Virtua Tennis

Virtua Tennis
Developer(s)	Sega AM-3
Publisher(s)	Sega
Composer(s)	Chiho Kobayashi
Series	Virtua Tennis
Platform(s)	Arcade, Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage
Release date(s)	Arcade 1999 Dreamcast 2000 Microsoft Windows 2002 Game Boy Advance NA 2002 EU 2003 N-Gage 2003
Genre(s)	Sports game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Sega NAOMI
Display	Raster, medium resolution

Virtua Tennis (Power Smash in Japan) is a 1999 tennis arcade game created by Sega-AM3. The player competes through tennis tournaments in an arcade mode. For the home console market the game was expanded with the introduction of the campaign mode. It was later ported to Dreamcast in 2000, and for Microsoft Windows in 2002. A Game Boy Advance version was also released in 2002.

A sequel, Virtua Tennis 2, was released in 2002 and was later updated and ported for the PlayStation Portable, under the name Virtua Tennis: World Tour. 2006 saw the release of Virtua Tennis 3 in the arcades (using the Sega Lindbergh hardware). Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PC versions were released in 2007. Virtua Tennis 2009, was released on June 9, 2009 on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii platforms.^[1][2] The latest addition to the franchise, Virtua Tennis 4, was released on May 10, 2011.

Players

¹Included in the Dreamcast and PC ports only. ²Mark Philippoussis was removed from the PC version as he was already featured in a licensed tennis title for that platform.

Courts

Grand Slams

• Australian Challenge (Australian Open) – Melbourne – Hard
• French Cup (French Open) – Paris – Clay
• US Super Tennis (US Open) – New York – Hard
• The Old England Championships (The Championships, Wimbledon) – London – Grass

Special Tournaments

• Sega Grand Match (Los Angeles Open) – Los Angeles – Carpet
• SPT Masters (ATP World Tour Finals) – Tokyo – Grass

Other Tournaments

• Sweden Grand Prix (If Stockholm Open) – Stockholm – Hard
• Germany Men's Indoor (BMW Open) – Berlin – Hard
• Russian Tennis Classic (Kremlin Cup) – Moscow – Carpet
• Spain International (Barcelona Open BancSabadell) – Barcelona – Clay

Game modes

Arcade

The player must win 5 matches played on different surfaces and venues to win a tournament. If the player performs well enough, he is challenged by Master, one of the game's bosses.

Exhibition

This is a single match in which the options are customizable.

The match can be played as singles or doubles with up to 4 human players (2 for singles). The duration can be varied between one game and one set. Other options include the court that the match is played on and the skill of the opponent(s).

World Circuit

This is the main mode of the game. Users have to win matches and complete training exercises in order to progress and unlock new ones. The user enters with a rank of 300th, which improves as matches are won. These matches are unlocked by completing easier matches or training exercises. The focus of the training exercises are to be fun, rather than realistic. Each exercise has three levels, with the difficulty increasing progressively. By completing the hardest difficulty with a certain amount of time left or points scored, an outfit is unlocked, which players can wear in all modes.

Network

This mode is available for the PC version and it allows multiplayer gaming via LAN.

Reception

Virtua Tennis received very positive reviews from with the UK version of the Official Dreamcast Magazine rating it at 9/10, as well as overwhelmingly positive reviews from users . Players were pleased with the quick learning curve and the wide variety of training exercises available. The game became one of the few Sega All Stars.

It has been ranked in the top 100 games of all time by IGN both in 2005 (#91) ^[3] and 2003 (#89).^[4]

In Japan, Famitsu magazine scored the Dreamcast version of the game a 33 out of 40.^[5]

References

External links

• Virtua Tennis at DMOZ
• Virtua Tennis Game Manual
• Virtua Tennis at MobyGames