Year: 2000
Type: Gamerip
Composer(s): Chiho Kobayashi
Number of tracks: 20

★★★★★

Smash-Hits

Basically, every sport can be broken down to the essentials in a few words: 'cycling', 'swimming', 'running in circles', 'chasing/shooting/throwing a ball'. It all sounds pretty unspectacular. And in my opinion it is - at least to watch. At the top of my list of things I wonder why you should watch is tennis. If I want to watch two people moaning in hot net action, I'll visit certain websites.

Be that as it may - there is a market for this nonsense and, of course, various video game derivatives. One representative of this trade was the Virtua Tennis series, originally called Power Smash in Japanese, which found its way from the arcade machine to the home Dreamcast console at the turn of the century with Virtua Tennis. Players could compete against each other with a selection of eight athletes in four competitions - male athletes, mind you..

The accompanying soundtrack was composed by guitarist Chiho Kobayashi. So if you (like me) were waiting for synthpop and uninspired MIDI droning, you will be disappointed by the 20 tracks of the gamerip. In fact, the score sounds quite 'modern', which is probably due to the rock approach with shrill guitar riffs and corresponding drum sequences. A real surprise for me, which I would have expected to find in a contemporary Mario Kart or the Mario Strikers-series rather than in a posh over-the-net knockabout.

The composer remains true to her formula for large parts of the album and only occasionally adds a little 80s glam to the rock ballad through accents or smaller acoustic highlights (Hero of Time, Dream and Passion, Into Central Court). The biggest exception, however, is Start Match, which sounds like the opening to a typical fantasy epic and then settles somewhere between Titanic and Terminator - unexpected, but not bad. This in turn also describes the score quite well.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Start Match	Chiho Kobayashi	4
02	Glorious Cup	Chiho Kobayashi	3
03	Beginning a Destiny	Chiho Kobayashi	3
04	Unyielding Spirit	Chiho Kobayashi	4
05	The Power	Chiho Kobayashi	4
06	Smash, Smash, Smash	Chiho Kobayashi	4
07	On the Run	Chiho Kobayashi	4
08	Tought Energy	Chiho Kobayashi	4
09	Hard Distance	Chiho Kobayashi	3
10	Hero of Time	Chiho Kobayashi	3
11	Dream and Passion	Chiho Kobayashi	4
12	Into Central Court	Chiho Kobayashi	4
13	Victory	Chiho Kobayashi	2
14	Jingle 1	Chiho Kobayashi	2
15	Jingle 2	Chiho Kobayashi	2
16	Jingle 3	Chiho Kobayashi	1
17	Jingle 4	Chiho Kobayashi	2
18	Name Entry	Chiho Kobayashi	3
19	Select a Player	Chiho Kobayashi	3
20	World Map	Chiho Kobayashi	3