Virtua Tennis
Developer(s)	Sega AM-3
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release date(s)	1999
Genre(s)	Sports game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Input methods	8-way joystick, 3 buttons
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 and various arcade modes. 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, appeared on Sega NAOMI, Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. In 2005 another sequel, Virtua Tennis: World Tour was released for the PlayStation Portable. 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. The latest version, Virtua Tennis 2009, was scheduled for release in May 2009 on the PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii platforms ^[1], but pushed back to June 9, 2009 ^[2].

[edit] Game modes

[edit] Arcade

The player must win 5 matches to win a tournament. Each match is played on a different surface:

Match	Name	Surface
1	Australian Challenge	Hard
2	French Cup	Clay
3	US Super Tennis	Hard
4	The Old England Championships	Grass
5	Sega Grand Match	Carpet

[edit] 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).

[edit] 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.

[edit] Training

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.

[edit] Players

Characters include several real world tennis players, with their respective strengths:

Player	Strength
Jim Courier	Various Shots
Tommy Haas	Forehand
Tim Henman	Volley
Thomas Johansson	Quickness
Yevgeny Kafelnikov	Backhand
Carlos Moyà	Groundstrokes
Mark Philippoussis*	Serve
Cedric Pioline	All-around

The Dreamcast and PC ports include eight extra players, all of them fictitious:

Player	Strength
Gilles Altman	Serve
Bruno Costa	Forehand
Rolf Euler	Volley
Masayuki Inoue	Speed
Shyam Singh	All-around
Davor Tesla	Wide Shots
Pieter Tinbergen	Serve and Volley
Raf Ventura	Strength

And finally there are two bosses in the game.

Player	Strength
Master	High Performer
King	Perfect Player

*Mark Philippoussis was removed from the PC version as he was already featured in a licensed tennis title for that platform.

[edit] 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 [1]. 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].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Virtua Tennis at the Open Directory Project
• Virtua Tennis Game Manual
• Virtua Tennis at MobyGames