R.B.I. Baseball
PUBLISHER: Tengen
DEVELOPER: Namco
RELEASE DATE: Dec. 10th, 1986 (JP), June 1988 (US)
Do you like sports? Do you like… baseball? We hope so. The Great NES Baseball Game Deluge begins here with R.B.I. Baseball and doesn’t stop until we hit Bases Loaded 4 in 1993. Base Wars, Baseball Stars, Dusty Diamond’s All-Star Softball, the innings just won’t stop. You’ll be buried in peanuts and Cracker Jack by the time we’ve covered all the NES baseball titles.
First up to bat: R.B.I. Baseball, a port of the very adorable Namco-developed Pro Yakyuu: Family Stadium for Famicom. This game is, for all intents and purposes, a sequel to Nintendo’s Baseball. Certainly Namco didn’t intend this, but it happened all the same.
R.B.I Baseball plays just like Baseball, only the actual pitching, batting, and running all work properly. The fielders behave as they should, no missing the ball despite being five feet from it. Plays are executed more quickly, the players all have stats that may or not may not mean anything, the sprites look more like Fisher Price figures, and you’re able to watch games now, in case you want to see what the computer looks like when it’s playing itself.
R.B.I. Baseball is the first game to be sponsored by the MLBPA, so all the players have their authentic names. Nolan Ryan is here, albeit in shrunken toy form. And while he does play for Houston, he does not play for the Astros, thanks to no MLB licensing; there’s only so much money to go around, don’t ya know. According to Wikipedia, in-game batter and pitcher capabilities do, in fact, correspond to their real-life counterparts, which is neat. We did not play several hours of R.B.I. Baseball to put this to the test.
If you like retro baseball, there are other, more substantial ways to get your fix, even on the NES. On the other hand, what baseball game lets you play as Gary Pettis in his 1987 season? Strikes and home runs.
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Bases Loaded
PUBLISHER: Jaleco
DEVELOPER: TOSE
RELEASE DATE: June 26th, 1987 (JP), July 1988 (US)
The original Bases Loaded is certainly the nicest looking baseball game on the NES up to this point. Large and surprisingly detailed (for 1988) player sprites dominate the pitching/batting screen. Of course, when the camera switches to overhead view to show the fielders, the players transform into wee little action figures, just like all the previous baseball games we’ve played thus far. Will this change in the future? Will the NES eventually be able to handle large and in charge baseball player sprites throughout an entire game?
“Who cares,” is the honest and reasonable response. Bases Loaded plays well enough, and that should indeed be enough. At first, the behind-the-pitcher view comes off as awkward, given that every other NES baseball game to this point positioned the camera behind the batter. We still think the latter view is the best POV in these older baseball titles, but at least Bases Loaded is trying to differentiate themselves from the surprisingly vast competition. And the more you play in the behind-the-pitcher view, the less problem you’ll have striking out your enemies.
Batting is slightly more difficult to manage. Unless the ball flies right towards the center of the umpire’s glove, it’s challenging to tell where it might end up. Again, though, practice makes perfect. Keep on swinging, and eventually, you’ll be hitting doubles and triples with the best of ‘em.
The controls are fine. The graphics are fine. The overall baseball-ing is fine. The announcer calls “Ball!”, “Foul!”, and “Out!” and the results are not a crackly mess. Unlike R.B.I. Baseball, Bases Loaded is not endorsed by the MLBPA or the MLB, so you’ll have to be ok playing with fake players and teams. We imagine if you enjoy playing retro baseball titles, real names and teams are the least of your concerns.
As always, Bases Loaded (and every other NES sports game for that matter) is far more enjoyable with a second person, specifically one you can yell at and shove for when they do better than you. Find that guy (or girl), and load those bases. Your country depends on you.
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The Wilson Sports Poster offer that came with Bases Loaded. Which poster will you choose, or will you cough up the $2.75 for all three?
I think the NES's many baseball games may be due to the sport's popularity in Japan. It's hard to say whether America's pasttime is truly enjoyed the most by Americans or Japanese.
First off, love the layout of this article. Second, this was a really cool read. I never got use this system so I can’t say much about how the games play, but still cool regardless.