Poll: what's the best 16bit Tennis game ever?

[Turrican]

...but wait, where is Tonkin House's... Ahah, yeah, I got burned with last month's poll, so I ruled out "the" boring option which would've gotten all the votes.

Okay, now the rules:

-don't go by memory; no nostalgia goggles, go and actually have a spin at them! Try to have at least a couple of sets before casting a vote. Trying multiplayer would be a good idea also (Jimmy Connors, S.Final Match, Pete Sampras and S. Tennis Champs have 4player support).

-poll closes 30 days from now;

-this time is truly 16-bit, and in the strictest sense. Sorry, Final Match Tennis fans!


Gameography:
-System Sacom from what I gather doesn't have a great history with tennis;
-Namco followed the popular FC Family Tennis (1987) with Super Family Tennis. (Super Play wasn't impressed);
-German Bluebyte had a streak of very popular Amiga games (Great Courts / Pro Tennis Tour), Jimmy Connors might be considered an expanded sequel of Great Courts 2 I guess;
-French Loriciel launched their first Davis Cup on HuCard/Amiga/ST in 1989, and a DOS sequel in 1992. The Megadrive one is their third - a prototype exists of an unreleased sequel;
-Telenet's tennis is the only game based on the legendary Ace o Nerae! manga series. It's also the only DSP-chip game in the list;
-David Crane's tennis is well known, I'm sure you all know about it;
-Human was considered the undisputed king of 8-bit tennis with Final Match; the Super Famicom sequel has 4players option but it came late and wasn't published outside Japan. A 32-bit third and final entry exists;
-British Zeppelin had an International Tennis on Spectrum; later ported to Amiga. Their Megadrive Sampras is the first of Codemasters J-Carts, and even features an hidden Dizzy cameo. There's also an Europe-only sequel, Sampras '96;
-Mental Soft seems to be related with Denton, which was more famous for rugby simulations at one point;
-Skywards Mikro Tennis is the bastard child of Mortal Kombat and Sensible Soccer, and one of the very latest commercial Amiga releases;

[bigbadboaz]

...but wait, where is Tonkin House's...

Are you referring to Super Tennis, or did you leave it out entirely..?

'Cuz that is the only choice, and it isn't even close. Pretty astounded it's not in the list, for whatever reason.

[Turrican]

Yeah, of course I'm referring to that one
...let's just say these compete for the 2nd position

[5pectre]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up because Super Tennis is the Windjammers of 16-bit tennis games. Easy to get the hang of, hard to master and top play is absolutely insane.

Smash Tennis for the Super Nintendo is my choice though, if we leave out Super Tennis. It has the Super Tennis feel, also the same button layout? but have slightly better graphics and did some new things with the courts. It's been a long time since I played it but I seem to recall that you could play on top of a skyscraper and wind played a part.

[BrianC]

Smash Tennis for the Super Nintendo is my choice though, if we leave out Super Tennis. It has the Super Tennis feel, also the same button layout? but have slightly better graphics and did some new things with the courts. It's been a long time since I played it but I seem to recall that you could play on top of a skyscraper and wind played a part.

Isn't that the EU version of Super Family Tennis?

[Immryr]

It is, yes. And it is definitely the best 16 bit tennis game in my eyes (no, I haven't played them all). it's certainly better than super tennis.

[Turrican]

Good catch, forgot it had an European release. Updated the name entry.

Keep'em coming!

[Turrican]

Heh,

I understand that tennis can't be as popular as MECHS around these parts.

But... do people still enjoy sprite-based tennis simulations? Or with the arrival of Top Spin, Virtua Tennis and the likes, did everyone jump on the bandwagon without an inch of remorse?

...Kinda like what happened with 3D racing games?

by the way, voter of DSP-enabled tennis, say your two cents!

[BIL]

Interested to hear about Super Family Tennis, that sounds rad. I'm more of a solitary gamer, so even arcadier sports games often pass me by. I adore Cosmic Smash (DC), a sort of third-person Arkanoid/Squash hybrid. Dunno if there was anything similar in 2D? Interestingly it controls digitally, which sounded awful to me on paper but works astonishingly well in-game.

I think the closest thing I have in my library to a tennis game is Sunsoft's Pong clone HYPER TENNIS, for the Famicom. TBH though, I was really after the bonus Spy Hunter clone on the same cart.

[eckart]

Vote for Jimmy Connors Pro Tennis Tour.
Great game.

[Fudoh]

Can any of the above titles really hold a candle to FMT? Not trolling by any means - I just can't imagine any other tennis game coming close.

With FMT (and World Court Tennis before that) we had the best 4-player matches one could possibly imagine. We played FMT for years - only with short breaks for Bomberman.

[Turrican]

Well, that's what I'm trying to understand, among other things really.

There's the SEQUEL to FMT in the list: why not have a try at it and see if it holds a candle to the original... with all that first-hand experience, you could easily tell if Human produced another masterpiece (neglected because of late arrival and import difficulties) or if they just dropped the ball.

[BrianC]

World Court Tennis is related to Family Tennis and Super Family Tennis.

[Fudoh]

There's the SEQUEL to FMT in the list: why not have a try at it and see if it holds a candle to the original... with all that first-hand experience, you could easily tell if Human produced another masterpiece (neglected because of late arrival and import difficulties) or if they just dropped the ball.

we did try a lot of new Tennis games back in the days, but not a single one was as much fun as FMT was (and is). I don't think I ever tried SFMT, but I'll definitely do so and report back.

I was really just asking because I don't know a single person who was really into FMT back in the days and later one found a suitable replacement. I mean I played (and really enjoyed) Virtua Tennis (and its sequels), but FMT is so much deeper and even today the AI is really good. Even double matches with two human players and two CPUs are actually fun.

[Turrican]

we did try a lot of new Tennis games back in the days, but not a single one was as much fun as FMT was (and is).

Heh, I know of its legendary status. Do you know this awesome (still online!) webpage?

FMT is tecnically 8 bit though (as is World Court, of course). And as far as 8 bit are concerned, I'm partial to Pax Softnica's Top Rank Tennis. Still, even if the poll was made for 16 bit, discussion about earlier ones is encouraged.

I don't think I ever tried SFMT, but I'll definitely do so and report back.

That's the spirit!

even today the AI is really good. Even double matches with two human players and two CPUs are actually fun.

AI is precisely one of the aspects I'm interested into. Good Com VS Com mode: where you see actual intelligent AI, as opposed as predicatable always-wins-the-same-side one.