With the success of the Sega games through the years, they have through time built up quite the portfolio with interesting and popular video game characters. Some of them loosing their reputation during the last years, thanks to a bunch of uninspired party and racing games, and even their new sequels to the old adventure games. Virtua Tennis has been a popular game for a lot of years, so it wasn't surprising when Sega announced that they would let their characters enter a new sports genre - tennis. Here we are today, with the release of Sega Superstars Tennis.

The game has 16 well-known characters, with eight playable from the first minute you play the game. You can see those eight in the video below, including Sonic, Tails, AiAI from Super Monkey Balls, NiGHTS and Beat from Jet Set Radio.

The most disappointing part was the control scheme, as I was expecting it to be the least possible problem after Sega's experience with the Virtua Tennis series. It's frustrating when the control's doesn't act responsively enough, making you miss easy shots for no reason. The button layout is quite complex too, and friends (casual players) that tried it out had problems with some of the differents shots available. You would think that a game like this would be easy to pick up from the start, with the audience it seems to be aiming at.

Every character has its own Superstars action, when activated does everything it can to confuse the opposition. Expect graffiti or dancer's running around on your side of the pitch, while the ball lives its own life taking crazy routes. Some will find it irritating, but it is also hilarious in multiplayer games.
Sega Superstars Tennis is worth trying out if you want a fun party game, but as a tennis fan you are better off with Virtua Tennis or Top Spin. Below you will find a video from the match mode, and we will hopefully have a mini-game video this weekend.