"Still one of the most fun tennis games going round."

During the time of the original NES there were a lot of single worded sports games released for it. You know the type, Golf, Baseball, Soccer, Badminton. Simple names for simple games, the controls were always easy but it was even easier to get hooked on some of them.
The problem was, a few of these games were of rather dubious quality (Badminton, i'm looking at you here) and could prove absolute dogs to play. Luckily Tennis proved to be a class above the rest, extremely easy to get into but you'll never put it down. I still play it and love it to this day.

The graphics, just like the rest of the game were rather simple. The players looked okay for there times, but ran around the court like they have something stuck up their bottom. The rest of the graphics were just the usual. The court has lines of it, the crowd has faces, all of that usual stuff.

The sound was one of the most lackluster and disappointing aspects of the game. There is no background music to be found at all, which is the biggest complaint I had with the game and the rest of the sound effects are on the sparse side of things. The only sound effects you really notice are the player's footsteps, when the ball gets hit, and the whistle of the umpire. But of course it wouldn't be right to give a sports game a low score just because the sound is lame. So it doesn't affect the score too much.

The gameplay is marvellous, simply put. It's so much fun and challenging you'll lose track of time playing it. The controls are easy, one button does a lob shot and the other one does a flat shot, you don't need to be a brain surgeon to work them out.
The real strategy is learning when to use either shot and which side to play it on. Who would have thought? A NES game that you can actually master and perfect your skills!

Apart from the Smash Court tennis games this would have to be the most fun you can get out of a Tennis game. If you've got you're old console and this game, consider yourself very lucky.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/06/00, Updated 03/06/00