[Played on Retron 5 with the original cartridge]
Nintendo's Baseball is a rather basic interpretation of the sport.
There are no stats. There are no distinct players. There is no customization. There is no fielding control beyond what base you throw to. Pitching is as simple as choosing your throwing speed and your curve. Hitting is as simple as moving your batter and swinging (or pausing mid-swing to bunt). That's essentially everything provided here, so it makes sense that people through the modern lense view this as bare-bones.
Compared to many baseball games of the time, this is pretty outstanding. When viewed against Atari's home run and the offerings on Mattel's Intellevision and Epoch's Casette vision version, this is clearly far ahead. It may not be another level of complexity in comparison, but the game is certainly closer to the physical sport, especially on a visual level.
I think my only gameplay gripe is that of the fielding. I often felt like the ball would go straight through my players and that some would just stop trying to go for the ball even if they were closer than the outfielders. Don't even get me started on how slow they can be. Sure this is kind of a double-edged sword because it can really help you if you're the one batting, but then again I do wish I had some more sense of control in this.
At least I can say that everything else feels fine. I'm really not a big sports game guy, but I can appreciate how approachable this title is. It's just your basic no-nonsense baseball, and that can be kind of problematic in the sense that it's very easily overshadowed, but I can't say this is bad at all.
Sadly, I still don't know if I would call this good either. I appreciate what's here but I would never go out of my way to play this (at least alone). I guess part of that has to do with there being so many other Baseball titles on the NES to choose from, and so many better multiplayer games too. Despite those feelings I have, I can admire what's done here. Considering how cheap this title is, you really don't have a reason to not pick it up (unless you just really hate baseball). Even if you don't like it it's only about a fiver lost, and you should still have plenty of fun with a friend, even if this isn't exactly anything good in the modern day.
Nintendo's Baseball is a rather basic interpretation of the sport.
There are no stats. There are no distinct players. There is no customization. There is no fielding control beyond what base you throw to. Pitching is as simple as choosing your throwing speed and your curve. Hitting is as simple as moving your batter and swinging (or pausing mid-swing to bunt). That's essentially everything provided here, so it makes sense that people through the modern lense view this as bare-bones.
Compared to many baseball games of the time, this is pretty outstanding. When viewed against Atari's home run and the offerings on Mattel's Intellevision and Epoch's Casette vision version, this is clearly far ahead. It may not be another level of complexity in comparison, but the game is certainly closer to the physical sport, especially on a visual level.
I think my only gameplay gripe is that of the fielding. I often felt like the ball would go straight through my players and that some would just stop trying to go for the ball even if they were closer than the outfielders. Don't even get me started on how slow they can be. Sure this is kind of a double-edged sword because it can really help you if you're the one batting, but then again I do wish I had some more sense of control in this.
At least I can say that everything else feels fine. I'm really not a big sports game guy, but I can appreciate how approachable this title is. It's just your basic no-nonsense baseball, and that can be kind of problematic in the sense that it's very easily overshadowed, but I can't say this is bad at all.
Sadly, I still don't know if I would call this good either. I appreciate what's here but I would never go out of my way to play this (at least alone). I guess part of that has to do with there being so many other Baseball titles on the NES to choose from, and so many better multiplayer games too. Despite those feelings I have, I can admire what's done here. Considering how cheap this title is, you really don't have a reason to not pick it up (unless you just really hate baseball). Even if you don't like it it's only about a fiver lost, and you should still have plenty of fun with a friend, even if this isn't exactly anything good in the modern day.