Virtua Tennis

From Sega Retro

n/a

Virtuatennis title.png

Virtua Tennis
System(s): Sega NAOMI, Sega NAOMI GD-ROM, Sega Dreamcast, Windows PC
Publisher: Sega,
Windows PC
Empire Interactive (EU), Activision (US)
Developer:
Peripherals supported:
Sega Dreamcast
Dreamcast VGA Box, Dreamcast Jump Pack, Dreamcast Arcade Stick, Dreamcast Keyboard
Genre: Sports

















Number of players: 1-4
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Dreamcast
JP
¥5,8005,800 HDR-0113
Sega Dreamcast
US
$49.9949.99[3] 51054
Sega Dreamcast
US
(Sega All Stars)
51054
Sega Dreamcast
EU
MK-51054-50
Windows PC
JP
¥6,800 (7,140)6,800 (7,140) HCJ-0326
Windows PC
US
Windows PC
EU
EI-1439
Windows PC
EU
(Xplosiv)
DJCTQ
Missing Parameter!

Virtua Tennis, called PowerSmash (パワースマッシュ) in Japan, is an arcade game developed by Sega AM3 for the Sega NAOMI arcade board, as either a ROM board or a GD-ROM. It is a tennis game where the user can play as a number of real-life professional tennis players of the era competing in a number of real tournaments. Initially released in 1999, it was ported to the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, and Microsoft Windows in 2002.

At the time of release it was widely regarded as the most realistic tennis simulator ever produced, and received very positive reviews from critics. It has since been followed by a number of sequels, starting with Virtua Tennis 2 in 2001 and ending with the recently released Virtua Tennis 2009.

The Dreamcast version is compatible with the Dreamcast Fishing Controller. The Game Boy Advance and N-Gage versions of Virtua Tennis are different games.

Gameplay

Players

Virtua Tennis only includes male players, specifically those active in the game during the late 1990s. Female players were not introdced until Virtua Tennis 2.

Jim Courier (USA)
Courier retired from the game in 2000, although is still retained in the 2002 PC version.
Tommy Haas (Germany)
Tim Henman (United Kingdom)
Thomas Johansson (Sweden)
Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)
Carlos Moyá (Spain)
Mark Philippoussis (Australia)
Mark Philippoussis is absent from the PC version of the game due to licensing issues.
France Cédric Pioline (France)

History

Release

In North America, Foote, Cone & Belding's "naked man in a locker room" print advertisement garnered several complaints, forcing Charles Bellfield to defend it publically[4].

Sales

In the US the title sold 368,035 units through January 2003 according to NPD Group. In the UK it officially debuted with 9,598 units in the week ending September 9th, 2000, making it the top selling game across all formats for that week according to Chart-Track, bringing the total to 10,246 units after a small number of additional copies were sold early by some retailers the previous week. In Japan it debuted at number two in the Famitsu charts with 31,483 units in the week ending November 26th, 2000, and finishing the year with a total of 50,824 sales.

Production credits

Dreamcast version

© Sega Enterprises, Ltd., 1999, 2000

Other credits

  • SOA Product Development: Joseph Edwards, June Honma, Pedro Ponce, Michael Rhinehart, Osamu Shibamiya
  • SOA Marketing: John Golden, Heather Hawkins, Stacey Kerr

Magazine articles

Main article: Virtua Tennis/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in GamePro (US) #143: "August 2000" (2000-0x-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Dreamcast Magazine (JP) #2000-36ex: "2000-36 extra (2000-11-17ex)" (2000-11-03)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in MAN!AC (DE) #2000-10: "10/2000" (2000-09-06)
Logo-pdf.svg

Artwork

Physical scans

NAOMI version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
100 №15, p103[7]
Arcade
100
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Arcade
N/A
Based on
0 reviews

