One of the biggest mechanics in Mario Tennis Fever is the addition of Fever Rackets to change up the course of any given game. The best choice for each game will change depending on whether it’s doubles or singles, and the character you’re playing.
The newest Mario Tennis game has 30 rackets to choose from. Even though all the rackets are unique, they are certainly not all equal in quality. Based on general usefulness in most situations, here is our tier list for the best rackets in Mario Tennis Fever.
Table of Contents
S Tier
Amp Racket
The Amp Racket is at the top of the list for its flexibility. When you use a Fever Shot with the Amp Racket, every time you hit the ball, it becomes an Amp that stays wherever it lands.
The ball then leaves the Amp, remaining in play, but every time you hit the ball back, it turns into another Amp that connects with the ones still on the court. When multiple Amps have landed, they connect, creating an electrical current that stuns the opponent.
This is an S-tier ability because you can aim the first Amp for one corner of the court and the next one to the opposite corner, so any time the opponent goes to cross over, they get stunned. You can even box them into a triangle with the current if you can aim your shots well enough.
Shadow Racket
The Shadow Racket is one of the best rackets in Mario Tennis Fever. When you activate your Fever Shot, you’ll create a shadow version of yourself on the court to play as a partner.
In singles, that means that you can confidently play the net without having to worry about the balls that go past or over you. In doubles, it gives you a third player on your team, meaning it’s rather difficult to lose points unless you get hit in the body.
A Tier
Pokey Racket
The Pokey Racket is surprisingly effective, even though it’s not the most complicated. When a Fever Shot hits the court, it will create a pokey that’s four spheres tall.
It will walk back and forth across half the court and stun an opponent if they touch it, but it also will break apart if hit by the ball. If the Pokey breaks apart, the four spheres will scatter around where it was standing, serving as even more of a hazard on the court.
Banana Racket
The Banana Racket is a great option if you like the Fever Shots that scatter obstacles on the court. When it hits the ground, the ball releases five bananas onto the court, which will cause the opponent who steps on one to slip and fall, stunning them.
It’s not the longest stun out of the different rackets, but the fact that there are so many bananas means that the effect can have a significant impact on the course of a match.
Fire Bar Racket
The Fire Bar Racket is useful for basically shrinking the amount of court that your opponent can use. When the ball lands, it spawns a large, spinning fire bar that burns and stuns whoever touches it. It doesn’t spin too fast, but you can still make players have to step into it by using a drop shot aimed right for the bar.
It’s best placed at the back of the court so you can just keep sending lobs over the top of it before making your opponent chase after a drop shot.
B Tier
Flame Racket
The Flame Racket is surprisingly useful for the fact that it’s the first one you unlock as you play Mario Tennis Fever. Once it hits the ground, it will drop five spots of fire onto the court that will stun the opponent if they run through it.
The area of the ground that’s covered in fire is a decent size, and if a player runs into the fire, the rest of the spots will stay there after the first one goes away. It’s not bad for disrupting a rally and getting a clutch point.
Lightning Racket
The Lightning Racket is useful if you can be consistent about where you land the Fever Shot. When the ball impacts, it creates a lightning strike that leaves a space on the court that expands and contracts. If a player steps into that space, they will be shocked and stunned, so it’s good to try to land the shot right where the ball is going to be served or returned, and you can get a couple of good points in.
Tornado Racket
The Tornado Racket is a great way to cover the court with obstacles. When you use a Fever Shot, every time you swing your racket, it sends a small tornado across the court.
This can be easily spammed, especially if you’re playing the net and can hit the ball in rapid succession. When the tornado hits a player, it spins them around and sends them back to the edge of the court, making for a pretty effective attack.
Spiny Racket
The Spiny Racket is a great choice if you want to cover the court with some obstacles for a few rallies. On impact, the fever shot leaves a few Spinies on the ground, which not only stun whoever they hit but also walk towards whoever they’re closest to.
