Let’s Smash! Center Court Tennis Contents 1. Introduction 2. Walkthrough 3. Characters Released on October 9th 1998 by Hudson, this is a fun arcade tennis game. In Europe the game was released in 1999 as Centre Court Tennis while in Japan it was amusingly called Let’s Smash! Beating Mario Tennis to the market by two years, this is the first tennis game on the N64. Tim Weaver reviewed the Japanese version for the British publication N64 magazine, giving it 63%. He criticized the lack of shot types and the overly simple but unresponsive controls, but in the end praised the game as an “entertaining jolly little game.” On the surface this game seems to be quite bare bones compared to other tennis games of the time. However, the game features true analog aiming, meaning that once you are familiar with the controls, you will be able to hit the ball anywhere you like on the court. If you master the spin mechanics you will even be able to spin the ball AROUND THE SIDE of the net! Something that is possible in table tennis, but never seen in professional tennis! If you can convince 4 people to learn this game then you are in for a very entertaining and high paced battle. According to some websites the in-game voices in the PAL version were not re-recorded so everything is pronounced with a Japanese accent. This suggests that the PAL conversion was done hastily and with little expense by Big Ben Interactive, probably because they wanted to rush the game out for the tennis season. The PAL version of this game is becoming slightly harder to find due to the low print run. On the other hand, the Japanese version of the game is quite easy to come across, and can be played in an American N64, unlike the PAL version. For that reason, I will translate all of the menus, as I know many people opt to buy Japanese versions of the games to save money these days. Back of the box Challenge unique courts loaded with various tricks and obstacles! Enjoy the excitement of these lighthearted yet challenging courts! Increase the strength and ability of your players by collecting different Items! Battle opponents in fierce competition to capture even more Items! Acquire even further Items in the mini games that get really exciting before you know it! Put your skills to the test on a variety of courts against a variety of players! On the PAL version of the game they accidently pasted this text twice with minor variations. More evidence to suggest that the localization was a rushed job. Walkthrough First, we will go through the controls and the menus, and then I will explain how to play the game well. Controls 3D Stick – Move your player, add direction or spin to the ball A – Strong serve, Stroke Shot, Punch ball (at the net) B – Weak serve, lob shot, Drop volley (at the net) C Buttons – Change the camera angle Tap R – Taunt Hold R – Victory pose A and Z – Super Shot Start – Pause The main menu gives you the following 4 options, from left to right: Normal Mode Challenge Mode Create a Character Options In Normal Mode you have the following options: Exhibitions – Play a single game against the AI. Practice – See below Tournament – You need to win this mode to beat the game. In Practice Mode you have the follow practice games: Serve practice Volley practice Stroke practice Smash practice If you do well in practice mode your coach will give you items of clothing. Challenge Mode gives you the following options Challenge – Wager one of your items to try and win an item in return. Mini-games – See below Dressing Room – Change your character’s outfit Your character outfits in this game boost your players base stats. You can win items of clothing in most of the game modes. There are several complete outfit sets to collect. If you collect and wear the full set a secret ability will activate. These can be very helpful in the Normal mode, tournament mode and challenge mode, but do not work in the mini game mode. Some of the sets on offer are; The Santa set – You will not slip on ice. The gentleman set – Stops you from taunting or victory posing. The Cat set - You will not slip on ice. Move a bit faster. The Kaiju set – Magama and Scorpions do not hurt you. More power but slower. The angel set - You will not slip on ice, better control. The demon set – Magama and Scorpions do not hurt you. Stroke is more powerful. PE kit – Stronger stroke, better control Coaches set - Stronger stroke, better control Bunny set – Move a bit faster The Challenge Mode has a few special courts Music Box The moving turn table is hard to stand and play shots on. Ice Floe A court surrounded by ice walls, you can hit the penguins at your opponent. Volcano If you stand on the magma your character will not be able to move for a while. Skyscraper Both you and the ball can fall of the sides of this tall building. Desert You can hit the scorpions at your opponent to stop them from moving. Mid Air court 4 birds carrying a giant grass court high above the ground. There are several other special courts which only differ in bounce type Plateau – A quiet, misty green field on a mountain top. Street – A back alley court in a noisy city. If you wear certain items and the press Z when selecting a court in normal mode, it will allow you to play on a court from challenge mode instead. Straw Hat – UK – Desert court Frill skirt – France – Music box court Kaiju legs – America – Volcano court Angel wings - Australia – Mid Air court Santa’s sack – Plateau – Ice Floe Long black gloves – Streets - Skyscraper There are 4 mini games to choose from (localized names). If you get a high score in a mini game you will win items of clothing. Knock‘em down – Knock over the Daruma doll tower. Burning Barrels – Destroy all the barrels as fast as possible. Run and Gun – Return the balls as fast as possible, but avoid the