Power Tennis in the United Kingdom. The promotion featured on-site sampling and official Nintendo branding at various tennis events such as Wimbledon. The LTA's ACE Magazine advertised Power Tennis and featured competitions offering the game as a prize. Nintendo also released an online questionnaire regarding players' habits and preferences in relation to tennis as a part of their Who Are You? campaign. Nintendo announced in 2008 that they would be re-releasing the title as part of their New Play Control! selection, which feature added Wii controls. The game can be controlled using the Wii Remote and optional Nunchuk attachment, allowing the player to trigger actions such as forehands and backhands by swinging the Remote like a tennis racket. It was released on January 15, 2009, in Japan and in March 2009 in other countries. It was later re-released in North America on June 10, 2012, along with Pikmin 2 as Nintendo Selects titles. Reception The GameCube version of Mario Power Tennis enjoyed a generally positive reception, with reviewers complimenting the variety of play and multiple minigames available. GameSpot named it 2004's "Best Alternative Sports Game" across all platforms. GameSpy's Raymond Padilla lauded the game's use of characters and the player categories, stating "When you put it all together, you have a broad cast of characters, each of whom offers a different feel." Despite this, the Gimmick courts were labeled by Matt Casamassina as a "distraction" and "annoyance", although he acknowledged that some courts were better than others. Additionally, Nintendo World Report'''s Michael Cole thought that most players would revert to standard courts "after being 'unfairly defeated' by ghosts, paint, or some other trap." Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell welcomed Power Tenniss style, which he said emphasised gameplay over simulation and realism. When comparing the game to its predecessor, reviewers praised Power Tennis for its incorporation of the Mario franchise in the different scenarios and courts. The gameplay features introduced to the game received a mixed response. IGN noted that the Special Games varied in quality between different games, with Casamassina commenting that "they certainly don't make or break the experience." The game's "Power Shots" was also met with an ambivalent reaction—the shot themselves were praised for adding strategy and character, although GameSpot's Ryan Davis commented that "it would have been nice if you could just skip past the animations and keep the wild moves." In general, the game's multiplayer modes were more