Well, for starters, that title really didn't express my opinion at all, but I just felt the need to say it. It's a tennis term of importance, and since I'm writing on Tennis, I feel it is important that I make a bold statement.

Anyways, Tennis is another one of those generic sports games Nintendo was cranking out back in the day (along with hit titles like "Baseball"!, "Soccer"!, and many more! :P). You basically have two gameplay modes, Singles (1P) and Doubles (2P).

The general layout of the game is a tennis court, a referee who resembles Mario very closely, and an audience of circles. Oh, I mean "people." In both game modes, you control the lower portion of the court. It has sort of a 45 degrees off-the-ground "camera" angle. If that sounds too weird, then just forget I ever said anything.

Moving along. In singles mode, you can choose between 5 skill levels. The indicator between the different-skilled opponents is their color choice of apparel. In my opinion, level 1 is the only playable skill level, because every other level is impossible for me.

In doubles mode, it's basically the same as singles mode, except you have the burden of another person hogging up your end of the court. And I mean that in the best way possible. In addition, for legality purposes, the opposing side will have 2 players.

As far as games go, you have to play games, which lead to winning sets, which need to be won in order to vanquish your foe in the entire match. Your control layout is A for a regular hit, and B for a lob. You can also position your character for forehand and backhands. When you first play the game, it can be kind of hard trying to hit the ball, since your character doesn't automatically align with the ball or anything. In addition, when a ball is lobbed, the recieving end can smash it using A timed properly. You know you've smashed it when the game makes a very loud "BOOP!" (We love you, NES)

When you're moving, your character moves very fast. Really, you have 2 opprotunities to hit a ball once it's been sent towards you, if it's moving slow enough. (This is very common.) You can also run anywhere on the screen, as long as it's in front of the net.

Graphics

The graphics in this game are pretty simple, but not so primitive that they make you cringe and feel like a fossil. Your character dons shorts, a different colored shirt, hair and a pair of shoes. There are animations for his swings and his movement. He's also holding a racket, and you can see the strings on it. The court is pretty well laid out. Also, the stands are nicely done, with the tradition circles for spectators' heads. The ball actually changes size depending on how it's hit, for example, it gets larger if it's lobbed really high.

Sound

The only soundtrack in the entire game is a 5-second long jingle at the title screen and after games. There are also sound effects for the different calls the referee makes, like Faults, Net, Out, In, and Duece. There's also sound whenever the ball is flying in the air; an increasing and decreasing sound. Plus, when you hit the ball, depending on how hard you hit it, it makes a louder noise. There's enough sound effects in the game so that they won't bore you to death, but Nintendo also didn't overdo it.

In my opinion, this game's kind of fun to play every now and then, but it's nothing to have the whole neighborhood over to have tournies with. You might find amusement playing doubles mode. My brother and I like to play it sometimes, but we usually quit out of boredom after 10 minutes.

The game is pretty good, but not enough to last, and the computers can get pretty difficult. The control scheme takes a while to grow on you, and even then it has its own issues.

Recommended: No