Virtua Tennis
From Sega Retro
Virtua Tennis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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System(s): Sega NAOMI, Sega NAOMI GD-ROM, Sega Dreamcast, Windows PC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: Sega, Empire Interactive (EU), Activision (US) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Developer: Sega AM3, Hitmaker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peripherals supported: Dreamcast VGA Box, Dreamcast Jump Pack, Dreamcast Arcade Stick, Dreamcast Keyboard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre: Sports | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of players: 1-4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.
Contents
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) | |
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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[6].
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
also published in:
- Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #134: "September 2000" (2000-08-08)[7]
also published in:
- Dreamcast Magazine (JP) #2000-38: "2000-38 (2000-12-01)" (2000-11-17)[8]
Artwork
Physical scans
NAOMI version
Sega Retro Average | ||||||
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Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination |
100 |
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Based on 1 review |
Dreamcast version
Sega Retro Average | ||||||||||||
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Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination |
91 |
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Based on 12 reviews |
Dreamcast, US (Sega All Stars) |
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PC version
PC, UK (Xplosiv) |
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PC, FR |
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PC, DE (Xplosiv) |
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PC, ES (Xplosiv) |
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PC, IT (Xplosiv Gold) |
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External links
References
- ↑ File:DCM_JP_20000526_2000-18.pdf, page 151
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:CVG UK 226.pdf, page 98
- ↑ File:ODCM US 07.pdf, page 40
- ↑ File:ODCM US 07.pdf, page 91
- ↑ File:Hyper AU 084.pdf, page 68
- ↑ File:EGM US 136.pdf, page 47
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "September 2000" (US; 2000-08-08), page 134
- ↑ Dreamcast Magazine, "2000-38 (2000-12-01)" (JP; 2000-11-17), page 2
- ↑ File:Arcade UK 15.pdf, page 103
- ↑ File:Arcade UK 23.pdf, page 82
- ↑ File:DCM_JP_20001201_2000-38.pdf, page 20
- ↑ File:Dorimaga_20021011_JP.pdf, page 32
- ↑ File:Edge UK 088.pdf, page 94
- ↑ File:ODM UK 12.pdf, page 66
Games in the Virtua Tennis Series | |
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Virtua Tennis (1999) | Virtua Tennis 2 (2001) | Virtua Tennis 3 (2006) | Virtua Tennis 4 (2011) | |
Virtua Tennis (2000) | Virtua Tennis 2 (2001) | |
Virtua Tennis (2002) | Virtua Tennis 3 (2007) | Virtua Tennis 2009 (2009) | Virtua Tennis 4 (2011) | |
Virtua Tennis 2 (2002) | |
Virtua Tennis (2002) | |
Virtua Tennis (2003) | |
Virtua Tennis: World Tour (2005) | Virtua Tennis 3 (2007) | |
Virtua Tennis 3 (2007) | Virtua Tennis 2009 (2009) | Virtua Tennis 4 (2011) | |
Virtua Tennis 2009 (2009) | Virtua Tennis 4 (2011) | |
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition (2011) | |
Virtua Tennis Challenge (2012) | Virtua Tennis Challenge Free (2012) | |
Sampler Discs | |
Power Smash Taikenban (20xx) | Power Smash 2 Taikenban (20xx) |
- Dreamcast Arcade Stick-compatible games
- Dreamcast Keyboard-compatible games
- Dreamcast VGA Box-compatible games
- 1-4 player games
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- JP NAOMI games
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- NAOMI games
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- Credits without source
- GalleryPrintAd file defined
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- Rating without PDF source
- Rating without source
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- Virtua Tennis (franchise)
- NAOMI GD-ROM games