10 Exact Moments Video Games Stopped Trying
6. Out Of Date Character Images And Only One Court - Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
The Mario franchise has created some of the best party and sports spin off games in all of gaming history, with the likes of Mario Party, Toadstool Tour and Mario Strikers all earning their place in a good gamer's heart.
The Mario Tennis series has a long history of strong releases too, with Mario Tennis for the N64 and Power Tennis for the Gamecube both developing some pretty considerable fanbases since their release.
Because of this history, there's always a level of hype surrounding the release of a new Mario Tennis game, and this was particularly true for Ultra Smash, designed for the Nintendo Wii U.
What followed was the release of one of the most insulting video games ever made. Stripped to the bare-bones and a real lacklustre attempt to bring something new to the series, Ultra Smash somehow managed to include fewer characters than its Gamecube predecessor, only included a handful of some very similar game modes and somehow only featured one court to play on.
Given how wacky and manic the Mario Tennis games have been in the past, this was a long, long way off the sort of effort Nintendo had previously went to.