Sega and its intellectual properties have always had a special place in many gamers’ hearts due to their amusing games throughout the ‘90s. You can call it nostalgia, but whatever you call it, when you revisit those games, it’s apparent that they still have a lot of magic in them. This is why when Sega announced Sega Superstars Tennis - a collaboration of many of their most popular characters into one game revolving around tennis - it was met with some intrigue from gamers.

Sega Superstars Tennis brings together several of Sonic and his furry friends (Tails, Shadow, Robotnik) along with other key Sega characters such as: Alex Kidd (from Alex Kidd series), NiGHTS (from NiGHTS series), Beat & Gum (from Jet Grind/Set Radio series), Amigo (from Samba de Amigo series), a few Super Monkey Ball and Space Channel 5 characters, and lastly a character from Golden Axe. Strangely enough many franchises are missing from this smorgasbord of characters of including: Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star, Shinobi, and even Virtua Fighter. Let’s not fret on what is missing, but focus on what’s actually there.

Developed by Sumo Digital, the makers of Virtua Tennis 3, Sega Superstars Tennis is full of mini-games, tournaments, quick-play matches, and the ability to jump online to compete in friendly matches. Sumo Digital opted to not include a career mode of any sorts, so in terms of replay value, gamers will have to look to the mini-games and the short tournament mode to find the longevity. Eight characters are available at the start while the other eight need to be unlocked through the mini-games. Investing your time into the mini-games is essential to get the most out of Sega Superstars Tennis.

After a few hours of play, it is apparent that it all seems to mesh together. Many of the tennis mini-games are too similar to each other; Sumo Digital needed to differentiate them drastically to make it interesting. The stages provided can be challenging at times with having players at the ready to press buttons at the appropriate time. The stages are also representative from past Sega video games with levels from House of the Dead, Super Monkey Ball, PuyoPop Fever and many more showing up. The stages with their mini-games often ask for players to accomplish a certain task such as hitting zombies, clearing out Puyos, or “tagging” the level like you would in Jet Grind Radio.

Instead of having Virtua Tennis 3 controls where the each button had a different maneuver, Sega Superstars Tennis employs a scheme that has players pressing two buttons consecutively to execute a complicated maneuver such as a drop shot or lob. In order to lob your shot, you’ll have to tap the A button and then follow it up by quickly tapping the X button. It’s not the most ideal situation for casual gamers as I have run into many people who haven’t found the complexity behind the controls fun.

There’s also an ability that each character possesses called “Superstar Power.” It’s an ability that has players going into alpha mode to become faster and stronger with their shots, along with granting special attacks or trick shots. Gilius, from Golden Axe, will throw out his blue magic bottles that strike the other side of the court with lightning bolts and stun the opponents if they encounter them. Even though it all sounds fine and dandy, these special abilities aren’t the most alluring features to be added to the game as they become annoying when playing against your friends. But you won’t have to have them turned on all the time as there’s an option to turn it off prior to the match.

If you are worried that you won’t find any amusement from Sega Superstars Tennis, then worry not since the multiplayer is fun for the time you invest in it. Personally, I favor playing locally with friends and family as there’s some real emotion there, but if you are an avid online gamer, then the Xbox Live capabilities are up to par. Allowing up to four players to duke it out in grueling tennis matches and mini-games, Sega Superstars Tennis retains its replay value through the multiplayer. 

Overall though, it’s not as cracked up as a party game as it could’ve been. It’s shallow with game modes, but has tons of mini-games to play through. For gamers who look to the graphics to determine if the game is worthy of a purchase, they won’t find anything special here to persuade them into buying Sega Superstars Tennis.

Gameplay: 6.5
Where’s Knuckles? Let’s ignore the missing echidna and discuss what happened to the depth of the game; there’s not much there! They needed to include a career mode / story mode to give players an incentive to play by their lonesome.

Graphics: 6.3
Not pushing the Xbox 360 to its limit isn’t its downside; the major downside is that the characters aren’t very detailed and the frame rate drops at times.

Sound: 7.0
There are tracks from your favorite games, but don’t expect anything besides nostalgic moments to reminisce with.

Concept: 7.5
It’s fascinating to have 16 of Sega’s unique characters in one game, but there could have been a lot more included to help give gamers a reason to keep playing this without having to rely on the characters.

Difficulty: Easy
Catered to the younger crowd, many gamers shouldn’t have any trouble picking up and playing Sega Superstars Tennis with ease.

Multiplayer: 7.5
If you are buying Sega Superstars Tennis for the multiplayer component, then you are purchasing the game for the right reasons. The online is fun and the local multiplayer is even better when you have friends to play with.

Overall: 6.9
It could’ve been better, but on the same token, it could’ve been a lot worse. The online isn’t perfect with lag and a lack of players to play with, but it sure can be fun when everything clicks. The best part about Sega Superstars Tennis is being able to play against your friend with Sonic and your favorite Sega characters.