Roger Federer is arguably the greatest athlete active today, so why is he absolutely dreadful when you boot up Sega's latest arcade tennis game? The reason: The game's career mode is bereft of generic players—meaning only pros populate the game, and they'll always stoop (or rise) to your skill level. So you'll stomp Federer when you're ranked 300th in the world, which is dumb, but when you earn your way to 200, he'll up his game and destroy you, which makes more sense.
Outside of who's hitting the ball back to you, Virtua Tennis' arcade sensibility means the ball rarely, if ever, goes out. But striking winners isn't easy either—you and your opponent can dive wildly to return the ball, which generically lengthens points. The net play is goofy, too, as players won't spike the ball down for a sure point, but instead tend to pop it up, making a sharp return easy. Still, it's a beautiful, fun, and easy-to-pick-up game, featuring enough innovative mini-games to burn the day away.