What happened to Tennis Video Games?

Frenchy-Player

Frenchy-Player

Hall of Fame
Sorry i don't find a section about this, i had fun with vitua tennis on PS3, even it was really oriented arcade, many people loved Top spin, but recently i tried the first A.O tennis, and Tennis world tour 2 (without Djovovic probably too expensive ?) these games are bad.

It's 2021 and when you create your character for the Career Mode :oops:

creator-1024x576.jpg
 
Frenchy-Player

Frenchy-Player

Hall of Fame
Jonesy said:
Perhaps they make bad tennis video games so people keep playing real tennis.
Click to expand...

Mission accomplished ! and yes A.O is horrible, the "timing system" is not fun , I think the problem is the tennis isn’t as popular as basket or soccer, so there's no big studio interested.
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
Honestly I’m not sure a good tennis game is even possible

there’s no good way I can think of to simulate the inherent risk of going for aggressive forcing shots in a video game, short of constant ‘timing bars’ - and that mechanism gets old very quickly - would anyone play Madden if you were just kicking field goals using timing bars all day? - and if you’re not going to use timing bars, how else do you program whether an aggressive shot pays off or not?
 
MeatTornado

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
Been playing World Tour 2 for the last few days since it was free on PS+ and my god its just as bad as I remember when I pre-ordered the first game years ago and then had to sell it back after a day.

It just sucks that tennis has become too niche a sport for big publishers to take a risk on being able to monetize it in today's huge budget games that rely on microtransactions to subsidize the ever increasing cost of development.
 
Terenigma

Terenigma

G.O.A.T.
Oh this is such a great topic because i've wanted people to rant to. I got tennis world tour 2 with PS+ like y'all and i want to enjoy it but its so bad. The AI is atrocious, the better the serve you hit, the easier (and better) the AI seems to hit it back. Like i do better when i go for a "safe" serve than i do going full speed perfect timing one. Also i HATE the cards feature. Also Murray is DLC (LOL)

I have virtua tennis 4 on VITA and it's still 1000x better than this world tour trash. Tennis games used to be good (or tolerable) like 10-15 years ago but now they're so bad.
 
Frenchy-Player

Frenchy-Player

Hall of Fame
I'm here too cause Tennis world tour 2 with the PS+ :-D I just imagine the people who paid full price for the game, the card system is a great idea too :rolleyes: with the good card and the good player you can make 190 mph service.
 
Terenigma

Terenigma

G.O.A.T.
mikej said:
Honestly I’m not sure a good tennis game is even possible
Click to expand...

I think the problem with tennis games in general is getting the licence to use the names and likeness of the famous players. To be perfectly frank what tennis world tour 2 does at it's core would work for the most part. You've got your basic "Short/Mid/Deep" court directions and a button prompts for Flat/Slice/Topspin with dropshots/lobs and they've got a timing mechanic for when you hit the ball and to be perfectly frank, that's all you really need. It's just implemented so incredibly badly in that paticular game that it is utterly trash.

I wish they would just stop trying to go for licences or do what pro evo does and make the teams, put their likenesses and a decent create-a-player mode but don't give them official names. Like have a player who looks like Federer but call him Bob Johnson so real tennis fans can simply edit his real name and enjoy the game as normal.
 
Milehigh5280

Milehigh5280

Professional
I bought AO2 recently because it was on sale. I won't say I love it, but I've been playing it a lot. I guess I need something to fill the void. I had really low expectations going in, so I think that helped me from not completely hating it.

It's a shame 2k sports never followed up with a sequel to top spin 4. They just released a golf game, so idk why they can't develop a new tennis game
 
Jokervich

Jokervich

Hall of Fame
Did anyone used to play Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 for the PS2? I never had anyone to play multiplayer who could give me a good match :(
 
N01E

N01E

Hall of Fame
Tennis Elbow beats everything pretty easily. The first tennis world tour is by far the worst tennis game I have ever played (maybe with the exception of some NES/SNES ones). The first AO Tennis after all patches is pretty underrated imo. Drop shots are completely broken (especially at the net), but it's solid from the baseline and better than top spin 4 in that department (which was simply about getting a better angle 90% of the time). Even though they couldn't get the license for some players they had their names recorded and allowed for all the faces, clothing and logo customs to make up for it (so the end result is actually better than the first twt). Offline it's completely useless though as difficulty changes timing (WTF) more than the actual AI.

Terenigma said:
I have virtua tennis 4 on VITA and it's still 1000x better than this world tour trash. Tennis games used to be good (or tolerable) like 10-15 years ago but now they're so bad.
Click to expand...
Hidden gem. They completely reworked (fixed) physics for vita version and even improved the graphics (everything looking less "plasticky"). PS3/X360/PC release was awful (couldn't even skip cutscenes online).
 
Open Stance

Open Stance

Professional
I thought the EA Tennis game on the original Wii (Grand Slam Tennis?) was pretty good. ‘Swinging’ the controller was a novel way controlling the strokes. Decent selection of current and past players. My favorite part of the game was when McEnroe would slam his racket after losing a point.
 
Sir Weed

Sir Weed

Hall of Fame
mikej said:
Honestly I’m not sure a good tennis game is even possible

there’s no good way I can think of to simulate the inherent risk of going for aggressive forcing shots in a video game, short of constant ‘timing bars’ - and that mechanism gets old very quickly - would anyone play Madden if you were just kicking field goals using timing bars all day? - and if you’re not going to use timing bars, how else do you program whether an aggressive shot pays off or not?
Click to expand...