bombs. Tennis Court Bingo – Turn over the panels with your lob shot. The options menu has the following... options.. Sound – stereo or mono Music on or off Tv mode – normal or wide screen Show the place the ball will bounce on or off Show the height of a ball on or off Replay on or off Difficulty – easy normal or hard Reset Go back The ball bouncing icon and ball height icon can be quite helpful for beginners. On the character creation screen you have the following options Head Shirt Shorts / Skirt Shoes Taunt Victory Pose Cancel Previous Accept First head to the character creation screen and make your character. In the Japanese version of the game you have 3 options at the side of the screen which allow you to enter your name in hiragana, katakana or the English alphabet. You will then be asked to choose the gender of your character, and then their dominant hand, left ひだり or right みぎ. The hand you choose has an impact on the game so choose the one you are comfortable with. Your character’s gender has no effect on their abilities. After choosing your starting clothes, you will be able to decide your characters stats. The manual recommends that new players put points into the player movement speeds, the serve and stroke stats. You can’t change your characters basic stats, but you can alter them by wearing certain clothes. The manual also recommends that you try to learn the various shot types by making characters that are good at smashing, volleys, and spin. Once you have found a style of playing that suits you, you can build a character around that. For anyone playing the Japanese version, the stats are as follows; Serve Smash Volley Lob Stroke Spin Back and forth movement Left and right movement To beat this game, you will need fine control of the ball, and an understanding of how to return the ball well. First head to the practice mode and get a feel of how to play. You can turn the ball indicator on in the options menu. This shows you where the ball will bounce. If you stand on the marker the ball will just bounce right through you. You should be standing behind and to the left/right (depending on which hand your character uses) of that marker to return the ball well. You should swing when the ball reaches the highest point in the bounce to get the highest power out of your shot. After you get a feel for where the ball will bounce you can turn the marker off. Before and after you serve / return the ball there is a brief window in which you can add direction to the ball. This is a very delicate input, if you push the stick all the way to the edge the ball will most likely go off court. If you master this mechanic you will be able to return aces against the CPU very easily. The direction you can send balls is decided using the 3D stick in the following way 3D Stick Position - 2 - 1 3 | | 4 5 6 | | 7 9 - 8 – General position the ball will land ___________________ |1| 2 |3| | | | | |_|_____________|_| |4| 5 |6| | | | | | | | | | | |7| 8 |9| NET These locations are reversed if you are playing on the top court. You can avoid this by changing the camera angle settings in the options. Directly after your character hits the ball with their racket you can add spin to the ball by holding in 1 of 5 directions with the 3D stick as follows. This is vital in confusing your opponent and making them miss the ball. - 2 - | | 4 1 5 | | - 3 – 1 – Front Spin 2 – Top Spin 3 – Back spin 4 – Left side spin 5 – Right side spin The power of your returns is determined by both the timing you hit the ball, and the height of the ball when you hit it. But you can always play a weak shot by just tapping the A button. To play a Smash your characters dominant arm should be in a high position when it connects with the ball. If their arm is too high you will swing and miss. Memorize the timing in the practice mode. You will do a strong smash with the A button and a weak smash with the B button. Super Shots are played by pressing the A and Z button, these have a higher speed than normal shots. You can add direction and spin in the same way you do with normal shots. If you hit a ball with your nondominant hand you will automatically do a Back Hander. This is useful in a pinch, but you mainly want to return balls using your dominant hand because forehand shots have much better power. You can’t smash using your nondominant hand for example. If you are just a little bit too far to reach a ball then you may also do a diving shot automatically. When you are playing at the top of the screen it can be harder to judge the position of the ball due to how the camera perspective warps the distance. To avoid this, make sure you change the camera angle using the C buttons. To beat the game, you will need to win all 4 of the Grand Slam Tournaments in Tournament mode. Once you win a tournament you will be given outfit items. These items actually boost your stats a lot so make sure you equip them in the Dressing Room screen in the Challenge Mode menu. The items you win from Grand Slams are the best in the game, better than any you could win in Challenge Mode. Winning all the tournaments and beating the game takes about 2 hours. 3.Characters On the character select screen the following characters are available. Each of the CPU players has their own playing style, they will be strong at some things and weaker at others. There are 16 players to choose from at the start, but if you win tournaments you will unlock 8 more players. I will list their localized names rather than the Japanese original names. Their Japanese names seem to be jokes based on famous tennis players of the time. I will list them from left to right, top to bottom Tim Patrick Steve Carlo Pete Max Chris Arthur Mark Rob Mike Joe Ann Jackie Georgia Tanya Nancy Feona Katelyn Shelia Michelle Lauren Mary Julia