Ever since the first Virtua Tennis appeared on the ill-fated Dreamcast, the series has broken the rules of the sports genre - by appealing not only to dedicated followers of Tim Henman's annual crash and burn, but also to a vast audience of people whose first reaction to Wimbledon is to frantically stab the remote control in the hope of finding repeats of Airwolf on UK Gold instead. Given this success, it's in some respects astonishing that Sega has managed to avoid the conventional sports game approach of the annual update, instead launching only two iterations to date - but that, perhaps, reflects the company's understanding of its market. Football fans may buy into annual updates of their favourite games - but if Virtua Tennis' fanbase is made up of people who are not, by conventional definition, tennis fans, then an annual update could actually kill the series. Clever chaps, those SEGA boys.
Sega's prominent tennis sim just couldn't be beat. And then vanished without a trace. Why?
Answer: Sega.
You could change the name of the game in the title that was awesome in its day, could still be around today because of its fun factor with a remake, remaster or sequel, that's in their huge back catalog, that's no longer being produced as a franchise. And the answer would still be the same: Sega.
As much as I love their games and their spunky attitude. That Sega no longer exists that I grew up with. The current company is a mere shadow of its former self with only a few moments of grandeur. Which is why owning their previous consoles like Dreamcast, is a necessary thing if you want to continue playing games like Virtua Tennis. The reason why I have two of them just in case one stops working. And of course emulation on the go. Wink. Dreams do come in red.
Both Virtua Tennis and Top Spin have gone. It’s annoying for tennis game players.
I used to play tennis IRL and in videogames. My 2-cents is that a boring game that was simulating an extremely boring sport, was thrown under the rug, now that the devs can produce more complex and interesting games.
It's like the tetris-like games and games like space-invaders, that stopped being produced ... it is because they were good and simple to make in the early days of commercial videogame development but they are just not as interesting as, let's say, an open-world coop arpg ...
This VS is pure emotional, physical and mental volleying.
OPM: Thousands of Brits will be inspired to pick up a racket this week on the back of Andy Murray’s success at Wimbledon – but in this heat, and given our hand-eye co-co-ordination, we’ll be sticking to the virtual type. Looking to fill your week with some ace-smashing antics? Then join us in revisiting PlayStation’s finest tennis efforts…
cant wait to play it
My only gripe with the last one is the load times and the lack of player customization. Hopefully they fix it.
works well with the 360 version, then I am very much sold. I still hope they support 4 players offline too. We better have some better gear and outfits to choose from this go around. Now Sega, get to work on Daytona for our next generation machines.