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
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[2].

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

Producer: Mie Kumagai
Director: Katsumoto Tatsukawa
Chief Programmer: Mitsuharu Saikawa
Programmers: Kazuyuki Kawanuma, Masayuki Inoue, Takeshi Numazawa
Chief Designer: Kazuko Noguchi
Designers: Takahiro Kajimoto, Harumi Azuma, Kenji Shimizu, Yasuhito Tanaka, Akira Fujiki, Yuko Nishimura
Sound Producer: Chiho Kobayashi
Publicity: Shintaro Takaya
Assistant Director: Masaru Futaki
Localization Team (SOJ): Shinobu Shindo, Kaoru Ichigozaki, Luke Valentine
Technical Advisor: Hans van Veenendaal
Executive Producer: Hisao Oguchi
SOE Product Development: Naohiko Hoshino, Matt O'Driscoll, Akiko Koutstaal, Roberto Parraga-Sanchez, Angelika Michitsch, Dave Thompson
SOE Thanks: Jim Pride, Mat Quaeck
Special Thanks: Fujifilm, Opel, Bridgestone, Yonex, Citizen, evian, weider, Tennis Monthly Magazine, Tennis Goods Nobu, Head, Philips, Dunlop, Babolat, IBM, Volvo
Presented by: Sega
Translated by: Hitmaker
© 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

Physical scans

NAOMI version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
90 AllGame
100 №15, p103[3]
Arcade
95
Based on
2 reviews
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[4]
100 №226, p98-99[1]
100
90 №13
87 №2000-38, p20[5]
92
Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "'".
80 №88, p94/95[7]
83 №624, p33
98
95 2000-07-12
94 №98, p74/75
100 GamesRadar
94 2000-07-07
95 2000-09-12
100
90
95
100 2000-08-16
Sega Dreamcast
Expression error: Unexpected < operator.
Based on
19 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
576 Konzol (HU)
97
[8]
Ação Games (BR)
80
[9]
Arcade (UK) PAL
75
[4]
Bonus (YU) NTSC
91
[10]
Consoles + (FR) PAL
94
[11]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
100
[1]
Dreamcast Monthly (UK) PAL
90
[12]
DC-UK (UK) PAL
90
[13]
Dreamcast: Le Magazine Officiel (FR) PAL
90
[14]
Dreamcast Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
87
[15]
Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
94
[16]
Dorimaga (JP) NTSC-J
92
[17]
Edge (UK) NTSC-U
80
[7]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
83
[18]
Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast (RU)
79
[19]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
83
[20]
Fun Generation (DE) PAL
89
[21]
GameFan (US) NTSC-U
94
[22]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
95
[23]
Game Station (UK)
90
[24]
Gamers' Republic (US) NTSC-U
91
[25]
Hyper (AU) PAL
90
[26]
Joypad (FR) PAL
90
[27]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
87
[28]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
88
[29]
Neo Plus (PL)
90
[30]
Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
100
[31]
Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
90
[32]
Playmag (FR) PAL
90
[33]
Play (PL)
96
[34]
PSX Extreme (PL)
87
[35]
Power Unlimited (NL)
95
[36]
Sega Magazin (DE) NTSC-U
88
[37]
Strana Igr (RU)
90
[38]
Video Games (DE) PAL
87
[39]
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

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
89 30.04.2002
Windows PC
89
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Komputer Świat Gry (PL)
87
[40]
Windows PC
87
Based on
1 review

Virtua Tennis

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:EGM US 136.pdf, page 47
  3. File:Arcade UK 15.pdf, page 103
  4. 4.0 4.1 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
  5. File:DCM_JP_20001201_2000-38.pdf, page 20
  6. File:Dorimaga_20021011_JP.pdf, page 32
  7. 7.0 7.1 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
  8. 576 Konzol, "December 2000" (HU; 2000-xx-xx), page 42
  9. Ação Games, "Setembro 2000" (BR; 2000-xx-xx), page 65
  10. Bonus, "6/2000" (YU; 2000-08-25), page 50
  11. Consoles +, "Septembre 2000" (FR; 2000-0x-xx), page 66
  12. Dreamcast Monthly, "September 2000" (UK; 2000-08-03), page 66
  13. DC-UK, "September 2000" (UK; 2000-08-02), page 56
  14. Dreamcast: Le Magazine Officiel, "Septembre/Octobre 2000" (FR; 2000-0x-xx), page 54
  15. Dreamcast Magazine, "2000-38 (2000-12-01)" (JP; 2000-11-17), page 20
  16. Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 12" (UK; 2000-08-10), page 42
  17. Dorimaga, "2002-18 (2002-10-11)" (JP; 2002-09-27), page 32
  18. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "September 2000" (US; 2000-08-08), page 156
  19. Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast, "Izdaniye chetvertoye, dopolnennoye" (RU; 2002-xx-xx), page 293
  20. Famitsu, "2000-12-01" (JP; 2000-11-17), page 33
  21. Fun Generation, "09/2000" (DE; 2000-08-23), page 54
  22. GameFan, "Volume 8, Issue 9: September 2000" (US; 2000-xx-xx), page 86
  23. GamePro, "September 2000" (US; 2000-0x-xx), page 114
  24. Game Station (UK) (+0:00)
  25. Gamers' Republic, "August 2000" (US; 2000-xx-xx), page 83
  26. Hyper, "October 2000" (AU; 2000-08-23), page 68
  27. Joypad, "Septembre 2000" (FR; 2000-xx-xx), page 114
  28. MAN!AC, "09/2000" (DE; 2000-08-02), page 52
  29. Mega Fun, "09/2000" (DE; 2000-08-02), page 38
  30. Neo Plus, "Wrzesień 2000" (PL; 2000-xx-xx), page 32
  31. Next Generation, "September 2000" (US; 2000-08-15), page 107
  32. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "October 2000" (UK; 2000-09-07), page 66
  33. Playmag, "Septembre 2000" (FR; 2000-xx-xx), page 102
  34. Play, "Listopad 2000" (PL; 2000-xx-xx), page 20
  35. PSX Extreme, "03/2001" (PL; 2001-0x-xx), page 39
  36. Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 8, Nummer 9, September 2000" (NL; 2000-0x-xx), page 50
  37. Sega Magazin, "September 2000" (DE; 2000-07-31), page 14
  38. Strana Igr, "Avgust 2000 2/2" (RU; 2000-xx-xx), page 64
  39. Video Games, "09/2000" (DE; 2000-08-02), page 68
  40. Komputer Świat Gry, "Październik 2002" (PL; 2002-xx-xx), page 40



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)