M: Now that I look at it, this strip is kind of a rip-off of an old Megatokyo gag. Oh well, everything on the Internet is stolen sooner or later. But on topic of the strip - isn't it
amazing how Japanese game designers seem to "get it" time and again? Honestly, I don't even know if the Virtua Tennis games (or Sega Professional Tennis, as they're
called in Japan) are even programmed by Japanese developers. Still, they retain all of the simple and elegant playability of their Arcade ancestors. "Top Spin" and "Top
Spin 2" were good games with nice graphics, a lot of replayability and an elaborate control scheme. They were "competent", Western style. Yet here comes the new
Virtua Tennis game and simply blows them out of the water. In my opinion, of course. No more L and R button modifiers, just one button does it all. Well, you can use the
"Lob" and "Slice" buttons, of course, but you really never will. And it just plays like a dream. For that alone, we'll forgive the designers for rendering all top tennis players of
the world as soulless zombies, including but not limited to Madame Sharapova, pictured above. No, she's not wearing fishnet stockings in the first panel. And, no, there's
no such move as the "Low Five maneuvre", which is highly unfortunate. Where's the love in forty - love?