Virtua Tennis

NAOMI, JP
VirtuaTennis NAOMI Cart.jpg
Cart

Dreamcast version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
80 №23, p82/83[8]
100 №226, p98-99[1]
90 №13
87 №2000-38, p20[9]
92 №, p32[10]
80 №88, p94/95[11]
83 №624, p33
98
95 2000-07-12
94 №98, p74/75
100
90 №12, p66-70[12]
Sega Dreamcast
91
Based on
12 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
576 Konzol (HU)
97
[13]
Ação Games (BR)
80
[14]
Arcade (UK) PAL
75
[8]
Bonus (YU) NTSC
91
[15]
Consoles + (FR) PAL
94
[16]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
100
[1]
Dreamcast Monthly (UK) PAL
90
[17]
DC-UK (UK) PAL
90
[18]
Dreamcast: Le Magazine Officiel (FR) PAL
90
[19]
Dreamcast Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
87
[20]
Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
94
[21]
Dorimaga (JP) NTSC-J
92
[22]
Edge (UK) NTSC-U
80
[11]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
83
[23]
Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast (RU)
79
[24]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
83
[25]
Fun Generation (DE) PAL
89
[26]
GameFan (US) NTSC-U
94
[27]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
95
[28]
Game Station (UK)
90
[29]
Gamers' Republic (US) NTSC-U
91
[30]
Hyper (AU) PAL
90
[31]
Joypad (FR) PAL
90
[32]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
87
[33]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
88
[34]
Neo Plus (PL)
90
[35]
Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
100
[36]
Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
90
[12]
Playmag (FR) PAL
90
[37]
Play (PL)
96
[38]
PSX Extreme (PL)
87
[39]
Power Unlimited (NL)
95
[40]
Sega Magazin (DE) NTSC-U
88
[41]
Strana Igr (RU)
90
[42]
Video Games (DE) PAL
87
[43]
Sega Dreamcast
89
Based on
35 reviews

Virtua Tennis

Dreamcast, US
VirtuaTennis DC US Box Back.jpgVirtuaTennis DC US Box Front.jpg
Cover
VirtuaTennis DC US Disc.jpg
Disc
VirtuaTennisDCUSInlay.jpg
Inlay
Dreamcast, US (Sega All Stars)
VirtuaTennis DC US Box Back SAS.jpgVirtuaTennis DC US Box Front SAS.jpg
Cover
VirtuaTennis DC US Disc SAS.jpg
Disc
Dreamcast, EU
Virtuatennis dc pal backcover.jpgVirtuatennis dc pal frontcover.jpg
Cover
Virtuatennis dc pal disc.jpg
Disc
Dreamcast, JP
VirtuaTennis DC JP Box Back.jpgNospine-small.pngVirtuaTennis DC JP Box Front.jpg
Cover

PC version

PC, US
VirtuaTennis PC US cover.jpg
Cover
VirtuaTennis PC US Disc.jpg
Disc
PC, JP
VirtuaTennis PC JP cover.jpg
Cover
PC, UK
VirtuaTennis PC UK Box.jpg
Cover
PC, UK (Xplosiv)
VirtuaTennis PC UK Box Xplosiv.jpg
Cover
PC, FR

PC, DE
VirtuaTennis PC DE Box.jpg
Cover
PC, DE (Xplosiv)
VirtuaTennis PC DE Box Xplosiv.jpg
Cover
PC, ES
VirtuaTennis PC ES Box.jpg
Cover
PC, ES (FX)

