Mario Tennis almost finished?

[OB1]

According to N-Philes, it's 75% done. That's just crazy.

Although revealed quite some time ago, we've yet to see anything more than a couple pre-rendered images of the highly anticipated title. However, this week there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. Nintendo spokesperson Mitsuaki Hagishima tells Nintendo Dream magazine that Mario Tennis is 75% complete. The current build of the game is fully playable with all characters, and the producers are now focusing on adding plenty of extras for you replay-value junkies. There is no solid release date as of yet, but we can expect an early 2004 release.


Posted by Adam Caporello, Writer
Source: Polygon

I'm betting that Nintendo hasn't released any screenshots or solid info on this game yet because they're planning on using it as a filler title for whichever game they plan on delaying in the first half of next year, or for whichever month is empty. Let's see what it could be...

January - No Nintendo games

February - FF CC, Zelda FS

March- MGS Twin Snakes, Pokemon Colosseum

April - Nadda

May - Pikmin 2, Starfox Armada (yeah right)

June and beyond - too early to tell

So from what we know right now, January and April are going to be empty months in terms of Nintendo-published Gamecube software. I'd like to say January since the game is almost finished, but I have a feeling that Mario Tennis will probably be saved for April, or possibly even March. I don't know, I hope that I'm wrong about that.

Cross your fingers for January!

[The Former DMiller]

January is always a slow month so I doubt Nintendo will bother with Mario Tennis then. I don't think they'd hold it all the way until April either, though. Here's hoping for a February/March release.

[OB1]

Will they want to release it at the same time as MGS, FF CC, or Pokemon, though?

[A Black Falcon]

January? Yeah, that isn't exactly the best time to release a game. April looks a bit more likely, but it could be February or March... I don't know.

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, it looks like they'll probably delay it until April, but then again maybe we'll see it earlier than that.