It’s great to get a few quick points scored because they stick around for a bit, but the Spiny Racket gets dropped to B tier because they will be removed if even you hit them with a ball, so they don’t stick around as long as you may like.
Bullet Bill Racket
The Bullet Bill Racket is an interesting one. When the Fever Shot is activated, every time that player hits the ball, it turns into a Bullet Bill that fires directly at the opposing player.
It’s fast, it’s direct, and it’s surprisingly difficult to consistently hit back. It also drops the stamina of whoever hits it. However, if you can master the timing of it, you can hit back every Bullet Bill until the Fever Shot ends, or launch a counterattack of your own.
Freezing Racket
The Freezing Racket basically functions the same as the Flame Racket, but as you can imagine, it freezes opponents rather than burning them. Both rackets leave a few spots on the ground to run into, but the Freeze Racket leaves more than the flames. The spread is a bit wider, too, but it does less HP reduction, so they’re at the same level on the tier list.
C Tier
Ice Racket
The Ice Racket does a good job at some of the lower difficulties, but it’s not the most effective as you start facing more skilled opponents. On impact, it’ll make a large surface of ice that takes up about half of one player’s side of the court.
If a player walks on that ice, they slide around a bit before eventually falling over, but this doesn’t slow them down all too much. If you can make them chase the ball across the ice, it can be handy, but most of the time it’s just a minor inconvenience.
Ty-Foo Racket
The Ty-foo racket is pretty true to its name. Wherever the Fever Shot lands, it will create a tornado that circles around the spot. This tornado will disrupt both the ball and the players if they touch it, stunning the player and redirecting the ball. However, just note that they can hit it back at you through the tornado; you’ll have to account for it getting thrown randomly, too.
Mini Mushroom Racket
The Mini Mushroom Racket was a tough one to place because it can be useful, but it’s not consistent enough to put any higher. When you land a Fever Shot with this racket, it drops four mini mushrooms on the receiving side of the court.
When a player runs into one, they shrink to a tiny size, effectively reducing the distance they can reach with their racket. They still move fast enough to get around the court, especially if they’re a speedy character, so the user isn’t guaranteed victory.
Star Racket
The Star Racket is handy to have in a pinch, but it’s more of a defensive racket than anything else. Activating its Fever Shot will give you the standard Star Power, making you invisible with a bit of a speed boost. However, it doesn’t do anything special to your opponent, so you can still get outplayed. It’s best activated after your opponent uses a Fever Shot to best counter the negative effects.
Ghost Racket
The Ghost Racket is better in theory than it is in practice. When you activate a fever shot, you will go invisible for the duration of the effect, and any ball that you hit while invisible will also be invisible after it crosses the net. This isn’t a bad choice if you’re playing against a human, but against the CPU, it’s not super effective because they pretty much know where to be anyway.
Metal Racket
The Metal Racket functions similarly to the Star Racket. However, where the Star Racket makes you invincible and move faster, the Metal Racket makes you invincible and more powerful. It’s nice to avoid worrying about body hits, but the extra powerful shots aren’t all that much of a game-changer.
Chargin’ Chuck Racket
The Chargin’ Chuck Racket is a strange addition to the arsenal, but it’s surprisingly useful. When you use a Fever Shot, every ball you hit will turn into a football and bounce just as irregularly.
It can throw off your opponents when they’re chasing the ball, or it can slow the bounce to allow you more time to get back to the center of the court. It doesn’t stop them from hitting the ball back without it bouncing, and it will still bounce irregularly on your side, too, so use it cautiously.
D Tier
Personal Racket
Far from the worst racket in the game but also far from the best, the Personal Racket is the same for every player. It creates a generally contained shockwave that expands around the ball after it hits the ground, knocking over players who get too close.
However, if the player is diving for the ball or already in an animation, they won’t be affected by the shockwave, and the Fever Shot will essentially be pointless. When it does work, it’s nice, but it’s not nearly as good as some of the effects that linger for a few rallies.
