Summary
- Tennis video games have evolved from their primitive beginnings to be frighteningly realistic like many sports games today.
- Many fantastic tennis games have been released over the years despite tennis being overlooked by some big publishers.
- Mario Tennis stands out as one of the highest-rated Mario sports games ever, offering a realistic tennis experience.
Tennis and gaming have a long history together, with Tennis For Two (1958) and table-tennis game Pong (1972) being two of the most important video game releases of all time. Since these primitive beginnings, tennis games have grown and improved alongside the industry as a whole, to the point where tennis video games today are - like many sports games - frighteningly realistic.
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Unfortunately, tennis has been overlooked by many publishers in recent years, as companies like EA Sports and 2K Sports have focused more on team-based sports and modes like Ultimate Team that generate eye-watering sums of money each year. Thankfully, though, there have been many fantastic tennis games released over the years that are well-wroth replaying today.
Updated April 15th, 2024, by Jack Pursey: Like golf, tennis works as both a serious simulation-style video game and a wacky, over-the-top style of game, which has given the sport great variety in the gaming world, with franchises like Top Spin and the Mario tennis games providing stellar entertainment despite how fundamentally different their approach to the sport is. To give tennis fans a better idea of what to play next, this list of the best tennis video games has been updated to include a few more entries.
7 Mario Power Tennis (GameCube Version)
Metascore: 80
Mario Power Tennis
Power Up Your Tennis Game!
The Mushroom Kingdom has hosted tennis tournaments before, but never one as explosive as this one! Mario and Co. Return to the courts with even more powerful shots and new, character-specific power moves guaranteed to make for absolute tennis lunacy. Throw banana-boomerangs as DK, smack returns with Mario's hammer, and play your way to the top with all your favorite characters!
- A game for everyone! With one- to four-player modes available, prepare for mind-blowing multiplayer madness.
- Tennis, Mario-style! Fight off Klaptraps, clean up sludge, fight through Item Battle mode, or play tennis-themed mini-games!
- Choose wisely! Each character has a defensive and offensive power move that can send foes reeling or return out-of-reach balls!
- Be as crazy as you like! Play traditional tournaments, or hit the Gimmick Courts for the wildest matches you've ever seen.
- Released
- October 28, 2004
- Developer(s)
- Camelot Software Planning, Nintendo SPD
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo SPD, Camelot Software Planning
Similar to Top Spin 4, Mario Power Tennis for the Nintendo Wii was an utter disaster thanks to the motion controls not working well with the game; Mario Power Tennis for the GameCube, however, is a critically acclaimed gem and one of the best tennis games of all time.
Unlike the aforementioned Mario Tennis (N64), Mario Power Tennis leans into the weird and wacky side of Mario sports games with gimmick courses and ridiculously over-the-top Power Shots, making Mario Power Tennis ideal for those who don't take their sports games too seriously.
6 Hot Shots Tennis: Get A Grip (Everybody's Tennis Portable)
Metascore: 80
Platform(s): PSP
Released: 2010-02-25
Developer(s): Clap Hanz
Publisher(s): Sony Computer Entertainment
As the name suggests, Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip (also known as Everybody's Tennis Portable) is a spin-off of the popular Hot Shots Golf series (also known as Everybody's Golf).
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The game continues the Hot Shots tradition of largely ignoring realism, opting to provide fun and over-the-top gameplay instead. Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip's impressive 80 on Metacritic, ten points higher than the lackluster Hot Shots Tennis that was initially released on the PlayStation 2 in 2006.
5 Mario Tennis: Power Tour
Metascore: 81
Platform(s): Game Boy Advance
Released: 2005-09-13
Developer(s): Camelot Software Planning
Publisher(s): Nintendo
The Game Boy Advance probably isn't the first system that springs to mind when most people think of the best places to play sports games, but Mario Tennis: Power Tour offered a great time to anyone willing to give the handheld game a try.
Released in 2005, the gameplay is similar to that of Mario Power Tennis on the GameCube (more on that game later), with the gameplay being centered around earning Power Shots. Furthermore, there are both offensive and defensive power shots available, which offer a good level of variety and strategy to the gameplay.
4 Virtua Tennis 2 (Tennis 2K2)
Metascore: 83
Platform(s): Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Arcade
Released: 2001-10-23 (Dreamcast)
Developer(s): Hitmaker
Publisher(s): Sega and Acclaim Entertainment
Virtua Tennis 2 (also known as Tennis 2K2) was first released in arcades in 2001 before arriving on Sega Dreamcast and then PlayStation 2 shortly after. The game introduced World Tour mode to the series, which would become a staple of the franchise, and it's not an exaggeration to say that it's one of the best single-player modes in any sports game ever released.
Virtua Tennis 2 - like any successful sports game - has wonderfully well-balanced gameplay and a great roster of playable characters, including top stars from the time, like Serena Williams, Tim Henman, and Patrick Rafter.
3 Top Spin 4 (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Version)
Metascore: 84
Platform(s): PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Released: 2011-03-15
Developer(s): 2K Czech
Publisher(s): 2K
Top Spins 4 was developed by 2K Czech and was released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii in March 2011. However, it's only the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions that make it onto this list as, unfortunately, the Nintendo Wii version suffered from poor motion controls and lackluster visuals.
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Top Spin 4 on PS3 and Xbox 360, on the other hand, was an impressive technical achievement as it looked fantastic for the time and played as smooth as butter. It also featured numerous real-life players, along with licensed venues and equipment, making the game feel tremendously authentic.
2 Virtua Tennis: World Tour
Metascore: 84
Platform(s): PSP
Released: 2005-09-01
Developer(s): Sumo Digital
Publisher(s): Sega
Virtua Tennis: World Tour was released on the PSP in 2005. The game doesn't offer too many differences from the console releases, but it's still a fantastic tennis game to play on the go.
Like most games in the Virtua Tennis series, one of World Tour's main strengths is its wide range of game modes. Along with the main World Tour mode, players can compete online, play in tournaments, and take on some of the series' quintessential minigames.
1 Mario Tennis
Metascore: 91
Mario Tennis
- Released
- August 28, 2000
- Developer(s)
- Camelot Software Planning
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo 64, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Nintendo Game Boy Color
Released in the year 2000, Mario Tennis differentiates itself from most modern Mario sports games by not implementing any power-up mechanics in its gameplay; it instead offers a surprisingly realistic physics-based tennis experience.
With an impressive Metascore of 91, Mario Tennis is the highest-rated Mario sports game ever, excluding kart racers, with just Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (92) and Mario Kart Super Circut (93) being ahead of it.
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