Virtua Tennis

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Virtua Tennis
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
Release Date RRP Code JP 1999-12 ¥? 840-0015C US 1999 $? 840-0015C JP 2000-11-23 ¥5,8005,800 HDR-0113 US 2000-07 $49.9949.99 51054 US (Sega All Stars) 200x 51054 EU 2000-09-08 MK-51054-50 AU 2000 $89.9589.95 JP 2002-07-11 ¥6,800 (7,140)6,800 (7,140) HCJ-0326 US 2002 EU 2002 EI-1439 EU (Xplosiv) 200x
ESRB Sega PEGI ELSPA USK OFLC aDeSe SELL ESRA DJCTQ

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.

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

Print advert in GamePro (US) #143: "August 2000" (2000-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #134: "September 2000" (2000-08-08)

Print advert in Dreamcast Magazine (JP) #2000-36ex: "2000-36 extra (2000-11-17ex)" (2000-11-03)
also published in:

• Dreamcast Magazine (JP) #2000-38: "2000-38 (2000-12-01)" (2000-11-17)

Print advert in MAN!AC (DE) #2000-10: "10/2000" (2000-09-06)

Artwork

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Physical scans

NAOMI version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Arcade (UK) 100 №15, p103

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination	100
Based on 1 review

NAOMI, JP
Cart

Dreamcast version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Arcade (UK) 80 №23, p82/83 Computer & Video Games (UK) 100 №226, p98-99 DC-UK (UK) 90 №13 Dreamcast Magazine (JP) 87 №2000-38, p20 Dreamcast Magazine (readers) (JP) 92 №, p32 Edge (UK) 80 №88, p94/95 Famitsu (JP) 83 №624, p33 GameFan (US) 98 GamePro (US) 95 2000-07-12 GamesMaster (UK) 94 №98, p74/75 Next Generation (US) 100 Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) 90 №12, p66-70

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination	91
Based on 12 reviews

Dreamcast, US
Cover
Disc Inlay

Dreamcast, US (Sega All Stars)
Cover
Disc

Dreamcast, EU
Cover
Disc

Dreamcast, JP
Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Cover

Dreamcast, EU (white label)
Disc

PC version

PC, US
Cover
Disc

PC, JP
Cover

PC, UK
Cover

PC, UK (Xplosiv)
Cover

PC, FR

PC, DE
Cover

PC, DE (Xplosiv)
Cover

PC, ES
Cover

PC, ES (FX)
Cover
Disc

PC, ES (Xplosiv)
Cover

PC, IT (Xplosiv Gold)

PC, SE/NO/FI/DK (PC Best Buy)
Cover

External links

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

References

Games in the Virtua Tennis Series
	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)