How to play

Your first match

Press Play now and you're on court, no sign-up needed. The first time, the game walks you through 5 short steps inside a real rally: get under it, hit on the beat, aim your shot, jump smash and dive. Already know how to play? Press Skip.

After that you pick Basic or Advanced controls (you can switch any time in the settings). Then the game asks whether you want to sign in to play online or keep playing offline. Either is fine, and it only asks once.

Keys and buttons

These are the default keys. To change any of them, open Customize keys in the game's control settings; gamepads have their own page of buttons.

Basic controls

Advanced controls

Shots go where you run

There is no free aiming. When your racket meets the shuttle, it flies the way you are moving:

• Standing still or running straight up: the shot goes straight.
• Running left or right: the shot goes cross-court that way.
• With Basic controls, holding toward the net from the back of the court turns your shot into a drop that falls just over the net.

So get to where the shuttle is coming down first, then lean the way you want it to go as you press hit.

Hit on the beat: Perfect!

As the shuttle comes in, a timing ring appears around the spot where you'll meet it. Press right on time and the game calls Perfect! and your shot is the fastest, most accurate and hardest to return. A little early or late still earns Good; way off and the shot is weak and likely to go out or into the net.

The window for a perfect hit never changes, whatever character you play and however tired you are: whoever times it right gets the best shot. You can switch the landing marker and the timing ring off in the settings if you like a clean screen.

Basic or Advanced?

Both play in the same matchmaking queue, and neither has an edge.

Basic has three buttons: Hit, Jump and Dive. The game picks the shot from where you meet the shuttle; you take care of footwork and timing. The same situation always gives the same shot, so it's easy to predict. Jumping at a high shuttle is always a jump smash, never a clear.

Advanced has three intent buttons, Deep, Soft and Power, plus Jump and Dive. The shot you get depends on the button and on how high the shuttle is when you hit it:

New to the game? Start with Basic. Once your footwork and timing feel natural, try Advanced to choose deep, soft or powerful shots yourself.

Every shot

• Smash: the strongest shot, hit from high up and steeply down into the other court. A jump smash is even faster and steeper.
• Clear: sends the shuttle high to the very back of the other court and buys you time to get back to the middle. The attacking clear is a low, fast clear hit in the air that flies just over your opponent's reach: it pushes them back quickly, but someone standing in the right place with a good jump can still cut it off.
• Drop: skims over the net and falls fast in the front of the other court. Nasty when your opponent is at the back.
• Net shot: a soft touch when the shuttle is low by the net, so it tumbles over and drops.
• Lift: flicks a low shuttle high to the back of the court; your way out of trouble.
• Drive and fast drive: flat, low and quick, hit at body height.
• Block: softly blocks a fast shot so it drops near the net.
• Push: a quick, flat shot from low down, mostly near the net.
• Dive: when the shuttle is about to land out of reach, dive for it. Saving it feels great, but you need a moment to get back up, so don't dive at everything.

Stamina

Your stamina bar is always on screen. Running, sprinting, stopping hard, jumping and diving all cost energy, and a heavy racket tires you faster.

• You get some back after every rally, and more during the breaks between games.
• Stamina has a ceiling. Let it drop too low and the ceiling comes down with it: no amount of rest fills you up like before. Don't empty the tank on one rally.
• A tired character runs slower, jumps lower, smashes softer and misses more. The perfect-hit window stays the same, though.
• A character's Stamina stat decides how big the tank is and how fast it drains.

You always see your own stamina and your partner's. Your opponent's depends on the mode: always shown in Friendly; shown in Ranked at low ranks but hidden from Advanced upward, where you read it from their body language instead: a tired player pants, then rests on their knees when they're spent. In a private room the host decides.

Serving and the rules

Feather Fever plays by real badminton rules:

• Every rally scores a point, whoever served. Shuttles on the line are in. A shuttle that clips the top of the net can still fall over.
• Serves are hit from low down (below the waist) and travel diagonally into the opposite service box. Serve from the right box when the server's score is even, from the left when it's odd.
• Basic: press Hit to serve; hold up for a short serve near the net, hold down for a high, deep one. Advanced: Soft is short, Deep is high and deep, Power is a fast flick.
• Ranked uses the official best of three games to 15: win two games to win the match; at 14–14 you need a two-point lead; at 20–20 the next point wins the game. There's a break between games, and the ends change halfway through a deciding game.
• Friendly and Practice let you choose 11, 15 or 21 points a game, and one game or best of three.
• It's an indoor hall, so there's no wind.

Serving in doubles

• The doubles service box is shorter at the back but reaches out to the doubles sideline.
• Sides take turns serving as in real badminton; the receiver is the player diagonally opposite the server.
• Only the receiver may return the serve. If the receiver's partner touches it, that's a fault: the rally stops and the serving side wins the point. The umpire calls "Wrong receiver", and the right receiver's portrait lights up with a gold rim on the stamina bar so you know who takes it next time.
• After the return of serve, either player may hit, one touch per side.
• A bot partner never steals your serve return, but you can still slip up yourself.

Tips to win more

1. After every shot, get back to the middle. From there you can reach anything.
2. Opponent pushed to the back? Drop or play a net shot. Opponent crowding the net? Clear over their head.
3. Don't smash everything. Smashes from the back get returned and leave you out of breath; save them for high shuttles in the front half.
4. Manage stamina over the whole match, not just one rally. In the final game, whoever still has legs usually wins.
5. Practice against bots one level above you. Beat them, then move up again.