REVIEW: Baseball 1983 NES
  < no screenshots available >
By: Nintendo
Type: Baseball
Players: 1 or 2
Difficulty: Normal

 

LONG TERM INTEREST:

Hour

Day

Week

Mnth

Year

4

4

4

5

5

NINTENDO LAND'S SCORE:

Graphics

Sound

Playabl.

Lastabl.

OVERALL

95%

95%

83%

100%

90%

 
 Now, when most people think of baseball games, 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 Nintendo's original Baseball game is a very unique game that in its own way, gives us a picture 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 choice, but this fictional stadium is a beast within itself.
 
Because of the Astroturf surface, the ball bounces more than even the juiced MLB ball of today; depending on the way the ball bounces, the wall can have holes which result in 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, games involve 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 of 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 rarely can stop steals, not to mention that they do not chase after balls in the infield. The rare exception in this imbecilic behavior is the right fielder and infielders, who are great at stoppping hits.
 
Offensively, for an overhead view batting setup, it's about as realistic as it gets. You can position the bat anywhere you want and attempt going farther from the box for a HR, or closer for a Nomar type 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 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. Pitchers usually are the best defensive players on your team, for some reason; they often are great at comebackers and will make better throws to base. They also can 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 hears closely, it almost sounds as if the umps were talking.
 
Other interesting quirks include the Strike/Ball format, the one letter team abbreviations, the scoreboard, speed measures in kilometers and the odd angle of the field. However, these do not distract from the overall gameplay of this forgotten classic, but rather add to the Japanese aura which surrounds their original 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 hit an inside the parker or pitch a no-hitter, usually to no avail. - Chris Sampang 90%

[Key to the reviewing system]
 

 
 

 

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