Many people are wondering which Wii MotionPlus tennis game they should buy. I thought we should have a thread to put together the differences between the two, so that people can make an informed decision.

This OP will start pretty short, but hopefully grow with time. Corrections and additions are welcome from people who have actually played the games.

Known differences:

- Grand Slam Tennis has cartoonish graphics, Virtua Tennis 09 has more realistic graphics.

- In Grand Slam Tennis, Wii remote calibration happens automatically whenever you hold the remote still. In VT 09, calibration happens after each point by asking you to point at your player. source 1 source 2

- In Grand Slam Tennis, you can use buttons (A and B) to modify your shots, i.e. to do lobs and drops. However, the buttons are optional when using WM+, it's just an added possibility to make them easier. VT 09 doesn't seem to have button modifiers. source 1 source 2

- Different player lineups. source

- VT 09 has a minigames collection. video

- Grand Slam Tennis is officially bundled with WM+ in Europe (so it's slightly cheaper compared to VT 09 with WM+).

Open questions:

- How do the online modes compare?
- Which Wii MotionPlus implementation is better? Does VT 09's explicit calibration give any advantages?

Any information or hands-on impressions welcome!

Another advantage for GST would be the WM+ bundle in the Others region. Also VT has a great mini-game aspect to it while GST does not. I'd also factor in GST using EA Nation while VT probably uses Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (not sure though).

Also GST will sell better so you'll have more people online at any given time.

"Grand Slam Tennis has more male tennis players than Virtua Tennis while the latter has more female tennis players"

all i needed to know :p

you do need something to stare at after all when you character is backwards

i don't like the idea of buttons in tennis game

on the other hand, calibration can be annoying - hm hm, balance board... : P

if Virtua 2009 has more realistic graphics but good of course, and more normal crowD (LoL, at least GST crowD looks better than PES :p )

The buttons are optional, so you can just forget about them. Even EA's official website has a quote from Nintendo Power saying that:

http://tennis.easports.com/onCourt.action

“The level of finesse made possible by Wii MotionPlus even allows for purely swing-controlled lob and drop shots, whereas playing without the peripheral requires you to hold down a button during the motion.  It all works amazingly well, delivering an experience that feels far more authentic than anything else out there.” – Steve Thomason, Nintendo Power

@puffy: I will add the confirmed stuff to the OP, thanks!

I am picking up GST this afternoon, I'll throw my impressions on the thread.

Impressions from a poster on Neogaf:

"Quick impressions!

Interface is clean, Music is fine, Pat Cash is commentator (the only one I've noticed could be more) - doesn't say much. Played some quick Exhibition play first to get the hang of it and that works well. But then jump online and just had a 40 minute match with some French guy (playing as Nadal).

Online is great, not MUCH lag but was playing a game in France so yeah twitched a couple of times, was great battle was going between 40 and Adv all the time for 15 mins had the room cheering. Leaders boards are good too (I'm now ranked 5th worldwide, Bozon is above me grrr), there is also a country leaderboard and Australia is now 3rd thanks to my efforts - I am indeed the first Aussie to have it no one else is on there.

Online has the EA online perks like adding buddies from people you play, adding people off the leader boards and even adding people from your Wii Friend List.

World Tour/Tourney mode looks promising the AI is pretty good. There is some party modes but I didn't try them.

Now the bigger issue, controls! Played with the Nunchuck and without. The game is serviceable without a Nunchuck it works fine but they'll be times where a player (mainly online) follows a pattern but your AI doesn't latch onto it and you keep failing to reach the ball in time. Luckily the nunchuck can be plugged in and taken out at any time. You do use A for Lob and B for a short stabby type shot and I know some people think Motionplus could of ended that but it's doing enough I think as it is and you can put (I don't know tennis terms so I'll use Golf) draw and fade as well as spin on.

edit: Oh sometimes if you move too far/fast without swinging it registers your body movement as a swing which can trip you up.

Didn’t bother playing without MotionPlus so can’t help you there.

Any questions? I'm buggered from playing :P"

well, his controls impressions are useless if he didn't use WM+

He didn't use the Wii Remote 'without' WM+, I think that's what you misread

Either way Eurogamer is shithouse (not related really but I wanted to put that out there)

stupid double negatives