Konamic Tennis

Konamic Tennis is part of a long line of Konami sports games made specifically for the Famicom and its Famicom Disk System peripheral, which had previously used the term “Exciting” to signify its Konami status: As is the case with games such as Exciting Baseball or Exciting Basketball (known in the west as Double Dribble). Instead, this and future Konami sports games for the system would have the “Konamic” appellation; a portmanteau of “Konami” and “dynamic”. At least, this is how the same pun in its original Japanese is commonly transliterated.

Konamic Tennis follows a similar design philosophy as other tennis games at the time (and would be used for most of the ones to follow) by depicting the action from behind the serving player’s side of the court. It follows the rules of the sport precisely, with a single game usually ending after four successful volleys (scored as 15, 30, 40 and Game) and the first to win six games deciding a set. Players can choose between a single set match or a longer 3-set match. They can also play in a tournament or a single one-on-one game with a CPU (or human) opponent of their choosing.

One feature Konamic Tennis introduces to the genre is that of the serving view, shown as an inset whenever a player serves the ball to start a game. The goal is to hit the ball at precisely the right moment to serve an excellent shot; too early or too late will cause the player to either hit the net or send the ball too far, or simply not hit the ball at all. In all these cases, it counts as a foul and the player has one more chance to correctly serve the ball, otherwise points are awarded to the opponent.