### Tennis ### for Gameboy Advanced FAQ by Krebmaster Version 1.00 He or she who steals this FAQ will be subject to a duel at Tennis on Gameboy. ###Content### 1 Intro 2 Basic Info 3 Controls 4 Strategies 5 Other 6 Closing Remarks ### 1 Intro ### This FAQ is intended to give high-level strategies with detailed instructions on how to beat this game at the highest difficulty setting. At the same time, it should be useful for players of all levels. ### 2 Basic info ### In this FAQ I'm assuming you already know the general rules and terminology of tennis. If you don't know these, see some of the other FAQs. You can play the game with music on or off. There are four levels. Level one is easy in that the ball and opponent move slowly. Level four is harder in that the ball and opponent move much faster and the opponent appears to be smarter. At first, even level one is difficult, but please be persistent. I can't say that I have ever found a game that has a better spread of difficulty settings that continue to add new challenges. As you tackle each new level you will pick up new skills and strategies. ### 3 Controls ### Serving: You can move your player left and right before tossing up the ball. Any button will toss up the ball. A - hit a normal serve. B - hit a slow, soft serve. Pressing up while hitting the serve will hit it harder. Pressing down will hit it softer. Left and right allows you to control the direction. Controls on the court: These are the controls for anywhere on the court except near the net. These controls are pretty straight forward. A - hit the ball normally, press up while hitting to hit it harder, down to hit it softer (drop shot). B - hit a lob, press up to hit it high and far, down to hit it not so high and short. Controls at the net: While standing near the net, the controls are slightly different. A - hit the ball normally B - slice. The ball floats more and bounces softly. Again, up for harder, down for softer, left or right to angle the shot. ### 4 Strategies ### This is what the FAQ is all about. I will break it down by types of strategies. Although strategies can vary in effectiveness at different levels, I will focus on high level strategies that work for all difficulty settings. -Serving- Most of the time what works best is to move the player close to the center of the court and hit a hard serve to the outside corner. On some difficulty settings this will get you an ace (depending on which side you are on while serving). It is also good sometimes to hit it right down the center. I'll leave it up to you to figure out this part, I think it's relatively easy to serve. -Receiving a serve- The basic strategy I use is to return the ball close to the edge of the court and with as much angle as possible. Now, here is the key to playing the baseline on level 4---press back while hitting the ball to hit it softer. This soft shot allows for a better angle and slows the game play enough for you position yourself best for the next shot. Wait around the middle of the baseline and you should be able to reach any return shot from the opponent. One strategy that works most of the time on any difficulty setting is to return a serve down the side line. The opponent usually can't reach the ball and you get crowd applause for a return ace. The best way to do this requires you to be quick on your toes (fingers). When the serve comes, move your player so that his body is out of bounds and so that when he hits the ball he swings the racket towards the inside of the court. This makes it so the ball goes on a straight path with a slight angle towards the outside of the court. Press up while hitting the ball for a strong, fast return. The ball should land just inside the line and the opponent usually can't get to it on time. One possible problem with this strategy is that the opponent may serve the ball to the middle of the court and you won't be able to get it because you are waiting so far to the side. But if you are quick enough, you can wait to make sure the opponent is not serving to the center and then move the player to the position described above. Another problem can arise in the case that the opponent can actually reach the ball that you returned. If you are still standing to the side, the opponent will hit the ball to the opposite side and you won't be able to reach it. Just remember that you should move back to the center of the court as soon as you hit the ball and you should be fine. -Playing the baseline- The key to playing the baseline on level 4 is to hit the ball towards either side of the court with as much angle as possible. This makes the opponent do all the running back and forth. In real life, this would wear out the other player, but it also gives you the advantage as the other player ends up on one side of the court. On level 4, the opponent usually has no trouble running to the other side of the court quickly, but his options are still limited on the return shot. You should use the drop shot (hold down when hitting the ball) to achieve greater angle. If you want to hit the ball to the left side, hit a forehand shot (racket swings on the right side of the body) because this gives you more angle. If you want to hit the ball to the right, use a backhand shot (racket swings on the left side of the body). Forehand and backhand shots happen automatically depending on which side of the player's body the ball is coming to. This means that you have to make sure your player is standing in the right spot. Keep your player