How to unlock new characters and courts in Mario Tennis Aces

Mario Tennis Aces isn’t hurting for playable characters — you start out with 16. But if you’re looking to unlock more of them, you’ll need to be patient.

Playing through Aces’ Adventure Mode has you battling against a wide cast of characters that aren’t playable from the start. You’d think these would simply unlock by beating them in the story mode, but nope.

According to a Nintendo representative, the only way to unlock new characters is by participating in monthly online tournaments. Those who earn a certain number of points in each tournament will instantly unlock that tournament’s character. The first is Blooper, the squid, who will be featured in a July tournament.

If you’re not interested in playing online, you can still unlock these characters, but you’ll just have to wait until the tournament wraps up. Once it does, that tournament’s character will be instantly unlocked for all players (though this will probably require a software update).

CHARACTERS UNLOCKED BY DEFAULT

• Mario (All-Around)
• Luigi (All-Around)
• Wario (Powerful)
• Waluigi (Defensive)
• Peach (Technical)
• Daisy (All-Around)
• Rosalina (Tricky)
• Toad (Speedy)
• Toadette (Technical)
• Bowser (Powerful)
• Bowser Jr. (Defensive)
• Boo (Tricky)
• Yoshi (Speedy)
• Donkey Kong (Powerful)
• Spike (Powerful)
• Chain Chomp (Powerful)

CHARACTERS IN-GAME BUT NOT PLAYABLE

These characters are in the Adventure Mode of Mario Tennis Aces and will almost certainly be unlocked through online tournaments throughout the year. Again, if you don’t want to play in the tournament you can just wait until the tournament ends to unlock said character.

• Blooper (Coming in July via Tournament)
• Kamek
• Koopa Troopa
• Dry Bones
• Shy Guy
• Boom Boom
• Dry Bowser
• Diddy Kong
• Koopa Paratroopa
• Birdo

If all of these do get unlocked, it would bring the total of playable characters to 26.

HOW TO UNLOCK NEW COURTS

When you first start playing Mario Tennis Aces, there’s just one playable court: the Marina Stadium. Though, granted, it does allow you to play on grass, clay or hard court.

To unlock more interesting courts, you’ll need to play through Adventure Mode. A new court will unlock whenever you finish each of the game’s five areas, bringing the total of playable courts to eight.

Each of these unlockable courts can be customized to allow for wacky hazards (like mirrors that reflect your shots or a giant ship mast right in the middle of the court). Thankfully, you can also play these unlocked maps without any hazards, if you’re just looking for a change of scenery.

Once you complete the Adventure Mode, the full list of courts should be:

• Marina Stadium (Night)
• Marina Stadium
• Bask Ruins
• Piranha Plant Forest
• Mirage Mansion
• Snowfall Mountain
• Savage Sea
• Volcano Court