Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Despite our enthusiasm (and the enthusiasm of Sega fanboys everywhere) over Sega Superstars Tennis, a release that drips with fan service, the game failed to inspire consumers to rush out and buy the game like they did with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games? Not enough Mario, perhaps? Or olympics?

Whatever the case, slow sales for the tennis title has given GameStop early cause to slash its prices for Sega Superstars Tennis across all platforms, and you can now buy the Wii game for as little as $19.99. It's a great bargain, considering the game was released only a month ago! You can order Sega Superstars Tennis through GameStop's online shop, but why not save a few bucks and pick it up at one of the retailer's local stores?


[Via GameStop circular]

Sega's decision to release Sega Superstars Tennis in March was a bold one: Many companies moved their releases out of the way of Nintendo's major offering -- and those games aren't competitive multiplayer games starring a cast of iconic video game company mascots from different games, battling on a variety of stages inspired by the games from whence the characters came.

No, we don't think Sega Superstars Tennis is a direct response to or an attempt to compete with Super Smash Bros. Brawl -- if it were, we wouldn't see Sonic in Nintendo's game. Sega Superstars Tennis is a smaller release, meant, we would guess, to bridge the gap between "casual gamers" and Sega superfans. Or, to be more cynical, to be a Virtua Tennis sequel without the likeness rights. Did Sega and Sumo Digital serve up an ace or a fault? Or is the game best analogized by some other tennis term? The reviews seem to range from the ecstatic to the nonplussed. Hit the post break for reviewers' opinions!

Sega just served up more footage of Sega Superstars Tennis, and all the ingredients are in place for one of the most quintessentially Sega experiences in years: cartoon monkeys called Amigo, blue skies, Ulala, and Sonic's horrible voice. Playing tennis to a rousing rendition of Samba de Janeiro, even in videogame form, feels a bit weird, but we strongly suspect we won't care!

Past the break: footage of Ulala playing on home territory. The resolution of the video isn't the best, but we're sure she plays a shot through her legs, a la Martina Navratilova!

Whatever you think of Sega's output since the Dreamcast bowed out of the industry, Sega titles have a history of containing outstanding minigames. Remember how you once skipped three days of university to ace every minigame in Crazy Taxi, or how you would turn down nights out with friends because you wanted to knock down giant skittles in Virtua Tennis? Well, probably not, because those are my memories, but you get the picture.

Anyway, Sega Superstars Tennis looks like it will resurrect this proud tradition of awesome minigames. They're full of very Sega-esque tasks, from collecting golden rings to fending off the living dead to guiding mice into rockets. All of which is enough to make us forgive the game's other imperfections, like the lack of online play, or NiGHTS' plainly ludicrous voice. Go past the break to see why we're looking forward to playing minigames on the Wii again!

We know that Sega Superstars Tennis is a tennis game with a bunch of Sega folks in it, but until now we haven't known much else. How would the Wii controls work? What kind of special powers can each character use? CVG sat down with Sumo Digital to discuss the Wii version and get some specifics.

First, and most important for distinguishing between the Wii and other versions, the controls. SST will in fact use a motion-based control setup. As Sumo describes it: "We take the Wii remote's speed and direction and use this to determine the shot you get. But of course, as with real tennis, the better your timing, the better the shot you'll do." With somewhat direct translation between movement and in-game response, this sounds much more Wii Sports and less Rockstar Table Tennis.

The developers also revealed some of the minigame options, which are unsurprisingly based on Sega classics, and can be played single- or multiplayer. They described a Space Harrier game in which the player hits tennis balls at the arcade game's enemies, and a Puyo Puyo game involving a wall of Puyos that must be cleared with tennis balls. In addition, new screenshots (in our gallery) reveal a House of the Dead zombie-killing minigame, and Sonic, Chu Chu Rocket, Super Monkey Ball and Jet Set Radio minigames that we don't quite understand. The screens don't depict the Wii version, but they illustrate new gameplay elements and that is important.

