On the face of it, Tennis seems like an ideal fit for the Famicon's early capabilities. You've got two controllers for two players, a d-pad for moving around the court, two buttons for hits, a single static playfield, and a computer to automatically referee and keep track of the needlessly obtuse scoring rules. With Shigeru Miyamoto at the helm, whose dedication to ensuring perfect controls borders on obsessive, what could go wrong? Nintendo's Tennis seemed well positioned to take Pong into the next generation with greater realism than past consoles could afford.
Well, the first sign of trouble came from reading the manual.
It outlines eight types of shots, but doesn't tell you how to execute any of them! A swings, B lobs, but you're on your own figuring out anything more granular than that. In several sessions against the computer, I never completely figured out what controls shot type, or how to manage aim and power.
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| This. Always. Happened. |
There's also no way to play a vs. match against a human opponent, which seems like a huge waste. The only two-player option is a doubles match against an AI team.
I played a few doubles matches with "B," who plays tennis in real life, and neither of us could figure out how to control the ball. The recorded session is a nearly point-free game in which we lose 12 for 12 games.
"D", also a tennis player, tried and raged at the game. "I can't control where the fucking ball goes," she belted after losing a set six for six, before spiking the controller into the recliner.
GAB rating: Bad. Tennis was a frustrating experience that didn't result in any fun for any of us. If something as basic as how to aim the ball is neither self-explanatory nor can it be explained in the manual, then something went very wrong in the design phase. Pong managed this over a decade earlier, on a controller without any buttons!
Curiously, the arcade port Vs. Tennis, released in the U.S. just a few months later (arriving here long before the NES), absolves much of my misgivings about the Famicom original. It's still not clear to me how controlling the ball works, but however it does, the model just seems to be more forgiving, as more often than not, the ball went more or less where I wanted it to go. It also adds a two player vs. mode, and even a four-player doubles mode, and also adds a female player model. Annoyingly, though, but necessarily thanks to the arcade format, losing three games gets you a game over. In a multiplayer vs. match the losing player can insert more coins to continue or allow the AI to take over, but in a solo match against the AI this isn't an option.
It's been a while since I've played this, but I thought the timing of your swing determined where the ball went. Start your swing early and you'll angle it across yourself, swing late and you'll angle it away on the other side, and hit it when it's square and it should go straight. At least, that seems how it should work.
ReplyDeleteMan this year has not started off very great
ReplyDeleteThis is a little gem of a game, and it's disappointing that the reviewer couldn't take the time to learn the ins & outs of it so as to give a fair assessment. You can tell something's off right away when they complain about not knowing how to hit the eight basic shots, followed by stating "A swings." Well, there you go, captain! I.e. you hit the A button to make most shots, including serves, volleys & smashes, and use the B button to lob from the back court.
ReplyDeleteStill, maybe what's not clear to those unfamiliar with games like this is that the A button works *situationally*. For example, when in the service motion, A will... hit a serve. When in a volley position (at the net), A will either volley or smash, depending on the height of the ball. And finally, when in the backcourt, A will hit a forehand or backhand as expected. It's all very Tennis 101 stuff that only takes a little while to work out as a gamer.
And, as @asimpkins was saying (and not unlike in the ancient game "Pong"), it's the relationship between the ball, the player, and the timing of the swing that will determine where the ball goes from there. Or, if you line things up poorly, the ball will go out of bounds, or travel in to the body of the player, ending the point. Again, just as in real tennis.
In any case, the reason I called this game a "little gem" is because for a 1984 console release, it's unusually good. One can move all around the court to make a wide variety of realistic shots, and there's a distinct learning curve in positioning and adjusting the player correctly to get the shot and the angle one wants. You can even learn how to serve at different speeds and placements with a little experimentation. So to sum up-- the game's simple on the surface, but has a lot of depth & nuance in terms of skills, and offers a boatload of replayability. It's tough, but eminently fair, and that's what the skill levels are for, too. Doubles mode is also fantastic once you get the hang of it.
Hope you one day get around to giving this a fair playthrough OP, because a rating of "BAD" is almost criminally unfair.