That's the best tennis video game I've come across til now.
 
ibbi

ibbi

G.O.A.T.
I like the AO tennis games a lot! You have to download one of the rosters of created players, but if you do that it's all there.

The Grand Slam Tennis on the Wii was pretty fun too, but if you're going to do that you might as well go out and play it for real :-D
 
C

ChrisRF

Legend
PilotPete said:
Best game is Tennis Elbow.
Click to expand...
It’s actually the only tennis game close to being realistic. The volleys still suck though.

And a patch version of it has almost all players and venues, which is very important for me. I don’t like playing fictitious characters and tournaments. Many Players from the past are included too.
 
P

PilotPete

Hall of Fame
ChrisRF said:
It’s actually the only tennis game close to being realistic. The volleys still suck though.

And a patch version of it has almost all players and venues, which is very important for me. I don’t like playing fictitious characters and tournaments. Many Players from the past are included too.
Click to expand...

Yeah true, those patches make it pretty damn realistic. Federer and Nadal in one of the patches (I believe ITST?) is amazing.
 
NatF

NatF

Bionic Poster
MeatTornado said:
Been playing World Tour 2 for the last few days since it was free on PS+ and my god its just as bad as I remember when I pre-ordered the first game years ago and then had to sell it back after a day.

It just sucks that tennis has become too niche a sport for big publishers to take a risk on being able to monetize it in today's huge budget games that rely on microtransactions to subsidize the ever increasing cost of development.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've been playing it for the first time. Can't get into it.

Tennis Elbow is the GOAT tennis game.
 
Rozroz

Rozroz

G.O.A.T.
once VR will be wireless & powerful enough to make a serious Tennis game it will be great. but not there yet.
who can play VR with a wire??
 
D

Deleted member 770948

Guest
Virtua Tennis 3 made Hingis play exactly like her real life self, perfect techniques.
3-martina-hingis-gary-m-prior.jpg
 
BGod

BGod

G.O.A.T.
Game development comes out of USA/Vancouver & Japan.

Ask yourself what players are hyping the sport in those countries?

Top Spin titles were coming out with public branding of Agassi, Sampras, Sharapova, Williams sisters, Fed vs. Nadal and at least Roddick as a prospect.

There's no market with Zverev, Medvedev, Berrettinni, Sinner and Novak Imperium.

Tsitsipas vs. Shapovalov rivalry for 5 years then maybe. With a bunch of eye candy on the WTA.
 
beltsman

beltsman

G.O.A.T.
Frenchy-Player said:
Sorry i don't find a section about this, i had fun with vitua tennis on PS3, even it was really oriented arcade, many people loved Top spin, but recently i tried the first A.O tennis, and Tennis world tour 2 (without Djovovic probably too expensive ?) these games are bad.

It's 2021 and when you create your character for the Career Mode :oops:

creator-1024x576.jpg
Click to expand...

Tennis Elbow is what you seek
 
kishnabe

kishnabe

Talk Tennis Guru
Tennis World Tour 2 is a downgrade even from the first game.

AO Tennis 2 is decent.

Tennis Elbow 2013 Modded and Full Ace Modded are way better.
 
topher

topher

Hall of Fame
mikej said:
Honestly I’m not sure a good tennis game is even possible

there’s no good way I can think of to simulate the inherent risk of going for aggressive forcing shots in a video game, short of constant ‘timing bars’ - and that mechanism gets old very quickly - would anyone play Madden if you were just kicking field goals using timing bars all day? - and if you’re not going to use timing bars, how else do you program whether an aggressive shot pays off or not?
Click to expand...

Seems pretty simple, make every shot have a graded cube-shaped “strike zone”, that you must set up your player to ideally hit in. The further out of this perfect box the less likely aggressive shots are to go in.

The size of the strike-zone box would be different for forehand/backhand and depend on the player’s talent+skill level and physical reach.
 
O

Oval_Solid

Hall of Fame
tennis is just pong which is one of the first video games ever
fun for 5 minutes only unless youre a cat then its endless amazement
 
King No1e

King No1e

G.O.A.T.
Frenchy-Player said:
Sorry i don't find a section about this, i had fun with vitua tennis on PS3, even it was really oriented arcade, many people loved Top spin, but recently i tried the first A.O tennis, and Tennis world tour 2 (without Djovovic probably too expensive ?) these games are bad.

It's 2021 and when you create your character for the Career Mode :oops:

creator-1024x576.jpg
Click to expand...
Tennis video games don't do it for me. I can play NBA 2K and FIFA, but if I want the tennis experience there's nothing quite like actually hitting the court and missing several 1st serves :D
 
N

Nole_King

Hall of Fame
Heck, no one mentioned Stick Tennis world tour for PC :) The best tennis game I ever played. Pity it doesn't run any more.
 
M

MaluTapiMau

Rookie
Think the best tennis video game, IMO was "Super Tennis" for the SNES (Tennis Champs Returns on iOS is similar), where it's the mechanics that play the major role, as opposed to current consoles/ systems that focus a lot on the graphics.
 
DIMI_D

DIMI_D

Hall of Fame
tennis clash is addictive on mobile devices! The best games were top spin 4 and the virtua tennis back in the day the new ones are clunky and rubbish!
 
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