Now, when most people think of baseball, they think of something with,
let's say, full stats (the RBI series), real players, and Chavez Ravine. You won't
get that here, but Baseball for the NES is a very unique game, that
in its own way, gives us an idea of Japan's interpretation of our national pastime.
First off, when you load the game, you find that there are only 6 teams - however,
I THINK these are all of the Pacific League teams in Japan - the Giants, Carp,
Bay(S)tars, Blue(W)ave, Tigers, and Dragons. There's only one stadium to choose,
but this fictional stadium is a beast within itself.
Because of the Astroturf surface, the ball bounces more than the juiced up
MLB ball of today; depending on the way the ball bounces, the wall have
holes which indicate either home runs or ground rule hits. Oh, and, the
walls get smaller the farther you go from home. The sellout crowd often
celebrates after each home run (with appropriately happy music playing) but
this flashing of cameras and lights may cause epilepsy if it lasts longer
than 10 seconds, which, thankfully, it doesn't.
Since there are no stats, the player must record them on paper - but there
probably is a reason that there are no stats. Often, the game involves upwards
of 45 hits and 30 runs, numbers which approach NFL scores, and errors, well,
let me tell you about them - THEY HAPPEN ALL THE TIME, being one of the few
flaws in this excellent game. Often, you will find fielders performing their
best imiations of Bill Buckner, to either your chagrin or delight as a run
gets scored. Catchers are also very lax defensively, as they have poor
throwing and they're rarely able prevent base steals, not to mention that they do not
chase after the balls in the infield. The rare exception in this imbecilic
behavior is the right fielder and infielders, who are great at catching balls.
Offensively, for an overhead view batting setup, that's about as realistic as
it gets. You can position the bat anywhere you want and attempt to go
farther away from the box for a Homerun, or closer for a Nomarl hit. The only
hitch in batting is that often, you can "bunt" a home run (and no,
I'm not
talking inside the park). Stealing bases is all a matter of timing and luck, as
pitchers often make 10 attempts at a pickoff, out of paranoia.
The pitching is very simple - left right for direction, up and down for
speed. the pitchers are usually the best defensive players on your team, for
some reason; they often are great at comebacks and will make better throws
to the bases. They can also pitch well
Umpiring is mediocre - often, you will end up screaming at the screen
wondering "WHY THE HELL THAT WASN'T CALLED SAFE". However, Nintendo made very
cool digitized sounds to represent "Out" and "Safe", and
if one listens
closely, it almost sounds as if the umpires are talking.
Other interesting quirks include the Strike/Ball format, the one letter team name abbreviations,
the scoreboard, speed measures in kilometers and the odd angle of the field. However,
these do not take away from the overall gameplay of this forgotten classic, but,
rather add to the Japanese aura which surrounds their version of our
game. I have to say, this game should be rated 85% - not perfect, but certainly
better than the horrid fielding and hard pitching seen in later games like RBI
Baseball. You'll find yourself staying late nights just to ATTEMPT to get an inside
the park hit or pitch a no-hitter, usually to no avail. - Chris Sampang 90%
REVIEW: Baseball
1983 NES