"World Court Tennis" - Turbografx-16/PC-Engine
AKA - "Pro Tennis: World Court"
Well, now that we've played Namco's Pro Yakyuu World Stadium, it's time for Namco's Pro Tennis World Court. Which is, like, an entire different sport and an entire different field to play it on. I'm excited, I don't know about you.
It's actually a port of an arcade game by the same title which was released in 1988, and this port came out the same year in Japan, in December. The arcade title ran on Namco System 1 hardware, the same hardware from Youkai Douchuuki and Galaga '88 before it. Which I guess makes it a perfect target for a PC Engine port because we've already seen several of those.
Apparently the game won the "Gold Palace" award during a cross review from a magazine that focused on primarily reviewing Famicom games: "Famicom News" (Famicom Tsuushin). Incidentally, I think the "Gold Palace" (in Japanese: "Gold Dendou") award is probably a play on words with 'Nintendo,' because they use the same -dou kanji (堂).
But anyway, let's play the game, already.
It's actually a port of an arcade game by the same title which was released in 1988, and this port came out the same year in Japan, in December. The arcade title ran on Namco System 1 hardware, the same hardware from Youkai Douchuuki and Galaga '88 before it. Which I guess makes it a perfect target for a PC Engine port because we've already seen several of those.
Apparently the game won the "Gold Palace" award during a cross review from a magazine that focused on primarily reviewing Famicom games: "Famicom News" (Famicom Tsuushin). Incidentally, I think the "Gold Palace" (in Japanese: "Gold Dendou") award is probably a play on words with 'Nintendo,' because they use the same -dou kanji (堂).
But anyway, let's play the game, already.
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| Kind of a lame title-screen. I guess they blew the art budget on the logo. |
----- Playthrough -----
World Court Tennis has a few options, and two options available to the single player. These are singles play, and "Quest" mode (oh boy).
I started off with a singles play match and stuck it on a set of 3 so I could get a feel for the game before diving into anything too crazy. For the most part, it plays like Tennis on the Famicom did. You move around with the d-pad-- B button is lob hits, and A button is straight hits (I have no idea what the proper terminology for this is).
I quickly got my butt handed to me 6-0 in the first set and just hit reset to try out quest mode.
Quest mode opens up to a goofy little story told to you by the king of tennis land (or whatever, it has a name but I forgot it already). He tells you everyone was happy playing tennis-- a bunch of tennis nerds were all at perfect peace in his kingdom, but then the self-proclaimed evil tennis lord rose up, so it's your job to defeat him because you're the tennis hero.
And then he gives you a cloth shirt, cloth shoes and a wooden racket and sets you off to work.
That's the last English screenshot because I was primarily playing the Japanese version (for some reason).
Inside of the village, there are some houses scattered around with people that will drop dialogue and then kick you out-- and there's also a shop to upgrade your equipment.
To that end, as you walk along outside of the village (which looks more like a city on the sprite, but anyway) you'll be challenged as expected by random people looking for a tennis battle. I guess they just live out in the woods waiting for a chance to beat someone at tennis. An interesting but merciful mechanic that is in this game is that the more times you lose in succession, the more money the King will give you upon resurrection to help you upgrade your equipment.
So even if you lose constantly, you'll still be on the path to progress.
The map is pretty linear, and occasionally you'll come across someone with more dialogue nuggets for you telling you what you need to do. The first shack you come across has a guy who tells you that there are 6 tennis courts in the world belonging to the evil tennis lord, and you'll have to challenge his underlings at all 6 one at a time to get a shot at the big baddie.
As you wander farther away from the first area, you'll find that enemies are faster and hit the ball harder, and the same goes for you as you upgrade your equipment. Getting the racket from the first town seems to almost double the speed of the balls you hit, and getting better shoes increases your speed on the court. It actually provides a pretty strong sense of progress.
When you get to the second town there's even a place where you can gamble on a match of doubles as to what team you think will win. I'm not gonna lie to you, it's pretty entertaining to watch knowing you have the yen on the line.
I finally went to the west of the first town to try and take down the first underling of the evil tennis lord, but he absolutely creamed me in the first match. Then I tried grinding and upgrading all my gear and he still creamed me, 6-0. It doesn't really seem to matter what you do, he's just so fast and hits the ball so far away from you every time that it feels nearly impossible to keep up with him.
I don't know if I was supposed to skip this one and go upgrade my gear again and come back, or if I'm just bad at tennis games too (probably the latter) but after playing for 2 hours I had had my fill of World Court Tennis and its quest mode. Unique and amusing as it is, I laid down the controller and admitted defeat (to the developers, for tricking me into playing a tennis game for 2 hours).
