Alright, so I finished writing my report or review of Minna no Tennis Portable… despite that I said it was an awesome game and it was very much improved over the original… as I was writing it I noticed a few things as I compared it between the two. The game is still great, but the conclusion didn’t seem to reflect that… If you would like to read it, head over to the Minna no Tennis Portable section. It is the introduction page for the game…

Clicking here works too: Minna no Tennis Portable.

There is now a Minna no Tennis Portable Section added to the site for both pages and the forum/community board. I’ve put up a basic menu translation that should allow you to get around the game without much problem. The only other problem is probably the in-game story moments where they ask for specific stuff… I guess those problems can be posted on the board.

Here is a video that shows the game play, a few spoilers and how to get the SP costumes for the characters… You’ll need to play Exhibition mode and defeat the 天使 Lv. CPU of each character first, but they are random so you need to just play them on hard for awhile until they come out. Then it unlocks 神 Lv. CPU which is also wearing the SP costume for the match. Good Luck and Have Fun.

Update: While playing the single exhibitions I realised you can change the rules for the game, as long as you don’t edit the handicap the game will count the score so you can easily get 100 point rounds with just 2 Game 1 Set matches… Well maybe easily isn’t exactly the right words unless you have unlocked easy mode. In doubles the CPU is still abit uncoordinated so it tends to mess up the 100 point rounds if you are unlucky… even when the CPU is standing in a smash spot for 2 or 3 seconds it will still miss the smash or totally miss the shot sometimes.

Review and Report later this week… some of the CPUs were a challenge to beat without letting them score a point. Awesome game… very much improved over the PlayStation 2 version…

Well here is part two of the information…

More Playable Characters:

Mitsuzane [20 y.o.]
“Samurai of Lawn Tennis.”

The 70th Generation owner of the Shiranui Castle. Who became the owner at a young age. His mission is to protect the castle with a strong sense of responsibility well beyond his age.

[Fast slice shots are his specialty, he is well balanced but well applying angled shots there will be a loss of pitch.]

Paola [12 y.o.]
“Glittering Girl of the Southern Island.”

The Laguna Island Gamine. She is young yet also optimistic with an “it will work out” attitude being part of her nature and also becomes her best strength.

[Fast Footwork type character, also with a good weapon up her sleeves backhand topspins that fall at a low pitch.]

Fan [80 y.o.]
“Training is within Tennis.”

With a martial arts dojo set up in the mountains. Even now he shows mischievous and rigorous training in his discipline to remain still, and has a kindness in his personality to apprentices.

[Good at deceptive shots with side spins, and has very stable and high shot control.]

Rachael [31 y.o.]
“Perfect Queen.”

The Super Career Woman that ran the world. With a superior forward reading and judgement skill, at first glance you may think she has it wrong but in the end you will agree and understand her judgement.

[High power, sharp and aggressive type character. Her serves are the biggest weapon and is at top notch.]

Schneider [30 y.o.]
“Absolute Maverick Champion.”
[Schneider lens, photo print. 4X optical zoom... Blonde Federer?]

A world’s top player. He is a regular finals tennis player and to win a major champion ship is everything.

[Coherent high-level all-round character. Plays hard destructive shots.]

The latest update shows:

Suzuki [55 y.o.]
“Middle Age Star of Hope.”

Everybody’s Golf’s Suzuki appears once again in the Everybody’s Tennis series, with the intent to keep his rock-solid reputation.

[Low Stamina but high food speed, with a specialty in high lobs and fast wit spins.]

Yakkun
“Objective! Athletic Comedy.”

Yakkun appears in Everybody’s Tennis Portable…[I really don't care about this guy so if you wanna read up head to Wiki.]

[Easy to handle and balanced character. Likes to do drop shots and low bouncing balls with a good slice.]

Gloria… of course. Don’t use silhouettes of characters we already know haha…

The Demo wasn’t a good measure of the game, but it does allow you to do quite a bit for a demo… However, I have just tested this game using Game Sharing and Adhoc Party with a friend of mine. Despite being a long distance connection through Adhoc Party and a few hiccups and testing phases to work things out, the game runs very smoothly once you are in.

The Game Sharing process through Adhoc Party wasn’t so great… it does work but took a lot of time and effort to get it going, the good thing is Clap Hanz has designed the Game Sharing client to install a special Game Share version of the game into your Memorystick so you don’t have to go through the painful process all over again.

The demo is quite different to the real game. As I have said the demo was created and used during the Tokyo Game Show, and was limited to being packed with the Japanese PSPGo units. Obviously because the demo was a work in progress so they didn’t want people to judge their game before the full version was released. I actually thought the demo was lacking and had a few issues that needed to be dealt with, but I knew there were already some game system changes that were due for the full release and already discussed on the MinteniP Official Site.

It was interesting what Clap Hanz did to make the multi-player experience a lot more enjoyable. Why couldn’t they have done this for the MingolP series? At first when you start Game Sharing mode, the host will send the Game Share users a client. This client will boot up and search for the host, who will then send another file to the client… The client will install this file onto the Game Share user’s memory stick and then they will be able to boot up this version of the game any time they want. Once it loads up… it begins to search for a Game Room. This means the end of the painful Game Sharing uploading/downloading and you can just boot up the Sharing version from the Game menu on the XMB.

The Demo Version and the Game Share Version.

