Ok, I have been playing games a long, long time; not that I'm old, but the business isn't really all that old and it pretty much started when I was a child with the first mega-selling home console the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (yes I realize Atari, Intellivision and Colecovision were first but they didn't move consoles quite as well). Everybody had one of these systems and characters like Mario, Luigi, Link, Samus and Solid Snake became very wel-known icons of the industry. Well fast forward a few years and Sega experienced the same sort of popularity with a certain blue Hedgehog named Sonic and some of his friends, but where Nintendo has spawned many, many iconic characters, Sega still only has one superstar. Sure, there are many characters that we are familiar with but none of them have the lasting appeal that Sonic has experienced or the sheer volume of hits that many of the Nintendo characters have had.

So, the reason I say this is because of the idea behind Sega Superstars Tennis, the game is very similar to other games of this vein, take a familiar group of video-game characters and puts them in a tennis game where the wild antics of said characters gets to come out along with a slew of mini-games and wacky craziness. So in an attempt to catch some of the magic that has occurred with games like Mario Tennis, Mario Golf and Super Smash Bros. Sega has attempted to bring out the same controlled goofiness and charm, but falls a bit flat.

 "Checkers anyone?"

First thing about the game is that it is kind of difficult to control. With such a small screen and an even smaller tennis ball, playing a series of volleys can be a difficult experience because it hurts your eyes to try and track such a tiny tennis ball, and most of your opponents are full of all sorts of surprises. You can choose to either use the d-pad and buttons to return balls or the d-pad and stylus. Neither way is particularly effective and the nature of the DS is not friendly towards gameplay. You start out with some familiar faces with many more to unlock: Sonic, Tails, Beat (from jet grind radio) and Nights to name a few. Pretty soon you will have unlocked characters from Golden Axe, Virtua Cop and even House of the Dead. In a way it is kind of fun because some of the characters are really obscure and some players won't have a clue about who they are and where they come from; it's like the game only relates to players who used to pop quarters in the arcade machines of the late 80s and on.

Now, in a not-too-unpleasant turn, there are several different tennis courts that carry a popular Sega theme. The green rolling hills from the Sonic games, a dark and creepy locale from the House of the Dead games, a Mexican-inspired court from Samba de Amigo and so on. The courts look passable and I appreciated the little attempted nuances that they featured like hanging vines, or sun-burned hues or even green covered loop-de-loops. Additionally, the game contains several mini-games that give a break to the tennis game. You can play tiny versions of other Sega games but with tennis incorporated in it. In a bit of nostalgia, the game actually has a mini-game of the Dreamcast game, Chu-Chu Rocket. Chu-Chu Rocket was the very first video-game I reviewed. My wife, who never played the game, did not understand how it worked and I realized that if you weren't up on all your Sega games, you could be left out in the cold as the game never explains how the mini-games work. Other mini-games include a cool shooting game a la the House of the Dead but instead of bullets you launch tennis balls.

Sadly, the characters themselves suffer from serious graphic degradation as the DS screen is way to small to be able to show any real detail. Tails, Aiai, Sonic, Ulala, Dr. Eggman, Alex Kidd and others simply do not look any good on such a small screen and so far pulled back in the long range third-person view. I will say again that seeing the tennis ball and being able to judge your return swing can be difficult because of not only the size, but you must also time the bounce of the ball coming at you. I had higher hopes for what this game would have looked like.

 
"I don't know how I can play tennis in high heeled boots," said Serena Williams.

In a smart move Sega kept literally all of the original music that comes from these games and depending on where you are playing tennis and with whom, you can hear all sorts of music from the Sega collection of games. The tunes are upbeat and meant to illicit a certain nostalgic feeling. This is most apparent to me with the Sonic theme and the Jet Grind theme. The music sounds pretty good and put a smile on my face. 

The game allows for different styles of gameplay. You can choose to play a quick match, start a tournament, play with singles or doubles, choose who you want the CPU player to be, download single-card multi-DS play and multi-card multiplayer. There are a surprising amount of play possibilities. Additionally each character has a special tennis power that works almost as an attack while playing tennis; this attack usually involves the ball defying the laws of physics and you missing your return shot.

You do eventually find a happy medium in controlling this game, but once you do, you find the tennis game to be a bit blase' and average. There is more fun found in some of the mini-games than the actual tennis, which drives you to keep playing and unlocking more and more characters. Ultimately the game is average with flashes of genuine fun thrown in. I would think that the Wii version would be more exciting and from what I am reading it is.

Gameplay: 6.1
You have the choice of stylus- or button-driven gameplay. Neither are particularly riveting and it take a bit to get the timing down when dealing with such a small tennis ball. 

Graphics: 6.6
The game has some interesting visuals but the characters are too small for any real detail and while the tennis courts have distinctive themes from other Sega games, they are a little washed out and not so sharp looking.

Sound: 8.0
The game's best quality; neat tunes from other Sega games are pretty much spot-on.

Difficulty: Medium
Once you get past the learning curve of the controls, you can begin working your way though the tournament and unlocking characters.

Concept: 7.0
It is a cool idea, and some of the mini-games are wicked fun, but the game does feel unbalanced with some of the mini-games out-enjoying the actual tennis part of the game. 

Multiplayer: 6.1
I could only do the download play for multiplayer and there is limited options for this style of tennis. You need to ensure that all players have spent adequate time playing the game on single player otherwise the rookie probably won't even be able to return a ball or use the special tennis attack.

Overall: 6.6
I was hoping for a seriously fun game, and while there were snippets of real enjoyment, the game has lulls that make you pine for some mini-games, and those lulls are the actual tennis portions of the game.