Lag? No way; view it as an effect

I stand by my more-positive-than-most review of Mario Tennis Open; it’s been non-stop fun since I popped that game into my 3DS. If you’ve encountered Wilford in the Wiggler suit online, that’s me. Since my review reflected my then-current view of the game’s online play, I feel it’s my duty to add an update. Apparently, as more and more tennis fans enter the fray online, a bit of wonkiness has crept into the picture. Playing online is still a wonderfully fun experience, but the smoothness of the play lately has been, shall we say…uneven. Most of the time it’s butter-smooth, but lag can suddenly enter the picture — sometimes just for a few seconds, sometimes for an entire match. It’s never Brawl-awful, but it’s not a good PR moment for Nintendo. I have to say I’m impressed by how quickly the game recovers from its lag attacks, and I’m daffy enough to actually enjoy the novelty of an occasional stop n’ go match (because sometimes I actually fare better than normal in that situation), but…Nintendo, please fix this.

Aside from that, my opinion hasn’t changed; Mario Tennis Open is a terrific game that’s gotten some ridiculously bad press. I know Kid Icarus Uprising’s a tough act to follow, but c’mon.

If you’ve been playing MTO this past week, how has your online experience been? On a scale of Mario Kart 7 (10) to Super Smash Brothers Brawl (0), how would you rank it?