External links

  • Sega of Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): Dreamcast, PC

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 File:CVG UK 226.pdf, page 98 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 226.pdf_p98" defined multiple times with different content
  2. File:ODCM US 07.pdf, page 40
  3. File:ODCM US 07.pdf, page 91
  4. File:EGM US 136.pdf, page 47
  5. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "September 2000" (US; 2000-08-08), page 134
  6. Dreamcast Magazine, "2000-38 (2000-12-01)" (JP; 2000-11-17), page 2
  7. File:Arcade UK 15.pdf, page 103
  8. 8.0 8.1 File:Arcade UK 23.pdf, page 82 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Arcade UK 23.pdf_p82" defined multiple times with different content
  9. File:DCM_JP_20001201_2000-38.pdf, page 20
  10. File:Dorimaga_20021011_JP.pdf, page 32
  11. 11.0 11.1 File:Edge UK 088.pdf, page 94 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Edge UK 088.pdf_p94" defined multiple times with different content
  12. 12.0 12.1 File:ODM UK 12.pdf, page 66 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ODM UK 12.pdf_p66" defined multiple times with different content
  13. 576 Konzol, "December 2000" (HU; 2000-xx-xx), page 42
  14. Ação Games, "Setembro 2000" (BR; 2000-xx-xx), page 65
  15. Bonus, "6/2000" (YU; 2000-08-25), page 50
  16. Consoles +, "Septembre 2000" (FR; 2000-0x-xx), page 66
  17. Dreamcast Monthly, "September 2000" (UK; 2000-08-03), page 66
  18. DC-UK, "September 2000" (UK; 2000-08-02), page 56
  19. Dreamcast: Le Magazine Officiel, "Septembre/Octobre 2000" (FR; 2000-0x-xx), page 54
  20. Dreamcast Magazine, "2000-38 (2000-12-01)" (JP; 2000-11-17), page 20
  21. Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 12" (UK; 2000-08-10), page 42
  22. Dorimaga, "2002-18 (2002-10-11)" (JP; 2002-09-27), page 32
  23. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "September 2000" (US; 2000-08-08), page 156
  24. Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast, "Izdaniye chetvertoye, dopolnennoye" (RU; 2002-xx-xx), page 293
  25. Famitsu, "2000-12-01" (JP; 2000-11-17), page 33
  26. Fun Generation, "09/2000" (DE; 2000-08-23), page 54
  27. GameFan, "Volume 8, Issue 9: September 2000" (US; 2000-xx-xx), page 86
  28. GamePro, "September 2000" (US; 2000-0x-xx), page 114
  29. Game Station (UK) (+0:00)
  30. Gamers' Republic, "August 2000" (US; 2000-xx-xx), page 83
  31. Hyper, "October 2000" (AU; 2000-08-23), page 68
  32. Joypad, "Septembre 2000" (FR; 2000-xx-xx), page 114
  33. MAN!AC, "09/2000" (DE; 2000-08-02), page 52
  34. Mega Fun, "09/2000" (DE; 2000-08-02), page 38
  35. Neo Plus, "Wrzesień 2000" (PL; 2000-xx-xx), page 32
  36. Next Generation, "September 2000" (US; 2000-08-15), page 107
  37. Playmag, "Septembre 2000" (FR; 2000-xx-xx), page 102
  38. Play, "Listopad 2000" (PL; 2000-xx-xx), page 20
  39. PSX Extreme, "03/2001" (PL; 2001-0x-xx), page 39
  40. Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 8, Nummer 9, September 2000" (NL; 2000-0x-xx), page 50
  41. Sega Magazin, "September 2000" (DE; 2000-07-31), page 14
  42. Strana Igr, "Avgust 2000 2/2" (RU; 2000-xx-xx), page 64
  43. Video Games, "09/2000" (DE; 2000-08-02), page 68



Games in the Virtua Tennis Series
Arcade
Virtua Tennis (1999) | Virtua Tennis 2 (2001) | Virtua Tennis 3 (2006) | Virtua Tennis 4 (2011)
Sega Dreamcast
Virtua Tennis (2000) | Virtua Tennis 2 (2001)
Windows PC
Virtua Tennis (2002) | Virtua Tennis 3 (2007) | Virtua Tennis 2009 (2009) | Virtua Tennis 4 (2011)
Sony PlayStation 2
Virtua Tennis 2 (2002)
Game Boy Advance
Virtua Tennis (2002)
N-Gage
Virtua Tennis (2003)
Sony PlayStation Portable
Virtua Tennis: World Tour (2005) | Virtua Tennis 3 (2007)
Xbox 360
Sony PlayStation 3
Virtua Tennis 3 (2007) | Virtua Tennis 2009 (2009) | Virtua Tennis 4 (2011)
Nintendo Wii
Virtua Tennis 2009 (2009) | Virtua Tennis 4 (2011)
Sony PlayStation Vita
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition (2011)
Google Android OS
iOS
Virtua Tennis Challenge (2012) | Virtua Tennis Challenge Free (2012)
Sampler Discs
Sega Dreamcast
Power Smash Taikenban (20xx) | Power Smash 2 Taikenban (20xx)