Sega Superstars Tennis demo

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 4th 2008 at 11:00AM }

Ah, there's nothing like the smell of a fresh demo on a Friday morning. Today's Marketplace offering is none other than Sega Superstars Tennis. The demo offers single player and local versus multiplayer. The game brings together plenty of Sega "superstars" (Amigo? A superstar? Really?) for some friendly tennis action and tennis based mini-games. Taking a cue from Nintendo, the game focuses infuses typical tennis mechanics with fantasy court settings and the ability to enter Superstar Mode, which grants special powers to each character. The demo doesn't last very long, but new features are unlocked through successive play-throughs, so give it a shot.

Tags: sega, sega-superstars-tennis, xblm, xbox-live-marketplace

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neuromancer @ Apr 4th 2008 11:06AM

Being a long time Sega fan I'm kind of curious about this game, glad to see there's a demo. The Sonic Green Hill Zone level looks really cool.

Jonah Falcon @ Apr 4th 2008 11:18AM

What's wrong with Samba de Amigo?

BerNasty @ Apr 4th 2008 11:22AM

isnt that thing just a cactus or something.

SAGExSDX @ Apr 4th 2008 11:50AM

nope. Samba de Amigo stars a monkey with maracas

Richard Mitchell @ Apr 4th 2008 11:55AM

Nothing, but I'd hardly classify him as a superstar.

Honestly, it's hard to classify any character that appeared exclusively on the Dreamcast as a superstar.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sega. Just sayin' is all.

Jonah Falcon @ Apr 4th 2008 12:52PM

What about Jet Set Radio/Jet Set Radio Future? Hmmm?

Amigo more of a star than, say, Diddy Kong.

Neuromancer @ Apr 4th 2008 11:57AM

They should have the crazy wireframe guy from Rez...

The Orz @ Apr 4th 2008 12:29PM

It's actually not a bad game...quite a bit of Dreamcast-era nostalgia. The mini-games are fun (Puyo Pop Fever especially) and it's loaded with great music (if you're a fan of Sega, of course). The tennis mechanics are actually pretty clever so it doesn't end up being a game of Pong.

One thing that does baffle me, though, is why they renamed House of the Dead. They call the game Curien Mansion or something similar. Licensing issue?

Overall, it's a cute game and the quest mode is quite addictive. It's not exactly Sega's answer to Smash Brothers (Sega could have gone a lot further into their archives for some heavy, heavy nostalgia), but it might make you break out the Dreamcast or Genesis again.

ArmiMaan @ Apr 4th 2008 12:46PM

It's probably because the name of the mansion really is "Curien Mansion" whereas "House of the Dead" is just the franchise/brand name. It wouldn't be a licensing issue because Sega created and owns the HotD brand.

The Orz @ Apr 4th 2008 12:51PM

That would make sense, but every other zone is referred to by the name of the game, complete with logo. Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Space Harrier; every reference to House of the Dead is always Curien Mansion, as if the franchise was actually called Curien mansion.

Thus why I find it a little strange.

SABCA @ Apr 4th 2008 2:07PM

I heard mention of the game being censored in some way. Something about Cleavage on the girl in the outrun stage at least being one culprit, but I also think they might have removed HOTD's name due to the whole "Dead" issue. The demo has green blood rather than Red blood, so I figure such a small, odd thing could be a reason.

The Orz @ Apr 4th 2008 2:38PM

Funny that you mention the Outrun stage. Pops Racer is there doing his usual stretched (and break dancing) but the car is nowhere to be seen.

Don't get me wrong, whatever developer worked on the title did a good job of utilizing the nostalgia, but there are several weird instances where they fall a little flat.

As for the censoring, the bikini girls on the Outrun stage don't seem particularly censored, though the developer did cheap out a bit and copy and paste them throughout the stage. They also share the same animations, often at the same time. But now I'm just nitpicking.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is a good first entry to a possible series. It seems like the developer might have had to work around limitations (aside from a very narrow audience) and they really did do a good job with what they have. Arguments like how Jet Set Radio stage and crew should have been cell shaded are outweighed by the obvious effort put forth by the crew.

I'm a sucker for Sega nostalgia and I look forward to more. It's not like Sega doesn't have a massive library of titles or anything. ;)