How to play RealSports Tennis online
- Move your player: arrow keys
- Serve (and swing, in manual mode): Space bar
- Player 2: T, F, G, H to move and A to serve or swing
- Choose one or two players, slow or fast: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Go to the name screen and start: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Manual or automatic swing: F4 for player 1, F9 for player 2 (the difficulty switches)
After Reset, a scrolling alphabet appears on the scoreboard. Push the joystick up and down to pick letters and press fire to enter each one, up to eight characters. Then choose the start arrow to begin; you can also pick it straight away.
Gameplay
The court is shown in a slanted, pseudo-3D view, and you can move freely around your half. The server changes after every game, and the players swap ends after the first game and then after every second game, just like in real tennis. In one-player games you also press the button to make the computer serve.
How you are moving when you hit the ball decides the shot. Standing still or moving sideways gives a normal shot, running towards the net gives a hard hit, and running away from the net gives a lob. Where the ball meets the racket sets the angle: near the tip it goes off at an angle, close to the body it goes straight.
Scoring follows the real rules. Points go 15, 30, 40 and game, with deuce and advantage when both players reach 40. A set goes to the first player to win six games with a two-game lead, and at six games all one extra game decides it. The match is best of three sets.
Difficulty switches
Each player’s difficulty switch sets the racket control: in position A you press the button to swing, in position B your player hits any ball within reach automatically. In one-player games, the right difficulty switch (F9) sets how well the computer plays instead: in position A it plays more skilfully than in B.
Tips
- Serve and rush the net. Getting to the net after your serve lets you hit the ball early, while your opponent is stuck at the back of the court.
- Lob a net player. If your opponent comes forward, run backwards as you hit to send a lob over their head.
- Use the tip of the racket. Angled shots towards the sidelines, or deep to the baseline when your opponent is at the net, are hard to reach in time.
- Learn on the slow setting. Practise the shots in a slow one-player game before you try fast.
The story behind RealSports Tennis
RealSports Tennis appeared in April 1983. It arrived about two years after Activision’s Tennis and plays much like it, with the scoreboard and name entry as the main additions. Letting players type in a name was an unusual feature for a 2600 game at the time. The title screen of the game simply says “Tennis”: Atari came up with the RealSports branding after the game was finished, so only the box and manual use the full name. An earlier prototype has also been found.
Separate versions for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers were programmed by Sean Hennessy. The 2600 game was later included on an AtGames Flashback portable in 2018, and in 2024 Atari reissued it on cartridge in its RealSports Collection. In Brazil, the company CCE sold its own copy of the cartridge as Super Tennis.
Similar games to play next
- Tennis – Activision’s 1981 tennis game, the one RealSports Tennis is often compared with
- RealSports Volleyball – two-on-two beach volleyball from the same series
- Racquetball – another racket sport for one or two players