SEGA Superstars Tennis

***SEGA Superstars Tennis*** is a tennis game and the second title in the *Sega Superstars* crossover series. It is also the first in the series developed by Sumo Digital, crossing over numerous SEGA franchises, including *Sonic the Hedgehog*, *Alex Kidd*, *Space Channel 5*, *Jet Set Radio*, and many more. It was released in March 2008. In 2012, SEGA and Feral Interactive announced that the game was available for the Mac on its following summer along with *Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing*. The Mac version of *SEGA Superstars Tennis* features online multiplayer by using Game Center.

## Gameplay

* **Superstar Mode** allows the player to play missions in the worlds of SEGA which include exhibition matches, tournaments and tasks based around a specific Sega game including Sonic the Hedgehog, Puyo Pop Fever and Virtua Cop. Completing missions unlocks items such as courts, stages, sound tracks and characters.
* **Exhibition Mode** offers the chance to challenge a character to a match on one of many courts, including Sonic's home court of Green Hill Zone, or Amigo's Carnival Park court. Whichever court is chosen, there are a host of Sega celebrities cheering them on from court side.
* **Tournament Mode** allows the player to play in a series of matches against opponents chosen at random by the computer in an arena also chosen at random.
* There are several playable **minigames** in Sega Superstars Tennis, including ones from Sega games such as a House of the Dead meets Space Invaders game, in which the player has to hit moving targets in the form of zombies, a Space Harrier game, a Puyo Puyo game, and a Virtua Cop game.
* Each character has their own unique **special attack** giving the player more chance of scoring a point. For example: Gilius throws a magic bottle in the air and covers the opponent's side with thunderbolts, if they touch one the character will be stunned for a brief moment, or Sonic's signature "Super Sonic" attack, which causes the tennis ball to zig-zag in various directions around the court when he hits the ball.

### Platform differences

* Sega Superstars Tennis in the Wii version.
* Sega Superstars Tennis in the Xbox 360 version.

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions both have online play, while the Wii version has three different control schemes (motion control, Wii Remote sideways, and Wii Remote with Nunchuk). The Nintendo DS version of the game can be played with , or utilize the stylus. Between the HD version and the Wii version visual-wise, the models in the latter are of low quality, making the spectators' limbs jagged (mostly Silver and Blaze's). The lighting on the models overall, including the models, especially when doing special poses, are likewise very poor. Also, whereas the shot balls have yellow trails on the HD version, the shot balls on the Wii version display specific trails (yellow, blue, green) depending on its power.

The number of missions also varies between the HD version and the Wii version, and the former has more missions than the latter. In addition to that, the HUD of the Wii version is simpler than that displayed on the HD version.

## Playable characters

### Free characters

A list of all default/starting characters in the game. They cannot be unlocked or downloaded:

* Sonic the Hedgehog
* AiAi
* NiGHTS
* Beat
* Ulala
* Amigo
* Miles "Tails" Prower
* Dr. Eggman

### Obtainable

A list of all characters that can be unlocked by completing certain missions and quests:

* Shadow the Hedgehog (Unlockable by winning the last mission in Sonic the Hedgehog)
* MeeMee (Super Monkey Ball) (Unlockable by winning a certain mission in Super Monkey Ball)
* Reala (Unlockable by winning the second mission in NiGHTS into Dreams)
* Gum (Jet Set Radio) (Unlockable by winning the last mission in Jet Set Radio)
* Pudding (Unlockable by winning the first mission in Space Channel 5)
* Gilius Thunderhead (Unlockable by winning the only mission in Golden Axe)
* Alex Kidd (Unlockable by winning the only mission in Alex Kidd)
* Amy Rose (Unlockable by winning the second mission in Sonic the Hedgehog)

## Trivia

* Pudding’s character uses both Sumalee Montano’s and Larissa Murray’s lines. She is the only character to have multiple lines taken from different actors.
* Oddly in the demo of this game, Shadow is one of the few characters the player is able to play. In the actual game, he is an unlockable.
* Quotes from *Sonic the Hedgehog* (2006) were used in this game such as "My, that's a pretty snazzy performance there!" (Sonic's quote), "Who are you, and how do you know my name?" (Shadow's quote) and "See, I told you I could do it!" (Tails' quote).
* Knuckles, Big, & Metal Sonic all were cameo characters who became playable characters in *Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing*.
* In the Opening Cinematic, Amigo is seen using his maracas as a racket. However in the gameplay, Amigo uses a real tennis racket.
* In the Opening Cinematic, Eggman uses a backpack with tennis rackets on it. But in the game, he does not use such a thing.
* This is the only game where it has different ratings from the ESRB in each console. It has an E10+ rating on the home console version and an E rating on the Nintendo DS.
* The rackets used by the characters seems to be based on a classic racket used in the late 1960s, as opposed to modern day rackets.
* *SEGA Superstars Tennis* was ported to MAC along with *Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing*. However, *SEGA Superstars Tennis* was never released on PC.
* Silver also appears in the game as a cameo.
* Due to the series being banned in Germany, this game referred the House of the Dead series as Curien Mansion. This is carried over to future *Sega Superstars* titles.
* All 16 characters in this game are all playable in *Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed*.
* Dr. Eggman and Shadow are featured in the Special Stage after completing the Doubles Tournament.
* Pudding's quotes were reused from *Space Channel 5 Part 2*, but her design is from Space Channel 5.
* Although a PS3 version of the game is available, the PS2 is incompatible to the PS3's first and second generation models, making *Sega Superstars Tennis* one of the only two PlayStation 2 Games (along with *Sega Superstars*) that are incompatible with the PlayStation 3.
* *Sega Superstars Tennis* and *Sonic the Hedgehog* (2006) are the only *Sonic* games released on the PlayStation 3 that lack trophy support.