I started off with a singles play match and stuck it on a set of 3 so I could get a feel for the game before diving into anything too crazy. For the most part, it plays like Tennis on the Famicom did. You move around with the d-pad-- B button is lob hits, and A button is straight hits (I have no idea what the proper terminology for this is).
 |
| I'd like to enthusiastically pretend this is something new to me, but I admit I'm having a hard time. |
I quickly got my butt handed to me 6-0 in the first set and just hit reset to try out quest mode.
 |
| Okay, now we're getting into territory I can do something with. |
Quest mode opens up to a goofy little story told to you by the king of tennis land (or whatever, it has a name but I forgot it already). He tells you everyone was happy playing tennis-- a bunch of tennis nerds were all at perfect peace in his kingdom, but then the self-proclaimed evil tennis lord rose up, so it's your job to defeat him because you're the tennis hero.
And then he gives you a cloth shirt, cloth shoes and a wooden racket and sets you off to work.
 |
| Oh yeah, now I'm ready to do some tennis-related damage. |
That's the last English screenshot because I was primarily playing the Japanese version (for some reason).
Inside of the village, there are some houses scattered around with people that will drop dialogue and then kick you out-- and there's also a shop to upgrade your equipment.
To that end, as you walk along outside of the village (which looks more like a city on the sprite, but anyway) you'll be challenged as expected by random people looking for a tennis battle. I guess they just live out in the woods waiting for a chance to beat someone at tennis. An interesting but merciful mechanic that is in this game is that the more times you lose in succession, the more money the King will give you upon resurrection to help you upgrade your equipment.
So even if you lose constantly, you'll still be on the path to progress.
 |
| Nice hat. |
The map is pretty linear, and occasionally you'll come across someone with more dialogue nuggets for you telling you what you need to do. The first shack you come across has a guy who tells you that there are 6 tennis courts in the world belonging to the evil tennis lord, and you'll have to challenge his underlings at all 6 one at a time to get a shot at the big baddie.
As you wander farther away from the first area, you'll find that enemies are faster and hit the ball harder, and the same goes for you as you upgrade your equipment. Getting the racket from the first town seems to almost double the speed of the balls you hit, and getting better shoes increases your speed on the court. It actually provides a pretty strong sense of progress.
 |
| I mean, I can actually TIE the match now. My false sense of improvement is through the roof. |
When you get to the second town there's even a place where you can gamble on a match of doubles as to what team you think will win. I'm not gonna lie to you, it's pretty entertaining to watch knowing you have the yen on the line.
 |
| I'm about 10x more invested in this AI match than I've ever been in a real life tennis match. |
I finally went to the west of the first town to try and take down the first underling of the evil tennis lord, but he absolutely creamed me in the first match. Then I tried grinding and upgrading all my gear and he still creamed me, 6-0. It doesn't really seem to matter what you do, he's just so fast and hits the ball so far away from you every time that it feels nearly impossible to keep up with him.
I don't know if I was supposed to skip this one and go upgrade my gear again and come back, or if I'm just bad at tennis games too (probably the latter) but after playing for 2 hours I had had my fill of World Court Tennis and its quest mode. Unique and amusing as it is, I laid down the controller and admitted defeat (to the developers, for tricking me into playing a tennis game for 2 hours).
 |
| You already beat me four times, you don't have to gloat this much, jerk. |
----- Review -----
How long did I play?
2 hours.
2 hours.
How much did I beat?
I couldn't beat the first boss.
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I couldn't beat the first boss.
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Intuitive Design:
How easy is it to intuitively understand the game?
As with Tennis on the Famicom, the controls seem to mostly be hitting and running. If you understand to hit the ball inside the court, you've got everything you need to play. The opponents are able to slide to hit the ball, and I couldn't figure out how to do that, so apparently some of the controls are not totally intuitive (or I'm a moron, which is also likely).
Gameplay / Difficulty:
How rewarding does playing the game feel?
It's awfully hard, to me, but I'm notoriously bad at all sports games (as you may have noticed). Give me a platformer or a shoot 'em up and I can actually do something, but give me a sports game intended for your dad and I can't compete for a second. I feel like there's some legendary tennis knowledge/strategy I don't understand-- all I know how to do is try to hit the ball away from the opponent.
Depth:
How deep/long is the game?
I have no idea, but in about an hour and a half of quest mode I couldn't beat the first boss, and there's supposedly 6 of them before you fight the last guy, so I imagine you can probably get a good 7-8 hours out of that quest mode if you really want to.
Sound / Graphics:
How's the sound? How are the graphics?
The music is pretty good in the quest mode, and the game looks serviceable for a sports game. There's not much to complain about, just cute little graphics that are relatively crisp. The player sprites look hilariously bad but I think they're supposed to be comedic so it makes sense. The way they're randomly wearing accessories in the quest mode cracks me up.
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| This seems like it can't possibly be good. |
Personal Chord:
Does the game have that undefinable "something" for me?
I don't really have a lot of desire to play a tennis game but I do have a love for wacky campaign modes in strange places (like the weird RPG campaign in the Taiko no Tatsujin 3DS game). In that regard, yes, but I realized after playing for awhile that I don't really like playing the Tennis part.
Should You Play:
Is there a reason to even bother with this one?
Maybe? If you like tennis and the wacky campaign thing appeals to you, this seems like a fun way to kill a couple afternoons.
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