Ring Shot

A doubles Ring Shot match in Mario Tennis Fever

Ring Shot is a type of minigame played in the Mario Tennis series. The overall objective of Ring Shot is to hit balls into rings with the assistance of another character on the other side of the court. Specific rules, such as how score is determined and when a match is over, vary per game.

History

Mario Tennis series

Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64)

Wario and Toad in Mario Tennis

Ring Shot debuts as one of the Play Modes in Mario Tennis. In this mode, players are able to compete in several contests to see how many rings they can collect in various challenges. In all challenges except the Game mode, the characters alternate serving every two turns. Three rings appear on the court at a time. Each time the player collects one, a new one will appear. There are four different types of challenges in Ring Shot:

• Game: The player must collect rings by playing against an opponent. Rings hit are accumulated during a point, and are then awarded to player if they win the point. The match ends if the player wins the required amount of rings. If the player wins or loses the set without reaching the required amount, they still lose.
• Time: The player must collect rings within the time limit. Even if the player misses a ball, they'll get to serve, or be served to, again.
• Ball: The player must collect rings with a total of five balls, losing one with every miss. Fault serves do not count as a missed ball.
• Points: The player must collect enough points by hitting rings before the time expires. In this mode, rings grow in size over time. The value of each ring decreases over time, with the smallest ones starting at five points, while the largest ones are worth one point. This version of Ring Shot in this game later returned in the Ring Shot mode in Mario Tennis Open.

Each Ring Shot mode is further divided into six flags, with the first five flags representing the amount of rings or points required to beat it. Beating all five flags unlocks a sixth flag consisting of a Ring Challenge, where the goal is to score the most amount of points within the restrictions of the challenge type (e.g.: within a time limit or five total balls). The opponents faced in each flag are the same for every type of challenge, but vary per character.

Flag	Ring amount Game, Time and Ball modes only	Time limit Time mode only	Point amount Time and Points mode only	Opponent 1	Opponent 2
First	30	1:00.00	100	Boo	Toad
Second	50	1:20.00	150	Birdo	Yoshi
Third	70	1:40.00	200	Paratroopa	Peach
Fourth	90	2:00.00	250	Wario	DK
Fifth	100	3:00.00	300	Waluigi	Luigi
Sixth	-	3:00.00	-	Bowser	Mario

In multiplayer modes, players and/or teams compete who can get 50, 100, or 200 rings. In Doubles Match, the music is different than usual, and players can score rings either in Teams (two players on the same team) or in Battle Royale (individual players per team).

Mario Power Tennis

Ring Shot returns as a Play Mode within the Exhibition mode in Mario Power Tennis, using only a single ruleset similar to the Game and Points modes from Mario Tennis. Players can now choose the opponent and court the match takes place, although no court gimmicks will be present. During a point of Ring Shot, each side of the court can collect Charge by hitting balls through rings. When a side wins a point, their Charge is added to their total Ring Points. The losing side's Charge is split in two, with half going towards their own total points, and the other half going toward's the winner's Charge. The match then resumes as normal. The first side to reach the target Ring Points (which can be 100, 200 or 500 points) wins. There are always five rings in play, with a new one spawning whenever one is collected. The rings start small, growing in size and decreasing in points value.

Mario Tennis Open

Ring Shot is one of the four special games in Mario Tennis Open. In the game, the player must attempt to hit the ball into rings, which increase in size. This awards Ring Points. When rings are at their smallest, they are worth five points. Their point values decrease by one as the rings grow, until they get their largest and are worth one point. Hitting the ball into multiple rings in one stroke earns the player combo points. The level is completed if the player acquires a certain amount of points in a certain amount of time (this depends on the difficulty level). This is the only special game that can be done in any court, except Galaxy Arena, for all levels.

There are four difficulty modes. The rings are initially vertical and close to the net, but in the third and challenge levels, the rings are higher up and sometimes placed horizontally or slanted towards the player. Baby Peach can be unlocked by completing the third level in this game. Additionally, a Peach costume can be unlocked by obtaining 800 points in Ring Shot Challenge, and a Daisy one can be unlocked by collecting 700 points in the same level.

Difficulty	Score goal	Time limit	Opponent	Alternate opponent
Novice Rings	200	03:00.00	Yoshi	Diddy Kong
Amateur Rings	350	2:00.00	Peach	Daisy
Pro Rings	500	3:00.00	Luigi	Mario
Ring Shot Challenge	As many as possible	3:00.00	Donkey Kong	Bowser

Mario Tennis Aces

the Ancient Trial Ring Shot Challenge

Upon release, Mario Tennis Aces did not contain a Ring Shot game mode, although various post-launch updates saw the inclusion of Ring Shot challenges. In update 2.0.0, the Ruins of Trials world was added to the game's Adventure mode, featuring the mission Ancient Trial Ring Shot Challenge. The mission functioned similarly to previous Ring Shot modes, with the player working alongside a transparent clone in order to score points by hitting balls through rings. Rings are again worth one to five points based on their size, with additional red rings being worth double.

Update 2.1.0 added Yoshi's Ring Shot, a Co-op Challenge for four players that was active from December 1, 2018 to January 10, 2019. In this challenge, players play as one of four colored Yoshis: Green, Blue, Red or Yellow. The game works in the same way as the Adventure mode mission "Ancient Trial Ring Shot Challenge", with the following changes: Five rings now appear in the court at once. Rings can appear in red, yellow or blue colors, being worth double points if they are hit by a ball sent by a Yoshi of their respective color. Scoring 20, 50 and 80 thousand points in the challenge unlocks the Blue, Red and Yellow Yoshi outfits, respectively.

