OT: PC Tennis Games

[RPI-Fan]

Are there ANY good PC Tennis Games out there? Virtua Tennis' flaws just make it not enjoyable for me, anymore.

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah i'd appreciate an answer/suggestions for this too!

[Calis]

I don't think it gets any better than Virtua Tennis.

Loved that game, never played PC..but on Dreamcast for hours and hours.

Not a genre that sees a lot of action, especially on the PC. Only other good tennis game I can think of on any platform recently is Top Spin, and I didn't think that had the same fun factor that Virtua Tennis did.

What was your issue with Virtua Tennis, was it a realism issue?

I've never found a better game than that for getting ANYONE to play, even folks who don't normally play games. I've had my Grandma playing and enjoying Virtua Tennis even. ;) From a realism standpoint though I'm sure it leaves a lot to be desired.

I used to play the hell out of Jimmy Connors' tennis game also, not sure on the name, but it was a fun play. Real old now though.

Think you're out of luck though, would love to hear otherwise though.

[RPI-Fan]

I don't think it gets any better than Virtua Tennis.

Loved that game, never played PC..but on Dreamcast for hours and hours.

Not a genre that sees a lot of action, especially on the PC. Only other good tennis game I can think of on any platform recently is Top Spin, and I didn't think that had the same fun factor that Virtua Tennis did.

What was your issue with Virtua Tennis, was it a realism issue?

I've never found a better game than that for getting ANYONE to play, even folks who don't normally play games. I've had my Grandma playing and enjoying Virtua Tennis even. ;) From a realism standpoint though I'm sure it leaves a lot to be desired.

I used to play the hell out of Jimmy Connors' tennis game also, not sure on the name, but it was a fun play. Real old now though.

Think you're out of luck though, would love to hear otherwise though.

Yea', realism is the issue for me. The whole gameplay comes down to guessing which side the CPU is hitting it towards - the player "personalities" are ALMOST there, but joystick jockeying is still the residing factor.

What ever happened to the game that Honolulu Blue was doing a dynasty with? That game was wicked old, but as far as I could tell, pretty decent.

[SirFozzie]

The best Realistic tennis game I still have ever played was SNES's Super Tennis. Don't think it can be emulated well, it was one of those games where it used the special Model 7 chip.

But perfect .. if it just had multiple season play ;)

[FBPro]

Tennis Elbow '99, awesome game, nice career play.

[sabotai]

Tennis Elbow was a good one.

I think they are making a PC version of Top Spin.

[RPI-Fan]

Hmm, turns out some people updated Tennis Elbow with a 2004 version.

Downloaded it, and it works nicely with XP -- appears they put all the real life tours and players in there, too (with an editor, even!).

Pretty good shareware version... I'm think I'm going to pay the $20 for the full product, but will give it a day or two to make sure it's worth it.

[DaddyTorgo]

give us a link to make it easy on us RPI?


edit: nm...found it in 2 seconds

[RPI-Fan]

Here's my story with Tennis Elbow for tonight:

I had played the old version a little before, so had a basic idea of the control system. Did "Warm Up" for a few minutes to get used to using my joystick with the game (nice feature!), and then went on to a match against a "Very Easy" player. Killed him 6-0.

Then played against a "Medium" player, and got destroyed 6-0. Given that my player had all 75% ratings, I think this game can be as challenging as you want it to be. As far as I know, the career mode is EXCELLENT.

This game is one I will probably buy in the next couple of days. Would love to read any others' thoughts!

How about another dynasty, Honolulu Blue?:D

~rpi-fan

[sabotai]

This game is one I will probably buy in the next couple of days. Would love to read any others' thoughts! Once I get my WoW Warrior alt to level 20, I'm going to check it out.

Link to d/l: hxxp://www.soft32.com/download_18625.html

EDIT:

From what I remember of the original, the one thing I really hated was when you viewed tournaments, it only showed the ranking number of the player, not the player's name, in the bracket. That annoyed me. What concearns me a lot is that in the original, there were a large occurance of top seeded players losing in the early rounds. And it happened all of the time. That's the major thing I hoped was fixed for this release (even if it wasn't, it was still fun enough that I may buy the full version for $20).

