The Collection Chamber: VIRTUA TENNIS

Virtua Tennis serves up great action!

Perfect your game, triumph in world tournaments, and propel yourself to the coveted #1 ranking in the world!
From the smash arcade hit!
Incredible 3D environments for the ULTIMATE tennis experience!
Simple controls make it easy to pick up and play!
7 internationally ranked men's tennis players!
Play on hard court, clay court, grass court, and carpet - each surface responds differently!
Deep strategies: Read your rival's game plan and adjust your tactics!
Supports 1 to 4 players
SEGA's awesome "Mini Games" included!

~ from the back of the box

So, Wimbledon came and went this past month, ending on July 13th with two champions from countries who've never won before. I got that nugget of info from the Wikipedia page as, to be completely honest, I don't much care for tennis. The closest I came to watching a full match was when Tim Henman became the British sporting superstar in the early 90's. With the exception of Andy Murray, I doubt I could name a single player since. So, when I say that Virtua Tennis is absolutely one of the most entertaining sports games I've ever played, that's one major compliment.

And the biggest reason for such high praise is SEGA. Back in arcades, it was one of the company's flagship titles that showcased the power of their NAOMI board. I was always drawn towards House of the Dead 2 or Crazy Taxi, but when Virtua Tennis came bundled with a Dreamcast, I gave it a shot and was hooked. Simple, sharp, and brutally addictive; SEGA knew what they were doing.

Unlike the Arcade game, you can choose your starting position on the home ports (left).
To serve, tap the button as your desired power. Hold left or right on the stick to aim (right).

Controls are dead simple - one button for standard shots, another for lobs, and a joystick or D-pad to move. That’s it. The PC port includes keyboard controls, but an X-Box joypad works just fine out of the box. In a world where sports sims can get bloated with analog stick flicks, right trigger modifiers, and menus full of sliders, Virtua Tennis strips it all down to the basics. The result? You can hand it to a friend who's never touched a video game in their life, and they'll be volleying like a pro in no time. But don't be fooled - beneath that simplicity is a sneaky amount of nuance, especially when you're learning how to place shots, time returns, and anticipate your opponent's next move.

The multiplayer is the secret weapon here. Grab a few friends, and it becomes one of the best couch-competitive games on SEGA's little grey box. No chaos, no confusing HUD, just pure one-on-one (or two-on-two) tension that can flip in a second. Unlike party games where skill gaps ruin the fun, Virtua Tennis levels the playing field. It doesn't matter if your friend plays sports games religiously or not at all - it's a brawl of button presses, and everyone has a shot at glory. Perhaps that's why I like it so much.

The World Circuit campaign offers a globe-spanning trip of trials and tournaments (left).
Earn money from them to buy unlockable players and outfits that weren't found in the Arcade (right).

The full arcade tournament appears in the home releases, but that's not all. Exhibition mode lets you customise every facet of your game for a single match against up to three other players, whether they are real or computer controlled. The digital players have decent AI that can be brutal as the difficulty rises. You may be tempted to go to the options menu and change the difficulty to easy - and this setting does offers an mild challenge - but I recommend you play as anything higher. Rallies are instantly more exciting with trick shots and near missed that get the blood pumping as much as a stretch on the court, though expect to see a few more losses on your rap sheet.

The new World Circuit mode is where you can find the real meat for single players. It takes the arcade gameplay and stretches it out into a full career journey, complete with goofy training mini-games that feel more like WarioWare than Wimbledon. One moment you're serving balls into buckets, the next you're aiming to take down bowling pins with a serve. Accompanying this is a series of singles and doubles matches that earn you big money should you win. And you'll want to win too, for this is how you claim unlockables. Along with the original 8 players (which includes my man Tim Henman), you can unlock a further 8 to play as is all other modes. No idea who any of them are, but they hail from countries such as Canada, India and Japan.

The World Circuit's trials offer some of SEGA's usual arcadey invention. In the time given,
knock down bowling pins (left), return the right coloured balls or hit numbered targets (right).

Unfortunately, the PC port - which came to market two years after the Dreamcast release - denies Australians of Mark Philippoussis thanks to pesky "licencing issues". All the more frustrating is that this version is otherwise the better version to play on modern systems. It may look and plays identical to the Dreamcast original but the slowdown issues it had at launch are gone thanks to the extra processing power we have now, and the implementation of a robust widescreen patch is pure heaven. Alas, widescreen hacks for the console and arcade games introduce annoying pop-ins at the edge of the screen so I don't recommend turning them on. I may have devoured the Dreamcast GD-ROM back in the early 2000's, but today I spent most of my time playing the PC port. Either way, you can't go wrong regardless.

Visually, Virtua Tennis a time capsule of turn-of-the-millennium graphics. Characters are slightly bug-eyed and angular and in dire need of moisturiser, but charming in that Dreamcast-era fashion. Courts are surprisingly detailed, from the shadows of clouds passing overhead, to the dusty bounce of a clay court. Replays come with motion blur and slow-mo that made every point feel like it belonged in a Nike commercial, even if they don't appear in the long list of the game's sponsors. The crowd looks like it's made of cardboard, but honestly, it only adds to the charm.

As someone who usually avoids anything where balls fly directly at my face, I can confidently say that Virtua Tennis is one of those rare sports games that transcends its genre. You don't need to know the difference between clay and grass courts to get hooked. All you need is a working thumb and a little curiosity. SEGA didn't just make a good tennis game, they made a great video game. And that's what really matters.

To download the Windows version, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses dgVoodoo to run on modern systems. The presence of a real or virtual CD drive may be required to play. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 185 Mb. Install Size: 316 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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To download Arcade and Console versions, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses Retroarch with the Flycast core to emulate the SEGA Dreamcast and NAOMI arcade machines. X-input controllers supported. Manuals included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 337 Mb. Install Size: 487 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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WINDOWS

ARCADE

DREAMCAST

WINDOWS