Update 3.0.0 introduced an offline Ring Shot mode, featuring three types of games: Ring Shot Singles, Ring Shot Doubles, and Yoshi's Ring Shot, an offline version of the previous Co-op Challenge. in Ring Shot Singles and Doubles, players are able to compete or cooperate with another player or pair in order to score points in the same rules as the Adventure mode mission "Ancient Trial Ring Shot Challenge". Similarly, the offline version of Yoshi's Ring Shot works identically to its Co-op Challenge iteration, with the exception that the only Yoshi costume awarded is the Purple Yoshi costume, given by completing the Advanced VS Challenge. The 3.0.0 update also included a re-run of the Yoshi's Ring Shot Co-op Challenge, from April 14, 2019 to June 1, 2019. Instead of Blue, Red and Yellow Yoshis, the costumes awarded during this challenge were the Orange, Pink and Light-Blue Yoshis.

Lastly, with update 3.1.0, the Co-op Challenges, which include Yoshi's Ring Shot, began rotating monthly. Blue, Red and Yellow Yoshi costumes are now awarded during February and August, while Orange, Pink and Light-Blue Yoshis are awarded during May and November.

Mario Tennis Fever

Ring Shot returns in Mario Tennis Fever as a type of Special Match and two Score Challenges, both in the Mix It Up mode of the game. Hitting multiple rings at once grants a multiplier bonus, and now rallying a Fever Shot through rings without letting it touch the ground provides a larger multiplier (up to 5x). Red rings worth double points can also appear. There are two timed rounds of 30 seconds each, and after each round, a special, flower-shaped rainbow ring appears that triggers Bonus Time when the ball touches it. During Bonus Time, rings rapidly spawn on the court while balls are continuously thrown into play by Lakitu. Additionally, players can lose HP when hit by the ball or by Fever Shots, following the same rules as in normal gameplay (when HP is depleted, players are removed from play for ten seconds in doubles, or have decreased movement speed in singles).

The Special Match mode is simply called Ring Shot and can be played from one to four players. Its rules are similar to the Ring Shot modes in Mario Tennis Aces: players compete in singles or doubles matches, passing the ball through various rings to score points within a time limit. Players must collect the most points in order to win.

The two Score Challenge Ring Shot modes are called 2P Co-op Ring Shot and 4P Co-op Ring Shot. In these modes, which can be played from one to two or four players respectively, both sides of the court work together to achieve a score within the time limit. There are four difficulties in the Score Challenge modes. The last difficulty is called Score Attack and features no goal, with the objective being to score as many points as possible within the time limit. The duration of Bonus Time varies per difficulty.

Difficulty	Court	Score goal (2P)	Score goal (4P)	Bonus Time duration
Beginner	Stadium Court (Grass)	500 points	700 points	10 seconds
Intermediate	Stadium Court (Clay)	1000 points	1200 points	20 seconds
Advanced	Stadium Court (Hard)	1500 points	1800 points	30 seconds
Score Attack	Stadium Court (Hard)	As many as possible	As many as possible	30 seconds

Ring Shot trials also appear in each of the Trial Towers: The Tower of Growth has the Chilly Co-op Ring Shot on the 3rd floor, the Tower of Resolve has the Disappearing Co-op Ring Shot on its 5th floor, and the Tower of Trickery features the Versus Ring Shot Galaxy-Style challenge on its 2nd floor.

Two playable characters and four alternate colors can be unlocked through Ring Shot: The pink and yellow Shy Guy alternate colors can be unlocked by playing a singles and a doubles Ring Shot Match, respectively. Wiggler and Blooper can each be unlocked by beating the 2P and 4P Co-op Ring Shot in the Advanced difficulty. Finally, the pink and purple Yoshi alternate colors can be unlocked by earning S Rank in the Score Attack difficulty of 2P and 4P Co-op Ring Shot.

Mario Sports Superstars

Ring Challenge is a Training mode for Tennis in Mario Sports Superstars. It plays similarly to the Ring Shot game mode in Mario Tennis Open, with rings varying from five to one point depending on their size. Hitting multiple rings at once grants the player extra points, and red rings are worth twice as much as their regular counterparts. There are four skill levels for the Tennis Ring Challenge mode, all of which are played on the Grass Court and have a time limit of two minutes. Rings only reached by lobs or drop shots begin appearing in the Hard difficulty. The last difficuly, "Pro", has no goal, with the objective being to score as many points as possible within the time limit. Playable character Pink Gold Peach can be unlocked (in the Tennis mode only) by beating the Hard difficulty.

Difficulty	Score goal	Opponent	Alternate opponent
Easy	500	Yoshi	Diddy Kong
Normal	450	Peach	Daisy
Hard	400	Luigi	Mario
Pro	As many as possible	Donkey Kong	Bowser

Gallery

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  Ring Shot in Mario Power Tennis (during sunset)

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  Ring Shot in Mario Tennis Open

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  The Tennis Ring Challenge in Mario Sports Superstars

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  Yoshi's Ring Shot in Mario Tennis Aces

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Note(s)	Ref.
Japanese	リングショット Ringu shotto	Ring Shot
French	Défi anneaux	Ring Challenge		[?]
French (European)	Ring Shot	-	Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64)
	Tir aux Anneaux	Ring Shooting
German	Ringeschießen	Ring Shooting
Italian	Tiro all'Anello	Ring Shot		[?]
Portuguese	Tiro ao Aro	Ring Shot		[?]
Spanish	Tiro al anillo	Ring Shot		[?]

Yoshi's Ring Shot

Language	Name	Meaning	Note(s)	Ref.
Japanese	ヨッシーのカラフルリング Yosshī no karafuru ringu	Yoshi's colorful ring