The Mario Tennis Aces roster is rounding out quite nicely in this latter half of the year. Petey Piranha and Shy Guy will joining the competition in December, and they’ll soon be joined by Luma, Boom Boom, and the mayor of New Donk City herself, Pauline! While the likes of Shy Guy and Boom Boom are to be expected, it’s likely that no one expected to see Pauline pick up a racket. It seems even successful mayors need to take some R&R every now and then.
Luma, Boom Boom, and Pauline will most likely be unlocked in the same way as every other additional character that’s come to the game thus far; players just need to participate in the singles online tournament during the month their desired character is featured. These three will be coming to the game over the course of January, February, and March, though whether or not they’ll come in the order shown in the trailer hasn’t been confirmed yet. One would hoped that Nintendo would kick-off the new year with Pauline, but chances are that she’ll be saved for March since; she’s the one most players will be excited for after all.
This is actually Pauline’s very first appearance as a playable character in any Mario game. She’s shown up as a supporting character a few times in games like Mario vs. Donkey Kong and more recently in Super Mario Odyssey, but that’s really about it. Hopefully her introduction to the game will go over well enough for Nintendo to start including her in their games more often.
Mario Tennis Aces is available now on Nintendo Switch
