Nintendo announces that Mario Tennis™ Open for Nintendo 3DS™ will launch in Australia and New Zealand 24th May 2012.

Mario Tennis Open follows on from the recent releases of Super Mario 3D Land™ and Mario Kart™ 7, showing that no matter what great Mario experience you are looking for, it is available on Nintendo 3DS.

The Special Games mode in Mario Tennis Open lets players hone their tennis skills while enjoying tennis games with a Mario twist. Players can check out games such as Super Mario Tennis, which puts a classic Super Mario Bros. twist on tennis drilling. As they play through familiar game levels, they can use their tennis swing to stomp Goombas, and Koopas as they work their way toward the goal.

People can play as their favourite characters from the Mushroom Kingdom or even compete as their Mii™ characters. They can also customise their Mii characters with Mushroom Kingdom-themed tennis gear, which not only enhances players’ appearances but also can boost their stats. The wide selection of available gear includes Bowser's favourite racket, a Bullet Bill outfit and Peach's tennis shoes.

In addition to a singles tennis match mode, up to four players can also compete online in multiplayer doubles matches. Players can also compete online for leaderboard standings in the Open Match mode.

Whether playing with other Nintendo 3DS owners in the same room or against distant friends using a wireless broadband internet connection, players can cooperate to take on a common opponent or stay competitive and try to claim the glory for themselves. Players can opt to use intuitive touch-screen controls or the traditional button controls which are close to the controls for previous titles of this series. They can also switch seamlessly to the Nintendo 3DS system's built-in motion controls.