by Chris PenwellNickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! brings the Nicktoons we know and love from Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s Aang to the titular CatDog duo. While some of the graphics can be impressive, it is quite obvious that this is a port of the mobile game. Don’t expect anything as lavish or impressive as the Mario Tennis series with this one, despite its obvious inspiration.
What a load of splat!
There isn’t much content in Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next!, and what is there is repetitive, like watching Rugrats reruns you’ve already seen on a loop. There are about six courses, a selection of characters to choose from, and a “story mode” that is barebones and doesn’t make sense given the slideshow setup and one-line dialogue.
The gameplay, as the name suggests, revolves around tennis. You’re sending the ball back to each other with four different types of shots. There can be a bit of strategy in which shot you use, such as a lob over or a short return. What ruins the flow of the game, however, is the timing of each shot. The characters feel like they’re slowing down, so you can react, creating an odd control experience. If you hit the ball at the perfect time, you can get a faster, more powerful shot. Returning each volley gives off a stiff vibe. The slowdown of each character and the circle that appears around them seems to stem from its mobile game origins, in which you tap to control the return.
What makes this tennis game different is the power-ups you gather and the special moves at your disposal. Similar to Mario Kart, there are items you can pick up in the court by hitting a ? bubble with the ball. You can freeze people in place, use slime to stick your opponent in place, or grow huge Ultra Smash-style to gain more powerful strikes with your racket. They’re all fun items to use and help make this game stand out among the crowd. Except for one… The balls.
Likely inspired by Rugrats, there are rubber balls that are released onto the court, and they can stun you instantly. During the Story, there’s a section that has these balls summoned every round, and they can appear out of nowhere. If you’re standing in the wrong area, you may lose a game just because they spawn right where you are. It gets aggravating.
Each character has their own special ability. When Mikey from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, gets a perfect shot, three manhole covers fall from the sky. If they hit, they’ll stun the opponent. Zim probably has the best ability in the game as he becomes much faster, zipping around the court after a perfect shot. CatDog can get two power-ups, unlike every other character, which is a neat mechanic
Lastly, there are the skills that every character has. There’s a dash that uses one bar of energy, letting you zip to the ball quickly and return. This is kind of a desperation tactic. If you have three bars filled, you can use a Final Smash-like move that requires a perfect return to counter. There’s an elaborate animation.
Despite all these mechanics, Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! still feels repetitive, and going through the story with each character to unlock Patrick, then playing Hard mode for Angelica, feels like an absolute chore. If there were an actual “story” for each character with better writing, I would be more inclined to play it.
Fairly OddGraphics
As Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! is in 3D, some of the originally 2D characters look odd. Timmy Turner will give you nightmares with his Funko Pop-proportioned head and freaky eyes, and Arnold’s “football head” is a bit unnerving. (I also wish Garfield would stop smiling at me in the character select screen…). However, Aang, SpongeBob, and other characters look decent in this game. Just don’t look at CatDog’s eyes too much. You can also tell that each of the “Final Smash” moves is quite low-budget.
What Old Skull Games has implemented well are the multiple costumes for each character. You can tell there’s some love behind this game. Aang, for example, has his fire and earth nation outfits. Some of the Nicktoons have tennis and fitting 90s costumes too. They can be mixed and matched as well. A few costume sets need to be unlocked through the story mode, which has you finish specific missions, such as doing a drop shot or dashing twice.
A surprising facet of Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! is how detailed every stage is. Arnold’s Court is based on the city neighborhood of the show Hey, Arnold! The fun part of this area is that the court is made of lamps, and laundry is hung in between. It’s a nice touch. The Bikini Bottom stage is very pretty as well, featuring bright colours based on the hit TV program, with wave reflections shimmering on the surface. Buildings like the Krusty Krab are in the background, too. There’s some cool cel-shading in the Wild Thornberrys’ Savanna Court, too. Whoever the environment artist is deserves a raise for the effort they put into each stage.
The Music, Make it Stop!
20 minutes into my experience with this game, I turned off the music. The soundtrack includes the most repetitive, bleh, 30-second looping compositions I’ve heard for a while. They were getting on my nerves, so I quickly went to the options menu and turned the music all the way to 0%.
On a more positive note, all of the characters have voice acting. Some Nickelodeon games are infamous for missing them, but in this case, everyone is speaking. Sure, they say the same lines over and over, but it’s certainly adding more authenticity to this crossover tennis game with the characters we know and love.
But who exactly is this game for? You would think a Nickelodeon game would be trying to appeal to kids, but most of the characters on the roster are from 20 years ago or more. Hey, Arnold! and Rugrats both have two characters. The Mikey we get in this game is from the classic 80s cartoon, too. No one from new shows like Wylde Pak, Super Duper Bunny League, or even The Legend of Korra is included in this game.
Is it worth the racket?
Unfortunately, like the Rugrats Retro Rewind Collection, this is another Nickelodeon dud in the video game space in 2026. While the tennis can be fun at times, the overall execution falls short. There’s not enough content, the music is horrible, and some of the gameplay can feel awkward while returning shots. The power-ups are cool for the most part, but it doesn’t save Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! from mediocrity. Cosmo! Wanda! I wish for a cool Avatar: The Last Airbender game instead!
Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next!
