''Smash Tennis'' is a 1993 tennis video game developed and published by

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...

for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

. It was released in Japan as It is a follow-up to ''Family Tennis'', originally published in 1987 for the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...

. It was designed by Hideo Yoshizawa, a former employee of

Tecmo was a Japanese video game company founded in 1967. It had its headquarters in the Kudankita district of Tokyo. Its subsidiary, Tecmo Inc, was located in Torrance, California. Prior to 1986, Tecmo was formerly known as Tehkan. Tecmo is known for ...

that later created '' Klonoa: Door to Phantomile'', '' Mr. Driller'' and '' R4: Ridge Racer Type 4''. It did not receive a North American release until it was released on the

Nintendo Classics Nintendo Classics is a line of Video game console emulator, emulated retro games distributed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch family of systems and Nintendo Switch 2. Subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service have access to games for ...

service in February 2020.

Gameplay

''Smash Tennis'' is a tennis video game. Up to four players can be on the game. They must hit the ball with the SNES's controller; failing to do so will resulting in the announcer saying "fault!". After the maximum score is achieved, the court changes. The Japanese version featured a hidden mode named "NAMCOT Theater", which is a story mode that was absent from the western release.

Development and release

''Super Family Tennis'' was released for the

in Japan on June 25, 1993. It was released in Europe later that year for the

, published by British developer

Virgin Interactive Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

and renamed to ''Smash Tennis''. The game was designed by Hideo Yoshizawa, a former employee of

who is best known for creating '' Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, Mr. Driller'', and '' R4: Ridge Racer Type 4''; ''Super Family Tennis'' was the first game for Namco he worked on. Development of the game was done by Namcot, the former home console division of

that was later abolished in 1995. It is the sequel to ''Family Tennis'', which was originally released in 1987 for the

in Japan. It was digitally re-released in Japan for the

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

on September 6, 2019 and in the rest of the world on February 19, 2020 as one of twenty SNES titles announced for the

service, making it the first time the game was released in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

Reception

The game has received mostly positive reviews. ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' gave the game a score of 29/40, whereas '' Next Generation'' rated it a 7/10, and ''Mega Fun'''s score is of 86/100. In 1995, ''

Total! ''Total!'' was a video game magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future plc. It was published monthly for 58 issues, beginning in December 1991 (cover-dated January 1992), with the last issue bearing the cover-date October 1996. A "1993 ...

'' ranked ''Smash Tennis'' 19th on their "Top 100 SNES Games" and commented that compared to its predecessor the game worked slightly better all round and having an interactive background.

Notes

References

{{reflist 1993 video games Namco games Nintendo Classics games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Tennis video games Video games developed in Japan Multiplayer and single-player video games