![Ace wo Nerae! [Model SHVC-EE]](images/marquees/61005.jpg "Ace wo Nerae! [Model SHVC-EE]")
![Ace wo Nerae! [Model SHVC-EE] screenshot](images/game/61005_2.png "Ace wo Nerae! [Model SHVC-EE]")
エースをねらえ! © 1993 Telenet Japan.
(Ace wo Nerae!)
Ace wo Nerae! is a 3D tennis simulation developed by Nippon Telenet, based on the classic 1970s Japanese anime and the seminal shoujo manga series by Sumika Yamamoto. Players step into the shoes of Hiromi Oka, a determined 15-year-old high school student who strives to overcome her rookie status and fulfill her dream of becoming the world’s greatest tennis player—the "Ace."
The game features three distinct modes: Training for beginners, Versus for up to four players, and a narrative-driven Story Mode. In Story Mode, players compete against an elite roster of tennis professionals, with key plot points revealed through cinematic cutscenes. The game leverages the Super Famicom’s graphical capabilities to present a simulated 3D court, utilizing a dynamic, moving camera perspective that provides a sense of depth and scale. Controls are intuitive, mapping various tennis maneuvers to specific controller buttons to facilitate a wide array of authentic shots. Due to the length of the matches, the game utilizes a password system to track progress throughout the story campaign.
![Goodies for Ace wo Nerae! [Model SHVC-EE]](images/covermini160/61005_1.jpg)
GAME ID: SHVC-EE
Ace wo Nerae was released on December 22, 1993 (Wednesday) in Japan at a retail price of 9,400 JPY.
The game was never released outside Japan.
Genre Pioneer: The original Ace wo Nerae! manga is widely credited with sparking the "tennis boom" in Japan during the 1970s. It fundamentally changed how sports-themed manga were written by focusing as much on the protagonist's emotional turmoil and interpersonal relationships as on the actual matches.
The Coach Archetype: The character of Jin Munakata (the coach) became an archetype in Japanese pop culture—the "demon coach" who pushes his students to the point of collapse for the sake of their own potential. This style of intense, high-pressure mentoring became a trope that has been parodied and referenced in countless other anime series.
Adaptation Rarity: While the series received multiple animated adaptations (including a 1973 TV series, a 1979 film, and a 1988 OVA), the Super Famicom title is the only interactive video game adaptation. It is a rare example of a 90s console title aimed specifically at the shoujo manga demographic, as most sports games of that era were aggressively targeted toward young boys.
Game Design Choice: Unlike the more action-oriented tennis games like Super Tennis or Final Match Tennis, this game utilizes a visual novel/adventure interface to handle the dramatic storytelling. You spend a significant portion of the game in dialogue segments following the plot of the manga, with actual tennis matches acting as dramatic climaxes to specific narrative arcs.
Sumika Yamamoto's Style: The in-game character designs were carefully crafted to mimic Sumika Yamamoto’s signature "shoujo art style" from the 70s, which features character portraits with highly expressive, large eyes, emphasizing the characters' internal sadness and determination.
Legacy of the "Aim for the Ace": The title Ace wo Nerae! has become a standard idiom in Japan, often used as a motivational phrase similar to go for the gold or "aim for the top" in English-speaking sports contexts.