Sega Superstars Tennis served up in 2008

While competing together at this year's Olympics, it seems some excellent business advice passed from Mario to Sonic, the end result manifesting in the newly announced Sega Superstars Tennis. It's-a Mario Tennis, but with-a Sonic! Mario's sales ~~pitch~~ serve must have left quite the impression, as Sega is quite confident of its huge stable of "cherished" characters ready to wield racquets in an anthropomorphic Wimbledon.

Set for release in early 2008 on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Wii and DS, Sega Superstars Tennis promises over 15 playable Sega idols (it says here) with the famous hedgehog joined by two monkeys (one rockin' and one rollin') and roving space reporter, Ulala. The remainder of the roster has yet to be announced, a clever move that is sure to guarantee at least 15 minutes of fervent internet speculation. Just don't count on Ecco the Dolphin's appearance -- having him flop about on a tennis court as he suffers the most excruciating death in the blistering sun would probably be frowned upon by the ESRB. And PETA.

Curiously, the press release hints at "new and innovative ways of enjoying some of SEGA's classic titles" and, less curiously, confirms online support for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. Expect to learn more once developer Sumo Digital figures out how to lure Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki onto the court. (Obvious answer: Putting Vyse from Skies of Arcadia on the other side of the net. He is a sailor, after all.)

Sega Superstars Tennis

Reader Comments (28)

I don't understand who the people are that buy games because of characters...

I don't get excited about a game because it has X character in it. I get excited when it looks like its going to be a good game.

Sonics been so whored out by saga, his good days ended with the genesis...

hmmm. Interesting.

cool that ulala is gonna be in it. Give me another Space Channel 5, Sega!

next up:
Sonic Kart- shoot rings at other karts and collect Chaos Emeralds for boost

Sonic Party- take the sonic character around a game board and compete in mini-games

Sonic Shuffle has already been done.

Sonic Drift has been done. Twice.

I didn't care for Mario Tennis. I think I'll pass on this one too.

Now if it were Mario and Sonic: 3-on-3...

Wow, how completely unnecessary. And this is from a big Sonic fan.

Let's go old school and add either (or both) Wonder Boy or Alex Kidd. I think the dwarf from Golden Axe would be fantastic. Let's give the little space ship from Fantasy Zone some arms and a racket also. Gotta have Joe from Shinobi. Classic.

if it were possible... +1 to Joystiq for mentioning SKIES OF ARCADIA. :)

Sega must be planning to bring Space Channel 5 back, since I don't think most gamers outside of Dreamcast owners (that's me!) have heard of Ulala.

This game will probably not totally suck, since SEGA does make the best tennis game out there. But still.

Didn't Mizuguchi get all excited at the prospect of a Wii version of SC5 in some interview recently?
I think so. I hope a new Space Channel 5 game comes out.

I loved Space Channel 5, that was such a fun game. I actually bought it twice when my orginal broke. I think that was the only game I have ever purchased twice.

Not sure if it was first party or third, but adding Vectorman would be *awesome*.

...Not that the game would suck any less.

Oh neat! Green Hill Zone has a tennis court!

I wonder if it will have Green Hill Zone music?

Instead of making a tennis game, they should make a remake of the original Sonic game in 3D. Similiar in style to the hidden Green Hill Zone level in Sonic Adventure 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MXAHgyiAI8

Nostalgic.

Unlocking that 3D Green Hill Zone was the only reason i put up with the insanity of getting all 160 Emblems in that title

Get all A rank, wow...

LOL ecco the dolphin on a tennis court dries up and flops around presume death

ya actually when I used to rent Ecco, my mom would always ask to play, then she would get Ecco stranded on an island and just start shouting "Oh no! That poor dolphin! This is horrible, help, HELP!!" and I would have to take the controller and get Ecco back in the damn water.

EVERY 5 MINUTES.

Why does everyone have to hate on Sonic's friends so much. Tails was fun in the original games, and he only seems so dim witted because Sonic is so smooth. Big the Cat and even Charmy the Bee need a little more respect in my opinion.

GENESIS DOES!

everything that Nintendid.

This will only work for Nintendo. The Sega characters aren't nearly as interesting or cherished as Nintendo's.

I think it's pretty safe to say that most of Nintendo's characters, excepting the big ones, we're as cherished either until Nintendo started putting them in games like Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, etc.
Sega is just...jumping on the bandwagon late in the game and have realized that enough time has passed that their characters have earned that nostalgia feeling.

For me, I grew up playing Sega and Nintendo games, but few of the characters from Sega games were ever as prominent, other than the Sonic universe, of course. I mean, Toe Jam and Earl are cool, but are they big enough to place them in a game outside of their own? It feels like they're stretching themselves a tad bit too thin. I mean, the monkey from Samba de Amigo? Ulala from SC5? Nintendo has a slew of characters that were popular before the days of Kart/Party/Tennis/Golf/Scuba/Kayaking. Oh well, it just seems unnecessary to me. But hey, a lot of people will probably enjoy this, and that is good.

Waiting for Sega to take pointers from NSMB. 3D without the "3D" navigation ftw.

Now I see why Nintendo went with Baseball first and now Mario Tennis....

*not mario tennis.

Being that I was a huge Genesis/Dreamcast fan I am really excited about this game. More excited than I would be about a new Sonic game featuring his crappy friends. They have a lot of franchises they could take characters and stages from like Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Streets of Rage, Nights, Phantasy Star, Virtua Fighter, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Toejam and Earl, etc.

Sega Superstars Tennis served up in 2008

Sega Superstars Tennis

Reader Comments (28)

Posted: Oct 18th 2007 2:58PM Shagittarius said

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