''David Crane's Amazing Tennis'' is a

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

simulation

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

published by

Absolute Entertainment Absolute Entertainment was an American Video game publisher, video game publishing company. Through its video game developer, development house, Imagineering (company), Imagineering, Absolute Entertainment produced titles for the Atari 2600, Ata ...

for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

and

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

consoles. The game was also made available for the

Nintendo Super System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

. The SNES version got a worldwide release, while the Genesis version only saw a North American release. The game was designed by an expert in the sport, as the titular David Crane was an avid tennis player. He had played tournaments as well as playing in doubles with

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

co-founder Alan Miller, but stated he never had interest in developing a tennis-themed game until then.

Gameplay

''David Crane's Amazing Tennis'' simulates the men's singles game across three set matches, the game is viewed from behind the player.

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

and

hard courts A hardcourt (or hard court) is a type of surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surf ...

are available, and the player can specify

handedness In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

. There are a selection of fictional computer controlled opponents available, each with different strengths, and a two player

local multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

option is available. Players can perform various shots, such as

topspin In ball sports, topspin or overspin is a property of a ball that rotates forwards as it is moving. Topspin on a ball propelled through the air imparts a downward force that causes the ball to drop, due to its interaction with the air (Magnus ef ...

backspin In sports, backspin or underspin refers to the reverse rotation of a ball, in relation to the ball's trajectory, that is imparted on the ball by a slice or chop shot. Backspin generates an upward force that lifts the ball (see Magnus effect). W ...

lob Lob may refer to: Sports * Lob (pickleball) * Lob (tennis) * Lob (association football), a lofted pass or shot in association football * Lob bowling, an archaic bowling style in cricket People * Lob Brown, American college football player * Löb ...

and

drop shot A drop shot is a shot in some racket sports in which the ball (or birdie) is hit relatively softly, sometimes with topspin or backspin, so that it lands just over and close to the net. A well-placed and well-timed drop shot will make it difficult ...

Reception

The game enjoyed a positive critical reception. The presentation was lauded; ''Super Play'' described the impression of a 3D court as "the most realistic yet for this type of game", described the sound effects as tremendous, and praised the inclusion of slow motion replays. ''Nintendo Power'' had similar thoughts on the sounds, and found that the "digitized voice of the scorekeeper and excellent sound effects added to the realism". ''N-Force'' praised the large and detailed sprites as well as the quality of animation. Rob Millichamp of ''N-Force'' described the perspective as "innovative and awesome", but it was a point of contention between critics. ''Mega'' felt the viewpoint made play confusing and difficult, while ''Super Play'' felt it made seeing where the ball was being served tricky. Both described it as the biggest detriment to the game. A concern shared by many of the critics, was the difficulty in controlling the player on the far side of the court. Due to the viewpoint and perspective of the game, the far side player sprite is significantly smaller compared to the near side player. ''N-Force'' felt this made hitting the ball a nightmare, while ''Super Play'' stated that serving and receiving from that end is "too tricky". Despite the criticism, reviews generally found the game enjoyable. Ed Semrad of ''EGM'' suggested that the game was "easily one of the best" tennis games, and ''N-Force'' called it "an amazing leap forward in tennis sims". ''Super Play'' concluded that although polished and enjoyable, it was not as good as ''

Super Tennis ''Super Tennis'' is a 1991 tennis video game developed by Tose and published by Tonkin House for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Nintendo localized the game and released it outside Japan. It utilizes mode 7 graphics. Gameplay The ga ...

'', a previously released tennis game.

References

External links

* * {{KLOV game, id=6876, name=David Crane's Amazing Tennis 1992 video games Absolute Entertainment games Multiplayer and single-player video games Sega Genesis games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Tennis video games Video games designed by David Crane (programmer) Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Mark Van Hecke