Finally, a couple of new characters were revealed, with an indication that some were still being kept under wraps. In addition to the ones we've seen, Shadow the Hedgehog, Reala from NiGHTS, and Gum from Jet Set Radio will be playable.

If, like us, Sega Superstars Tennis has driven you into a tennis frenzy (a "tenzy"), you will be very happy to gawk at these new screenshots. If you're not into tennis, but all about Sega (which we were until Sega convinced us fully) you can enjoy picking out characters in the background of the Jet Set Radio stage.

In this screenshot, there's an obvious police contingent surrounding the stage, leading us to wonder if they're there to spectate or if Captain Onishima will be arresting us for playing tennis. And on the right side: Jet Set Radio one-punch knockout broadcaster Professor K! In another screenshot, you can see the jumpsuited GG, Tab. We love you, Sega Superstars Tennis, for looking like Jet Set Radio sometimes. You can also check out a bit of character art here.

Come on, Sega. We're doing our very best to love your new mascot tennis game, and for the most part it's been quite easy. Putting wonderful Sega characters into a wonderful Sega tennis game (Virtua Tennis) is exactly what we'd ask for if we were asked, and if we were clever enough to think of it. Virtua Tennis is excellent enough when it's all boring humans, and can only be made better with space reporters and two different varieties of cartoon monkey.

But the European boxart for Sega Superstars Tennis dampens even our enthusiasm somewhat. We understand the reasoning (he's very popular) but we still would have chosen not to put that hedgehog front and center. But in their zeal to sell this to Everybody, Sega has failed to emphasize the most amazing thing about the game: the wide variety of Seganess found within. And in so doing, they've given a bland box to what looks like an extraordinarily jubilant game.

Some other characters are indeed on the box (in the area not taken up by Sonic), but where's Beat? Where's NiGHTS? Where's Alex Kidd (who we have yet to see)? Where are the wacky Sega backdrops? With the Sonic-themed stage (which looks the most like a normal, boring tennis court of any of them) and the centered Sonic, somebody could walk by and mistake this for a Sonic Tennis, which nobody wants.

[Via GamesPress]

The trailer for Sega Superstars Tennis. This thing is brutally insane. Beat's all skating up a tree and flying 50 feet into the air to return a shot, Dr. Eggman's got multiple bionic rackets, and Sonic does a loop at super-speed to build up momentum for his return, after rescuing Amigo from a potentially fatal fall.

We want to play the trailer. There's no way any of this awesome stuff is going to happen in the game. It's all going to be Sega characters playing tennis, with, like, a few special moves. Not that that isn't great, it's just not ... brutally insane.

Oh. Em. Gee. Okay, that Start sign looks awfully familiar. And those "left turn" signs? The palm trees? Yep, a closer look confirms it: Sega Superstars Tennis will have an OutRun stage, hopefully with majestic red Ferraris roaring past as you play.

For veteran Sega fans such as ourselves, this kind of fan service is irresistible. First the Shibuya bus terminal, and now this. The only possible downer? Due to its high resolution, we suspect this screenshot is from the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions of the game. That's not to say we won't get an OutRun stage in the Wii version, but please understand, Sega: we need this.

Hit the break for a couple more shots of the court.

IGN posted an interview with Sumo Digital's Omar Woodley which finally reveals some details about the Wii-specific version of Sega Superstars Tennis. If you want to hear about the different control options and the screen resolution and stuff, we suggest you click over to the link and check that out, because we can't focus on that right now in the post.

Because we saw a Jet Set Radio stage. And we also saw Beat as one of the playable characters. Look at that, it's the Shibuya bus terminal and it looks just like in the game and oh man we're hyperventilating and this is awesome SEGA IS AWESOME AND SO IS LIFE. As of right now, we're kicking off a Matt C.-Zack-and-Wiki-style campaign to promote this game -- except it's not enough for you to buy just one copy. Buy one copy for every system, even if you don't have that system. Buy it for your friends, buy it for your mom, and buy it for your dog. It is very important that Sega knows that they need to be spending their time filling our lives with more Jet Set Radio.