Sega's many franchises come together for a tennis tournament spanning the varied worlds created by them in the last twenty years. Sixteen characters over fifteen different Sega game series are represented, as are ten different courts based on those same franchises.
Exhibition and Tournament modes are included in the game. The first is a simple vs mode, whereas the tournament allows the player to unlock new characters and courts over a series of matches and other challenges, all related to tennis but also drawing heavily on the video game represented. Singles and doubles can be played by either humans or AI, with the player being able to choose his or her doubles partner.
For SEGA Superstars Tennis , each character has a special move that gives them an edge in their tennis match, related to their character. For example, Beat from Jet Set Radio has a power that allows the ball to grind against the net and shoot off at a random point, making it difficult to return.
The game also features minigames, both as one-offs and part of the tournament. These include Target-hitting games, zombie-killing games like House of the Dead, Space Harrier, Puyo Puyo, Virtua Cop, and Samba De Amigo-related games.