[sabotai]

The demo only lets you play 1 set matches. Doesn't let you play a career to check it out.

I went ahead and paid for the full version anyway (I know, even if it's identical, I'll probably get my money's worth out of it). I got the key within minutes of registering.

EDIT:

My inital reaction after playing the first match of a tournament. It's the same, exact game. All they did was update the list of players, basically. Everything else is exactly the same. Not that that's a bad thing. It's a great, little game that I haven't played in a long time and I'm definately going to get my money's worth.

And apparently they already did release the PC version of Top Spin but they released it in Europe, not the states. Hm. Anyway, looks like you can buy it from gogamer.com (for < $30) and there's a demo you can download of it too. But if they didn't improve some of the game from the XBox version, I wouldn't reccomend buying it. I had several big issues with this game (the XBox version)

EDIT again

I tried the Top SPin demo and it CTD twice within a minute so there goes that option...

[Groundhog]

The best Realistic tennis game I still have ever played was SNES's Super Tennis. Don't think it can be emulated well, it was one of those games where it used the special Model 7 chip.

But perfect .. if it just had multiple season play ;)

I was going to post this too, I still play it from time to time via emulator and it works OK for me, though it does stutter when the court "rotates" between sets, but I can live with that :)

[Vince]

I'll chime in to agree -- Super Tennis was the best Tennis game I ever played -- tons of fun, even today when my roommies and I fire up my old SNES.

[MIJB#19]

I'm off to play some Super Tennis. See you back in 5 days!

[SirFozzie]

I'm off to play some Super Tennis. See you back in 5 days!

you're evil..

(Makes note to go rom hunting when I get home tonight)

[MIJB#19]

you're evil..

(Makes note to go rom hunting when I get home tonight)You started it!

Good thing is I actually have the SNES in my room sitting hooked on the tv ready to be used, and didn't collaps yet to get the Super Tennis card plugged in. Maybe I should just fire up the Super GameBoy with Top Ranking Tennis plugged in. :D

[SirFozzie]

DOUBLE EVIL!

And I have six hours left in the workday too.

*cries*

DAMN YOU 8-6 shifts

[SaintAnselm]

I don't know if anyone else has tried it yet but the Top Spin Demo is quite impressive. I am playing with the keyboard and it is still pretty good(I need to get a gamepad..any suggestions?). The gameplay seems pretty realistic and the graphis are solid.

[RPI-Fan]

I don't know if anyone else has tried it yet but the Top Spin Demo is quite impressive. I am playing with the keyboard and it is still pretty good(I need to get a gamepad..any suggestions?). The gameplay seems pretty realistic and the graphis are solid.

I'll give you a gamepad tip if you send me that damn Liverpool scarf that you promised!!!

[SaintAnselm]

RPI

You have a PM

[RPI-Fan]

RPI

You have a PM

Well, to give a gamepad tip...

I bought an AxisPad at WalMart for <$20 and it has been splendid for me -- works great on WE7, among other things. Nice, smooth joystick control, and very easy-to-use buttons.

Highly recommended!
~rpi-fan

[Honolulu Blue]

How about another dynasty, Honolulu Blue?:D

Nah. I had fun with it at the time (what, about 2 1/2 or 3 years ago?), but without a quick play function, it takes longer than I want to get through a season, never mind a career.

[DaddyTorgo]

anyone get TopSpin to work with a GeForce 4 card? I keep getting some message about it not supporting vertex/pixel shading 1.1 . Is this a problem I can fix with the latest drivers? Cuz I thought I had the latest drivers, and I didn't think a GeForce 4 was THAT old...I mean I can play GTA San Andreas without having updated my drivers, I'd be surprised if I couldn't play a game that was a year older than that...is there a way around this??