It’s safe to say that my video game collecting has gotten out of hand. It all started during quarantine when I was playing a bunch of old games in my collection. Now I’ve always been a collector, but it really changed during quarantine. Now, I have started collecting for every console. And let me tell you, it has been some of the most fun I have ever had in my life. I love video game collecting so so much.

Thus started a little challenge I gave myself. Metacritic has a section called the “Legacy consoles.” Basically meaning the older consoles. I decided that since I own all of these “Legacy consoles,” it might be fun to try and get the top ten rated games for every single one of them. Now this has been about half a year in the making. Some of these games are HARD to find. I have been diligently hunting my local used game stores every single week. It has been a lot of fun and finding any on the list has been a total rush. I do not have all of them yet, but I have enough to start.

So, with that said: it’s time to dive right in with my first of the top ten for every console, Virtua Tennis for the Sega Dreamcast!

Now, as you can see, Virtua Tennis is actually number eleven for the Dreamcast at the time of writing this. Interestingly, it WAS number 10 when I started collecting these games. I guess Metacritic is constantly updating its rankings, so I will do my best to keep up with each top ten. This might make my actual lists look a little weird, but I mean I won’t complain that I have yet another game to collect now.

So, for the first top ten of my challenge, let’s start with number 11 for the Dreamcast: Virtua Tennis.

I know nothing about tennis. I don’t play tennis, I don’t watch tennis, and truthfully, I just don’t really care about tennis. Now this is nothing against tennis, this is just sports in general. I have never been a sports watcher or participator for that matter. Because of this, I have never cared about sports games. I understand that a lot of people love them, but they just aren’t for me. So, when I saw the Dreamcast’s top ten, I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed. Seeing that nearly half of them are sports titles. Regardless, I wanted to do this challenge and had to start somewhere. I booted up the Dreamcast, put in the little tennis ball colored disc and started playing.

And was completely, utterly, entirely blown away. Virtua Tennis is AMAZING. I quickly learned that there is a ton of depth to this game and so much to learn. I was figuring out the game and working my way through the campaign. Then, next thing I know, five hours had passed. Just like that. It is addicting and incredibly fun. And just when you might be getting bored of the regular singles or doubles matches, you get an incredible mini-game that tests your skills. I fully anticipated playing this game for an hour or two to capture some footage, but I was sorely mistaken. This has quickly become my favorite sports title of all time. No kidding. I see why this game is in the top ten (well top eleven I guess).

Also, the game looks great! The graphics are almost unreal for 1998. I cannot believe that this game existed. Seriously, it’s just downright incredible to look at.

Now with all that said, it is still just a tennis game. Outside of playing a few rounds of tennis and a handful of really fun mini-games, that’s all there is. Which is not a bad thing! This game advertises as virtual tennis and that’s exactly what it is. I have had a blast playing it and totally got addicted to learning and mastering this game. No kidding it is probably my most played game this last month. I love love love this game and understand why it is rated so high.

I give Virtua Tennis a 3.5 out of 4. It is a wonderful sports game and is probably the greatest tennis game ever made. I loved it and continue to love it. Not to mention that there are four player doubles in the game! I cannot wait to get a whole squad together to play doubles tennis. This game is fun and I am so surprised that it is quickly becoming my favorite Dreamcast game. If this is what the rest of the top ten challenge has in store, I might have to extend the challenge even further. Did somebody say the top 100 for every console?

I actually decided to make a fun little video for every top ten game. Just to have a little fun looking at the gameplay and stuff. I hope you enjoy.