 4
7. Toad

Toad is a surprise. His doesn't have much lore behind it nor is it the most stylish. But what he does is throw his racket in the air, jumps back and on his head and he propels himself using his own head to grab the racket and hit. Toad needs to use his head as a launchpad more often because its funny.
Amusement: 5
Lore: 1
Stylish: 3
8. Yoshi

Yoshi gets wings like he does for Super Mario World (his best game) and flys up to hit the racket. I appreciate the Super mario World love her since Yoshi does get more powerful with wings and even makes the sound effect of him flying. The animation isn't as amusing as I'd hope though.
Amusement: 2.5
Lore: 4
Style: 3.5
9. Luigi

Luigi's isn't the best, but not the worst either. He gets into a pipe and launches himself out of it like its a cannon. Its fine, but would have been better if Luigi used the Poltergeist from Luigi's Mansion. Then we'd see Luigi much higher.
Amusement: 3
Lore: 3
Style: 2.5
10. Princess Daisy

Eh, its ok. She does a "Ha Ha" luagh to start off, then starts running in the air using flower power and then launches herself into the ball. Don't think she ever did flower walking in Super Mario Land, but this is probably something in the Mario Sports games. Her launch into the ball is awkward as it looks like she's trying to stab the ball with the racket's edge rather then hitting it.
Amusement: 3
Lore: 2
Style: 3.5
11. Bowser Jr.

He gets a giant Bowser Mech hand to hit the ball for him. A nice nod to the New Super Mario Bros series, but his special would be better if he turned into Shadow Mario and used his brush to hit the ball.
Amusement: 2.5
Lore: 4
Style: 2.5
12. Bowser

All Boswer does is breath fire on his racket and then hits the ball with the flaming racket. I mean flaming rackets are cool and all, but this isn't a surprising special and kind of an obvious thing Boswer would do in a Tennis Match. Should have gotten his wedding hat from Odyssey and throw the hat into the ball instead.
Amusement: 2.5
Lore: 4
Style: 2
13. Mario

This is the super you've seen plenty of times in Adventure mode. He tightens his hand, then does wall jumps off of invisible wall a la Super Mario 64 and then aims to destroy some rackets. It is what it is and its just a boring special for the poster child of the game. Nothing too flashy and it hurts that you see it over and over in Adventure mode.
Amusement: 1.5
Lore: 3.5
Style: 2.5
14. Chain Chomp

I was disappointed in Chain Chomp, but didn't know what to expect. All Chain Chomp does is bounce around and then spin in circles until he hits the ball. Chain Chomp is one of the biggest new draws to the roster and its a bummer that he has one of the most forgettable specials in the whole game. He's still a good boy though and a welcome addition outside his special.
Amusement: 1.5
Lore: 3
Style: 2
15. Princess Peach

Peach has a pretty obvious special where she does mid air heart jumps and draws a heart right before she does some racket breaking. I mean she is a princess, but its honestly not that creative. You couldn't give her Super Mario Bros 2 love by floating in the air or pull a vegetable to hit the ball?
AMusement: 1.5
Lore: 2
Style: 2.5
16. Toadette

Absolute bottom of the barrel right here. ALl she does is hop on mushroom pads and then she hits the ball. That's it. Its the most boring and uninspired special shot of the whole game. it will still wreck a racket, but its just nothing. Here's how you save Toadette's special: Get her in Captain Toad gear, give here a pick axe and she can hit the ball using the pickax. She'd be way higher if she got that.
Amusement: 1
Lore: 1.5
Style: 1