Virtua Tennis Review

One of my favorite Dreamcast and sports games of all time is most definitely Virtua Tennis. I must say thank you Sega for creating such a master piece which will be adored for generations to come. No other tennis game has ever caught my eye, with the exception of Mario Tennis (N64), which was too cartoony for me. I prefer my sports games to be a real-life experience, not a child’s dreamland.

Graphically Virtua Tennis is most likely the best looking Dreamcast game of all. Well, maybe I shouldn’t go that far, but I must say that when my grandfather watched me he said, “Kyle put down that controller and watch the game.� I had to explain to him that we weren’t watching television, I was playing a game. Instant replays add to the realistic features in the game and show the players’ hair sway in the wind as they dive for a ball. The crowd is relatively well done, especially for 1999. There is a huge variety of courts, which dictate whether the ball will bounce high/low and or fast/slow. The court surfaces range from grass to clay.

The players perform realistic tennis methods such as leg shots, volleys, diving, etc. The controls are ultra simple, A button is used to hit the ball and the B button will lob. Once you start swinging, use the directional pad in the direction you want the ball to go. Serving is also very easy, just press A and smash the button when the serve meter reaches the top of the bar. The main difficulty in the game itself is anticipating your opponent’s next move.

In order to get all of your skills down, you must do a little thing called practice. Either play in the arcade mode or against a friend. Are you good enough to challenge people from around the world? If you are, try out the world tournament and test your skills. In the world tournament you can win money prizes, unlock players for exhibition mode and arcade, along with unlocking courts. Like in other games, Virtua Tennis has a ranking system and the more you win, the higher you will rank.

The training modes are an excellent way to test your true skills. Some of the training levels require you to knock over bowling pins, lob balls into buckets, and turn of tennis machines by smashing them. Each training level includes three difficulty levels, which increase in difficulty and the amount of money you can earn.