Nicholaus Goossen

In Virtua Tennis (released on October 6, 2000 for the Dreamcast), Sega proved that "realism" doesn't have to be boring. By taking the lightning-fast arcade engine and adding a deep World Tour mode, they created what many still consider the greatest sports game ever made, a title so intuitive that anyone could pick up a controller and feel like a pro within thirty seconds. Grand Slam Intel: The Two-Button Mastery: Unlike modern tennis sims with twenty different shot modifiers, Virtua Tennis uses just two buttons: Topspin and Slice. The depth comes from your positioning and how long you hold the direction during your swing. If you're planted, you're dangerous; if you're running, you're toast. The "World Tour" Grind: This was the secret sauce of the Dreamcast port. You create a player and travel the globe, but instead of just playing matches, you compete in bizarre training mini-games, like knocking down giant bowling pins with serves or protecting a series of targets from a ball machine. The Roster of Legends: You get to play as (or against) icons like Jim Courier, Tommy Haas, and Cedric Pioline. Each has a specific "style", Courier is a baseline power hitter, while Tim Henman is the serve-and-volley king. The 4-Player Smash: This was the ultimate "party" game for the Dreamcast. With the system's four built-in controller ports, doubles matches were chaotic, high-speed affairs that usually ended in a lot of shouting and "accidental" lobs.

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