Wii Sports Resort Table Tennis - Tips To Beat Lucia
I love my Nintendo Wii. Partly it's because of the Wiimote, but mostly I love games that are simple to get into but with a depth that rewards repeat play. I spent many happy hours with a Nintendo Gameboy SP before investing in a DS and many happy hours with that bad boy before graduating to the Wii.
Mostly I've been loving the standard Wii games - Wii Sports, Wii Fit and Wii Sports Resort (with a bit of Guitar Hero and Rock Band thrown in too).
Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort have been the most rewarding, in particular the Table Tennis in the Resort title. The problem with many of the sports games is that they lack obvious elements of the sports they're simulating. With tennis for example, there's a heavy impact in tennis when the ball hits the racket that waving a plastic controller around just won't recreate. In the outdoor sports like wake-boarding or skydiving there's an obvious visceral thrill and adrenalin rush that no console could ever hope to recreate. With table tennis, or 'ping ping' if you prefer, there's no high impact and no visceral thrill to recreate.
What's most enjoyable about the table tennis is how beautifully and accurately the techniques and tactics that work in the real game apply to the Wii version.
Playing the head-to-head mode it's taken me a few weeks to finally beat Lucia, the table tennis champion. I googled for tips but found few that were really helpful, so here's my tips to beat Lucia.
Tips to beat Lucia at Wii Table Tennis
1. Defend With The Backspin, Attack With The Topspin
You can get pretty far without applying much spin to the ball when you return it, but for Lucia you'll need better control. Learn how to power the ball over the net and make it curve away from the table - you do this by rolling your wrist over the ball as you hit it. Don't worry about over doing it. You've also got to learn how to apply a lot of backspin by rolling your wrist underneath the ball as you hit it (clockwise if you're playing a forehand shot). This causes the ball to travel slowly and hang in the air.
2. React, Don't Anticipate
After playing EVERY shot bring your baton back to the central position. If your on-screen racket isn't centering press the down button on the D-pad to make it do so. If you try and anticipate which side the return is coming to you'll have very little time to switch sides and quite often the switch will end up hitting the ball off in a random direction.
3. Pick Your Shots
By now I guess you'll have a favourite shot that's been your killer blow. My favoured shot is a forehand from the right side of the table, rolling the wrist over and pushing my opponent really wide - it's either a winner or sets me up for a backhand smash. Because Lucia is so good at returning every ball it's often this shot that sets me up for winning the point.
4. Take Your Time
I mentioned in the previous tip that most of my winners involved my favourite cross-court forehand. That's the key to beating Lucia, I play defensively until I feel I get a real opportunity to hit my shot and it having a good chance of being a winner. By playing defensively I mean I'll play slow, back-spinning returns and slow the game down until I get the opportunity to strike. One of Lucia's most infuriating abilities is the ability to counter-punch - to turn one of your attacking shots into a winning return - so when you strike, it;s got to be a REALLY good shot.
5. Learn To Retreat
You might find yourself smashing a number of times only for Lucia to get the ball back. If you're working her from side-to-side and getting good smashes in, then keep plugging away. But there comes a point when those smashes aren't going wide enough and a low shot will come back at you. You have to learn to realise when that's happening and go back to playing defensively and wait for another opportunity.
6. Smash Early
When Lucia is only just getting the ball back and allowing you to smash, smash as early as you can - ideally as soon after the ball has bounced as is possible. This can be counter-intuitive and you'll feel like you start swinging your arm way too soon - before the ball has even bounced - but that's the way to go.
7. The Serve
Throw the ball up with the A button and swing to hit the ball. There's two tactics you could employ here. If you hit the ball somewhere in the middle between it's highest and lowest points then Lucia will gobble that up - the ball will be returned to you really quickly and it's hard for your Mii to reset itself with the racket centred and prepare for the next shot.
You can either serve low and hard or hit the ball at (almost) it's highest point. If you serve low i.e. hit the ball at the lowest point Lucia will back away from the table and you'll have a little time to reset and prepare for the return. I prefer to hit the ball just after it reaches it's zenith, with a little rollover of the wrist to apply some topspin. This ball bounces high, Lucia takes her time before returning and it sometimes proves to be a winner - occasionally Lucia lets the ball drop too low before attempting a return and the ball hits the underside of the table.
8. Cheat
If Lucia does beat you, don't take the hit of a loss in skill points and maybe having to beat some chump before getting another shot at her. Just press the '+' button and choose to restart.
If you've been stuck for a while, hopefully these tips are helpful. Good luck!
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