near the center of the baseline. When you give the opponent a shot to the side with a lot of angle, his choice to return the ball is limited to hitting it to roughly the center of the court. Try your best to stay in the middle of the court and keep the opponent on either side or running back and forth. You can do a back and forth (left and right) pattern but it is ok to hit the ball to one side two or three times in a row. It is important to use the drop shot (press down while hitting the ball) most of the time. This is kind of counter-intuitive because you would think that hitting the ball harder and faster would be more effective. However, you achieve more angle with the slow shots and they also allow you much more time to get ready for the next shot. If you are sure you are ready to finish off the opponent with a quick shot while he is on the other side, you can go for a big hard hit. Drop shots should not be used from behind the baseline. If you are too far away, the ball won't clear the net and you will lose the point. However, there is a certain distance where the ball will hit the net and bounce over to the opponent's side. This is good because the opponent can rarely return this shot. If the opponent is at or approching the net, use the same strategy as above. The drop shots are often hard for the opponent to return without hitting it into the net. Just be careful not to let the opponent get the upper hand (he might get you to start running back and forth and he will win that situation). If the opponent starts getting the upper hand, try a hard lob over his head (hold up while pressing B). This usually works pretty well but the game gets a little out of control sometimes after a lob. When the opponent approaches the net, someone is likely to lose the point very soon. You may want to go straight for the lob just to get him to go back to his baseline. The opponent sometimes has a hard time returning the lob, so this is often a good strategy. -Playing the net- If you want to approach the net, it is preferable that you do it after sending a shot to one corner. As you approach, move towards the center of the net. The opponent, having little choice where to return a shot from the corner, will hit it roughly to the center of the net where you are. React quickly with a shot to the opposite corner (using the A button). This also works if you just served to the corner of the court, but it happens quickly so be ready. When you approach the net, the opponent will likely do a lob shot especially if you are playing on level 3 or 4. If the lob is short, you can do a smash with the A button (hold up for a hard smash). Try to angle it away from the opponent. This can be a very gratifying hit. However, if the lob is very high, you will have to run back to around mid court. A smash with the A button will not make it over the net. You can smash with the B button (while pressing up to make sure it goes far enough to get over the net). This hits the ball much softer and gives it some float, but it actually works very well because when the ball bounces on the opponent's court it doesn't bounce high enough for the opponent to hit it back. The opponent can rarely return this kind of soft smash. Smashing (hitting an overhead shot) can be tricky to get the hang of. You need to place yourself where the ball will land and you have to time your shot well. With practice you can get good at it. As an alternative, you can wait for the ball to bounce and just hit it normally back to the opponent. This is often necessary if you can't get in place for a smash in time or if the lob goes way to the back of the court. ### 5 Other ### You can always win while you are serving with a little bug in the game's programming. Toss the ball up, swing when it is too high, step under the ball, and let it fall on your head. This sounds like a stupid thing to do, but the game will give you the point. ### 6 Closing Remarks ### Tennis is my all-time-favorite Gameboy game. I have a gameboy, gameboy color, and GBA, but I most often play Tennis on my gameboy color. I also own Mario Tennis for Gameboy Color, which is pretty good, but not as good as this game. The simple, yet accurate physics of the game allow for a very pleasing and deep gaming experience that is unhindered by needless graphics and gimics. I have beaten this game many times on all levels. Just last night I beat it on level 4 with a score of 6-1, 6-1 without really trying. I was playing the baseline mostly and I do not use the little cheat mentioned above. I don't doubt that I could beat level four without losing a single game except that I usually start fooling around to discover new strategies and sometimes let too many points go. I also like to serve softly to get a good volley going. Enjoy the game and do not get discouraged. Remember to practice the strategies detailed above and you too will be able to beat the game on level 4. Please feel free to contact me at ajbryner[at]yahoo.com with questions or comments about this FAQ. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. This FAQ should only be found at www.gamefaqs.com. Please contact me if you have found it somewhere else. Do not copy or reproduce this FAQ in part or in whole, or altered in any way without consent from the author, except for personal use. No profit must be made from this work. No copyright infringement was intended during the creation of this document. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Copyright 2009 Andrew Bryner.