Virtua Tennis (series)

Virtua Tennis
Logo for the first game in the series
Developers	Sega AM3 Sumo Digital
Publishers	Sega
Platform of origin	Arcade
First release	Virtua Tennis 1999
Latest release	Virtua Tennis Challenge 2012

Virtua Tennis (Power Smash in Japan) is a series of tennis simulation video games started in 1999 by Sega AM3. The player competes through tennis tournaments and various arcade modes. Originally released to arcades, for the home console market the game was expanded with the introduction of the campaign mode. The latest games in the series are available on all major consoles, starting with Virtua Tennis 3.

Domestically in Japan the series have always been released as Power Smash although with the third entry in the series the name was expanded to Sega Professional Tennis: Power Smash, although Sega Professional Tennis logo and name have been prominently featured in all the games, it was only in the title of the third game. Once Sega sold the 2K2 name to Take-Two Interactive, the triquel was released under the original branding as Virtua Tennis 3 all updates and sequels have been under the Virtua label to date.

Internationally it was released as Virtua Tennis, to fall in the same brand as other Sega Sports games such as Virtua Striker, with the sequel the name was changed to Tennis 2K2 as at the time all Sega Sports games were being released as 2k2 such as NHL 2K2, NBA 2K2, NFL 2K2 etc.

The original game were developed for the Sega Naomi Arcade Hardware by Sega (in 2000 under the label Hitmaker) and ported to the Sega Dreamcast Sega's home console based on the Naomi Hardware, the sequel Virtua Tennis 2 was built over original home console build, there were several upgrades made to the game most notably enhanced graphics, more courts, and a female roster (composed of 9 players) were introduced to the series featuring the likeness of Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport and even lesser known players such as Jelena Dokić.