Let’s find out together, in this dedicated article, which are the most popular tennis video games of all time: from Mario to Wii Sports!
In recent times there has been an increasingly greater interest in tennis in the world and also in Italy. An approach to this sport which in our country has also been favored by the extraordinary successes of Jannik Sinner, now at the top of the rankings and constantly among the favorites to win prestigious tournaments according to the predictions and also according to the specific odds on tennis matches. And when a sport becomes popular, the “related activities” associated with it also grow, from technical clothing to schools, right up to gaming. Football has enjoyed numerous video game simulations since the dawn of time, but tennis also boasts several titles that have made history from this point of view.
One of the most famous tennis-themed video games of all time is identified in “Virtua Tennis 4”, the latest exponent of the “Virtua Tennis” series, which was a hit in arcades in the past thanks to SEGA. At the end of the 90s the saga also arrived on consoles thanks to the Dreamcast, and then continued comfortably on other platforms. The game’s layout has always been based on arcades, requiring the use of a very limited number of buttons. A title within everyone’s reach, therefore, which allowed you to develop your own gameplay style, despite the limited options. The graphics also played their part, contributing to the success of the series. “Virtua Tennis 4” is the most recent chapter to have been published to date, precisely at the time of the PlayStation 3 generation. Since 2011, fans have been anxiously awaiting a continuation of the series.
The counterpart of “Virtua Tennis” has always been “Top Spin”, which debuted on the first Xbox way back in 2003 and only arrived later on the PlayStation 2. The developers’ goal was to bring out more faithful and realistic gameplay compared to that offered by “Virtua Tennis”, also taking advantage of the licenses to exploit the image of real tennis players. The gameplay is clearly different from that of the rival game: the athletes guided with the controller even have their own energy reserve which is consumed by running along the field and hitting the ball. “Top Spin” has always been credited with having reinvented video game tennis, involving that segment of users who had never tried a title dedicated to this sport. This series also stopped at the fourth chapter, again in 2011.
However, the person who continued to bring the atmosphere of tennis matches to consoles was none other than Super Mario, Nintendo’s iconic mustachioed plumber. Mario has often been the protagonist of some spin-off games, many of which are dedicated to individual sports. After the unfortunate experiment of “Mario’s Tennis” on the Virtual Boy, the series took hold with “Mario Tennis” on the Nintendo 64, in the mid-90s, modernizing itself more and more between Gamecube, Wii and Wii U, until reaching “ Mario Tennis Aces” released for Switch. In the Mario universe there are not only the classic rules of tennis, but the various characters, who stand out for their abilities such as speed or power, are equipped with personalized moves that allow more powerful rackets or saves that would otherwise be impossible. Another difference compared to other tennis video games lies in the presence of rather imaginative modes, more or less different between all the chapters of the “Mario Tennis” series. The latest title does not lack a sort of adventure which sees Mario engaged in the search for his brother Luigi, who disappeared during a tournament.
If we talk about Nintendo, however, worthy mention undoubtedly also goes to “Wii Sports”, a real collection of sports-themed minigames which received considerable acclaim thanks to the inclusion of tennis. On the other hand, the Wii included the so-called “Wiimote”, which allowed you to guide the characters on the screen through the movements of your body and not necessarily by pressing a series of buttons on a controller. Consequently, the gaming experience rendered by “Wii Sports” allowed tennis fans to reach heights of realism never reached before, because the sensation was that of representing tennis players in first person. It is no coincidence that “Mario Power Tennis”, already released for the Gamecube, was revived on the Wii precisely to take advantage of this specific control system. In 2009 “Wii Sports” even became the best-selling video game of all time and still today occupies very high positions in the rankings of the most popular titles. Above there are only “GTA V”, “Minecraft” and “Tetris”, which however were distributed on multiple platforms.