Developers: Ultimate Games
Publishers: Ultimate Games
Platforms: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Super Tennis – Review
Sports games tend to be similar in gameplay. For example, tennis games will make you run after the tennis ball, swinging the racket in the correct way to get that perfect angle to throw off your opponent. But, what if it could be a lot easier? What if you just had to press some buttons to finish off the opposing team? It’s the only thing you have to do in Super Tennis, so get those fingers ready for some button action.
Story
If you were looking for some background or anything story-related, you won’t find much in this title. The only thing is that you can enter several cups and fight your way to victory by defeating all of your opponents in a match of tennis. Nothing more and nothing less. In a way, it would have been nice if there was at least some story value, but as it’s mostly a game you’ll play whenever you have five minutes of time, it’s just a minor thing.
Graphics
With Super Tennis, you’ll be teleported back to the good ol’ days where pixelated characters and backgrounds were the only possibilities. Colorful tennis courts with matching players will dart across your screen and even though everything is in a retro style, the several characters have quite detailed outfits. The developers did their best to provide a variety of different costumes and environments for you to enjoy. The audience might’ve benefitted with a bit more attention as now they’re just flat and melted with the tribune.
Sound
Whenever you start the game, you’re greeted by a more upbeat song that will get you in the mood for some ball-smashing. If you were hoping to have some more songs though, you’ll be disappointed as this is the only one you’ll hear, ever. During the matches, no music is playing and the audience is silent, except the remarks of the commentator. One of the things that is worth mentioning is that this guy throws out random sentences. This might seem nice at first but you’ll notice quite fast that these lines are looped and recurring fast as the commentator talks a lot. So be prepared to face a lot of these comments while fighting your way to the top.
Gameplay
Super Tennis is a sports game with quite a unique way of playing. Instead of running around yourself, trying to get to the ball in time, you need to complete a button sequence that pops on the screen. Do this correctly and a meter at the top of the screen will increase. If you’re able to fill it completely, you win the match. It’s as easy as that.
There are several matches for you to play before you get to the champion of that court, the supreme leader you got to beat. There is a catch though. If you lose one of the matches, you start back at the bottom of the roster and you need to fight your way back up. The developers did add a nifty thing, namely that you can buy a save point after a battle, meaning that you can start over from that spot instead of the bottom. This cost a bit of money though, but nothing you can’t earn by beating others.
Of course, one of the important questions is: when do you exactly lose a match? In this game, you have to play by pressing the right sequence that is shown on the screen. You can make one mistake, jumping to the next button in line. If you make two mistakes, it’s game over and you’re out of the game. Completely. Done. This might sound rather brutal, especially as the sequences get longer and faster, but there is a small backdoor. If you’re almost at the end of the sequence and time is out, you won’t fill the bar but you don’t get kicked out either. So this might be a lifesaver sometimes.
Next to buying savepoints, you can also try to get some other costumes for your tennis player. A lot of them can also be won by defeating that specific character on the tennis court. Some of these characters might be harder to get as there are three different kinds of difficulty and the roster you have to beat gets longer as well. If you want to try something else, there is also a world ranking mode or more like an endless trial where you got to keep on hitting the ball.
Conclusion
Super Tennis is a fun game if you have some time to kill and you’re into button sequences .. a lot. The graphics will take you back in time, while the only track is fun to listen to, the only downside is the repeating lines of the commentator and how they get on your nerves rather fast. The gameplay is simple enough and although there is no narrative, you’ll enjoy it whenever you have some spare time.
Super Tennis - Review,
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