As a bonus for those who would like to try this Adhoc Party thing with a friend who already owns the game, I have provided the Game Share version of the game so you can download it and put it into your PlayStation Portable to load up the client. Also the Demo version for those who don’t using PSP Media Go or PlayStation Store or don’t have a Japanese Account. It’s great fun and runs very well through Adhoc Party, so hopefully you know someone who has the game and can try the Game Share version. The Demo requires PSP Firmware 5.51 or above, the Game Share version requires Firmware 6.20 or above… however I have also provided a special modified version which will allow a PSP Firmware 5.00 to run the Game Share version. It also includes the MinteiP Theme Music which was in the Demo… not sure why it wasn’t in the Game Share version.

[5.00 Game Share version.]

Though I said the game runs smoothly on Adhoc Party, I can still see lag happening while playing. However this does not effect the smoothness of the game or the flow, so that is what I meant by smooth. Good Job Clap Hanz!

Minna no Tennis Portable is out tomorrow [Feburary 25th]… You will be able to purchase the downloadable version of the game from the Playstation Store for 3,800 Yen.

It is also out in retail stores for those who prefer the UMD release for the retail price of 4,980 Yen. I’m sure if you search around you’ll be able to find it cheaper.

Well I’ll try to get it soon, but yeah no real rush as there is No Online capabilities for this release. For those who want to play I’ll be looking to play using Adhoc Party… Also you probably don’t need the buy the game if you want to play. if you have the latest version of the PSP firmware as there is also Game-Sharing available. You can most likely Game-Share with a friend or someone else using Adhoc Party.

Official Minteni Portable Site: みんなのテニスポータブル公式サイト

Alright for those who didn’t buy a PSP Go in Japan, you can now get your hands on the Minna no Tennis Portable Demo from the PSN Network/Store. You will need Firmware 6.20 on your PSP installed to run this demo…

Also the official site has updated again with a few new information on the remaining characters and a new promotional movie for the game. Enjoy~! I will probably translate the rest of the character profiles in the old post and then that is probably it for now until I get the game.

Note: The Demo has Sample written all over it, this is highly likely because the release will have a few small changes compared to the demo. Which has been around for a few months ever since the Tokyo Game Show.

Download MinteniP Demo Instructions

I’m just wondering if I should bother with the other pages on the MinteniP site. I mean they look pretty straight forward to me, but if anyone actually wants some finer details I will do some of the pages. Just comment which page you want more details on.

If there it isn’t needed then I won’t bother…

Pages:
- System
- Operation
- Courts
- Game Mode

Also if anyone uses Google Buzz… Shihiko °

There is 11 or so playable characters available in MinteniP, currently there is information about 6 of them and 2 umpires. So I’ll provide some quick overview of these characters.

The Playable Characters:

Emi [19 y.o.]
“A Girl full of vitamins and an energetic smile.”

A girl who’s good at  all sports. With a bright and refreshing personality, her easy going friendliness towards everyone is her most charming aspect.

[The first all-rounder player with high impact skill along with good top spin and slice serves  are a few of her techniques in her arsenal.]

Ban [15 y.o.]
“An All-Out-Explosive energetic young boy.”

A young boy who loves Tennis that is full of energy. He’s the type that his body will react before he can think and will often become a bit overeager.

[The first net player you will be able to use with high impact, his got a very steady shot and good volleys. With a decent amount of stamina he will be fine no matter how much moving and turning he does.]

Tiger [16 y.o.]
“The Lightning Boy that runs the courts.”

Ace of the Nakagawa Tennis Club. Been in the club since he was a child and his progress through the courts are quite impressive.

[A power type baseline player. Due to his dislike of practice he lacks in stamina but has a powerful stroke and an air short drives that are well above average.]

Wendy [21 y.o.]
“Brightly「Go! Fight!」today.”
[What? well the sentence makes sense in Japanese but I am kind of confused trying to keep it short.]

Cheer leading club’s captain. A mood maker that boosts and excites everyone with her brightness and looks.

[A speed type net player. Specializing in slice shots and footwork, catches up with most balls.]

Brad [41 y.o.]
“Showing you the best stage!”

A popular world famous movie star.  Acting schools teach a wide range of roles. His love for tennis is also famous and he is exceptionally skilled in it as well.

[A power type all rounder player.  Strong powerful shots with high point smashes/flat serves are his weaponry in games.]

Rosetta [17 y.o.]
“Brilliant Princess Tennis.”

Daughter of the Victor House dating back to the 18th Century. Gifted with the ability to play tennis, even how she puts adults to shame with her true skills.

[High control baseline player. Makes good use of rising and drop shots into a counter style tennis. Her only weak point is her back hand.]

Umpires:

[Too lazy to translate these two profiles at the moment.]

Natasha [19 y.o.]

Nabe [28 y.o.]

That’s it for now… I’ll be back to clean this up later today.

Source: Minna no Tennis Portable Characters.

The Minna no Tennis Portable Official Website has been updated, there is a few new information regarding the game and characters along with a new video which is just a commercial for the game. I’m currently slightly busy so there will be some time until I get around to writing about the new information.

For those who are interested or able to read the information without additional assistance you can head on over to the official website to have a look… otherwise when I have time I’ll fill you all in when I have time to read it over myself.

Source: みんなのテニスポータブル公式サイト