SEGA Superstars Tennis

It's been a while, but there's a little blue hedgehog that's proven he too knows how to party hardy. Sega Superstars Tennis is another gathering that’ll leave the cleaning grew with questions like, “What’s that smell?” and “Did you use permanent spray paint!?”

The game introduces you to numerous wacky and unlikely events where Sonic and Dr. Eggman are not exclusively enemies. They could be partners in a game of doubles where the once-harmless Ulala and that guy from Jet Set Radio unleash their tenacious tennis skills. Losing to them is embarrassing until you discover that your other opponents include Tails and a monkey that used to live in a clear ball. Now losing to Ulala seems perfectly normal. Losing to Tails – that would be embarrassing.

The court designs of Sega Superstars Tennis are something every gamer can appreciate, even those who don’t consider themselves fans of the entire Sega brand. Every part of Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Monkey Ball, Space Channel 5, Jet Set Radio, Samba De Amigo, The House of the Dead, and other Sega classics are represented with courts and characters. The courts are enhanced with familiar sounds and mini-game bonuses while the character lineup has been given trademark elements (ex: Sonic can take on his golden transformation from the Sonic Adventure series).

Not Quite Virtua Tennis

Sega Superstars Tennis is divided into two styles of gameplay: mini-games and actual tennis. The latter is something you can have anytime you want in single- or multiplayer exhibition games. If you’ve been craving more Virtua Tennis excitement, this game won’t be overly fulfilling. Its speed is respectable, and the character animations provide some visual enjoyment.

But the game is basically complex; simple enough to pick up and play but annoying in its use of a two-button attack system. When I say “attack,” I’m referring to topspin and slice shots, which are assigned to the X and square buttons. To lob, you’d think the circle or triangle button would come into play. That’s not the case. You’ll have to first press the X button, making the game think you’re going to swing a topspin. To properly educate the game, you must quickly follow up with a tap of the square button. For drop shots, reverse those actions.

These aren’t difficult moves to pull off, but it leads to some difficult situations. Since the game has to assume an awful lot before each move is executed, you won’t get a swing out of every button tap. The ball must be directly in front of you for anything to happen. I know it might sound crazy to swing when the ball isn’t there yet, but would you want a baseball game to include this restriction? If not, why should a tennis game? I want to believe there’s a chance my racquet will connect with the ball. But if the game won’t even let me try, then I can only believe it’ll happen when it’s absolutely meant to, leaving no room for experimentation.

And what about those mini-games? They make up the bulk of the Superstars mode, a quest made specially for single players.

Mini-Lame

Virtua Tennis wasn’t solely the best in tennis gameplay. It also called upon the gaming wizards and witches to cast spells and create potions that would lead to an impeccable mini-game collection. Whether trying to hit specific targets or battle over-sized tennis balls, the mini-games were positively addicting – and in position to make anyone an addict.

Sega Superstars Tennis doesn’t recycle bits of the past, which came as a disappointment but was also intriguing. If the developers had to start from scratch, what amazing things might they be able to cook up?

But it seems that was wishful thinking. To the developers’ credit, these mini-games feature the basics of the games they’re based on (Sonic, The House of the Dead, etc.). In Green Hill Zone, a classic Sonic stage re-created as a tennis court for this game, players must collect rings. Lots of rings. An endless amount of rings that, as soon as they’ve been collected, leads to another large amount of rings.

When hitting the court of Golden Axe or The House of the Dead, players must clear the court of zombies by hitting them with tennis balls. In the colorful world of Jet Set Radio, you’ll collect spray cans – lots and lots of spray cans.

In theory, these mini-games are inventive. In graphics, they mirror the magic of the Sega games we’ve been playing and loving for over 10 years. But in execution they are unforgivably mundane. When Sonic collects rings in this game, he’s performing a common Sonic task without any of his common moves, mechanics or environments. His tennis controls are great during the tennis portions of the game but feel slow when doing anything else.

Painfully, this is spread across all of the mini-games. But even with every classic move, Sonic would still be confined to one half of a tennis court. The game tries to liven the experience by adding energy ball-shooting robots that knock you out of the game in one hit. That, unfortunately, only makes the mini-game that much harder to endure. You’re already bored by its objectives (and the fact that it won’t go away), and now you’ve got to re-play one of them because of a robot – an addition that was supposed to increase the challenge but instead increases your distaste for the entire single-player quest.