The NES Series:

Tennis

The crowd cheered as the small lightweight ball sailed through the air. The player on the far side of the court swung his racket, intercepting the ball and sending it rocketing back to the other side of the net. His opponent sent it bouncing back. Their game of back-and-forth continued for several turns until one of them missed his shot and the ball bounced off into the sidelines.

A short Italian man watching closely from a high chair at the side of the court shouted, "In!"

Beside the referee, two individuals stood on the sidelines, wrapped in towels and dripping wet.

"Th-thanks for saving us, M-Mario," Villager said, chills running up and down his body and making him shake like a purse dog.

"No problem," Mario said, glancing down at them from his referee chair. "What did you guys do to aggravate so many Unira anyway? They normally only come out in groups of two or three."

Villager gave Olimar an expectant look. Olimar shivered. "I have no idea," he said. "You'll have to ask that fish. It was her fault."

"Right," Mario said. He glanced back at the court as the ball sailed past. One of the players missed their shot. "Out!" Mario shouted. He looked back at Villager and Olimar. "So how goes the NES analysis?"

"It's good," Villager said. "We've checked out about ten games so far."

"Any good candidates for Smash Five yet?"

Villager nudged Olimar. "Show him the list."

Olimar reached into one of the pockets of his spacesuit and pulled out a small soggy notepad. He handed it up to Mario. "It got a little wet," he said. "Sorry."

Mario took the list and perused it. "Popeye . . . Tamagon . . . The Devil . . . only five so far? Toon Link and Buckenberry have been going at their SNES series for as long as you two have and their list is much longer."

"Showoffs," Olimar mumbled under his breath.

"In all fairness," Villager said, "Most of the SNES games came out at a time when games started to become more character- and story-driven, while the early NES games were more about the mechanics of the game and only had generic avatars for characters."

Mario nodded, handing back the notepad. "Understandable," he said.

"Seriously, though," Olimar said. "Look at this game. It's just . . . tennis. Where's the flair? Where's the interesting characters? Those two players out on the court. Do you think anyone knows anything about them, much less their names?"

Mario sat up and crossed his arms. "Ted and I go to lunch every Saturday, and Bob was my roommate in medical school."

Olimar's face paled. "Oh. Um, I'm sure they're lovely people."