This is Super Baseball, the third strike in Atari's trifecta of swings at the ol' ball game. Except it isn't technically a third game, it's actually a patched version of RealSports Baseball, which fixes, some of its predecessor's glaring bugs. Crazy how little has changed in the industry.
Super Baseball actually did fix most of my problems with RealSports Baseball. For one, you can actually hit the ball. You can even control the direction of your hit even if it's a bit finnicky. Pulling the joystick down while you hit nearly guarantees a Home Run (the CPU can still catch it sometimes), so the batting side of the game is very easy to cheese through.
On the pitching side, you can still program the throwing type, but I don't feel like it influenced the ball trajectory as much this time around. The CPU still hits every ball, something I feel could have been addressed with even some very basic RNG. All is forgiven though, because Super Baseball fixed my biggest gripe: you can actually run fast enough to tag the opponent!! And you can throw the ball to a teammate without the entire game taking a shit!!
Forget all the other shit, this is the only playable baseball game on the Atari 2600. I managed to play through a full 9-inning game without ragequitting. Only problem with the game is that it makes an ear-wrenching buzzing sound whenever someone gets outed. Kind of like my transphobic stepfather.
I just feel bad for the kids who were stuck with RealSports Baseball for 6 years (and were still stuck with an Atari in 1988).
Super Baseball actually did fix most of my problems with RealSports Baseball. For one, you can actually hit the ball. You can even control the direction of your hit even if it's a bit finnicky. Pulling the joystick down while you hit nearly guarantees a Home Run (the CPU can still catch it sometimes), so the batting side of the game is very easy to cheese through.
On the pitching side, you can still program the throwing type, but I don't feel like it influenced the ball trajectory as much this time around. The CPU still hits every ball, something I feel could have been addressed with even some very basic RNG. All is forgiven though, because Super Baseball fixed my biggest gripe: you can actually run fast enough to tag the opponent!! And you can throw the ball to a teammate without the entire game taking a shit!!
Forget all the other shit, this is the only playable baseball game on the Atari 2600. I managed to play through a full 9-inning game without ragequitting. Only problem with the game is that it makes an ear-wrenching buzzing sound whenever someone gets outed. Kind of like my transphobic stepfather.
I just feel bad for the kids who were stuck with RealSports Baseball for 6 years (and were still stuck with an Atari in 1988).