Fire Flower Racket
When you use a Fever Shot with the Fire Flower Racket, every time you swing your racket, you’ll shoot out three fireballs at the other side of the court. It’s not the most effective spread unless they’re directly in front of you or just to the side; the farther back it gets, the farther apart the fireballs go.
Even when it hits another player, they aren’t stunned from the fire for all too long, but it does make them do a little run around the court. More often than not, though, they stop on the court pretty close to where they need to be anyway.
Ice Flower Racket
The Ice Flower Racket behaves exactly like the Fire Flower Racket, except – you guessed it – it freezes opponents rather than burning them. However, it doesn’t freeze them for very long, and not being able to properly aim the ice balls that you produce still keeps this racket a bit ineffective. If the effect had lasted a bit longer, it might have ranked higher, but it remains at D tier with its twin.
Golden Dash Racket
The Golden Dash Racket is a great concept, but in execution, it didn’t prove all that useful. It doesn’t increase your overall speed; it just allows you to dash to reach a ball that you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to hit. The problem is, you just need it active, and it can help in the “if” scenario if you need to bridge a gap for a return, but it isn’t the most practical approach.
Thwomp Racket
The Thwomp Racket is conditionally useful, but it’s best in a doubles match. Wherever it lands, a Thwomp spawns and moves back and forth until doing what Thwomps do, crushing anyone under them. The problem is, it doesn’t move very fast, and it’s easily avoided, unless there are two people on the court and one can’t get away soon enough.
Volcano Racket
The Volcano Racket seems more useful than it is, which is unfortunate because it could be one of the best. It creates a volcano on the court where the ball hits that will spew fireballs wherever your opponent is standing.
However, it moves incredibly slowly and gives a very clear warning where it’s going to land, so it’s exceptionally easy to avoid. Even when it does hit your opponent, they aren’t stunned for very long.
? Block Racket
For being the last Fever Racket you unlock, the ? Block Racket is not the most practical. While it’s cool that you’ll get the excitement of not knowing which ability you’re going to get, it doesn’t make for the best planning in a game.
You might wind up with something exceptionally useful like the Amp Racket, but you could also wind up with the Inky Racket, which might hurt you as much as your opponent.
F Tier
Magic Racket
While an interesting concept, the Magic Racket doesn’t really have much affect on the overall game. Wherever it lands, it creates a small rod on the ground that will change the racket of the team on that side in and out of being a frying pan.
This doesn’t affect their ability to hit the ball, but it does disable their ability to use their fever shots while it’s active. If they didn’t have any or weren’t planning on using one, the Magic Racket really doesn’ t make much difference.
Mud Racket
The Mud Racket is really just one of the more annoying rackets in the game. It doesn’t matter whether you’re serving or receiving, your camera is going to be covered in mud, and against a CPU opponent, that’s really not doing anything for you.
The only part of it that really hinders the CPU is the mud slows them down a bit, but they aren’t affected by not being able to see the screen.
Swerve Racket
The Swerve Racket is one of those that only works if you’re a fan of curving the ball, because that’s what it does. It makes the curve on a slice more pronounced and adds curve to flat and top shots. It’s better paired with a character who has better slices than others, but compared to all the rest of the rackets, it’s just not the best pick.
Inky Racket
The Inky Racket is ranked so low on this list because it really just throws off the whole match. When the ball hits the court after using a Fever Shot, it leaves a puddle of ink that will soak the ball if it lands in it.
Then, when you hit an ink-soaked ball, it will leave splatters of ink on your screen to make things harder to see. The problem is, it affects you just as much as it affects your opponent, so it’s not the most practical choice of racket.
Shova Racket
The Shova Racket is not the most immediately effective racket choice, given that it makes your hits stronger and knocks back your opponent. It can be used to push them off the back of the court, but it takes a few hits to really make any progress, so you have to keep the rally going. It will be more effective against a lighter opponent, but even if they get knocked further back, they can run back to the middle of the court quickly.