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Review: old school baseball game

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tornadocam
06-18-18 12:16 PM

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tornadocam
06-18-18 12:16 PM

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Nintendo NES

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old school baseball game

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06-18-18 12:16 PM

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tornadocam

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Today we are going to take a trip down memory lane. If you grew up in the 1980's like me the two gaming systems that were popular were the Atari and the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES for short). The NES came out in the mid 1980's. All kinds of games were released on the NES including sports game. NES Baseball is one of the first Nintendo games and one of the first sporting games.

Story: 4

This being a sports game there is not much of a plot. The main plot is its baseball season and its time to play ball. The player has 6 teams to chose from. The main goal is to play against another team and win. Other than that there really isn't much to see here compared to other sports games. Baseball games for the Play Station and modern games one could play through a 162 game season, play against other teams in hopes in making it to the world series. In NES baseball there isn't anything like that. So yeah, 4 out of 10 seems right

Graphics and Controls 7

By today's standards the graphics and controls were be sloppy. However, I'm basing my rating on what the graphics looked like back then. When I first played this game back in the day I thought the graphics were amazing. One could argue that the graphics were revolutionary. As the graphics were much improved from the Atari graphics. I really like how the colors blend in the background it reminds me of opening day of baseball season. The colors were pretty well done for this type of game. The one thing though is some of the sprites are still off and look fuzzy. They look a whole lot better than the Atari days, but you can tell they are still off. However, I would expect that because this is one of the first NES games.

The controls seem a little stiff it seems like you really have to mash the button to swing or run. Again, though this is one of the first games so I would expect stiff controls. The controls are not really frustrating you just have to press them to get them to work. At the end of the day I give the graphics and controls a 7 out of 10. The reason is as I stated when this game came out the graphics were seen as amazing. Compared to other NES baseball games they still have some issues. Later NES baseball games fixed the fuzziness this game had.

Sound: 7

There is not much sound in this game as expected. The first tune when you turn the game on is irritating as it has tingles in it. It makes you just want to mute. However, once you start the game the music sounds much better. The music during the game is actually smooth and relaxing which makes you forget about the opening tune. I also like the pow sound that the game makes when you hit a double or home run. It lets you know you have hit the ball along way. Other than that there isn't really much sound in this game. I give the sound a 7 out of 10 the opening tune really brings the rating down here.

Replay Value: 5

This is one of the sports games that started it all. When we think of modern sports games we probably think of EA Sports line, in the late 1990's and early 2000's there was MLB line for the Play Station One. Now there is Major League Baseball the show. Those games easily blow this one away. I will admit I play those games more than this one. However, its sometimes fun to take a trip down memory lane and see how far baseball games have come. When I was a little kid this is all we had . Me and my cousins would play this game and we had fun doing it. This is a fun game even though it has mainly been forgotten about. Compared to other NES games though I go to this one less. The other NES baseball game I played a lot was All Stars. So I give the replay value a 5 out of 10. Its a fun game to play its just not on par with some of the others

Depth: 5

Sports games esp the earlier ones are not known for their depth. Some of the others like MLB line for Play Station One has a lot of depth. The reason newer games have a lot of depth is because you can play through an entire season, play different type of games, and built your own roster. This game does not have any of that. But believe it or not this game does have some depth to it. There are six teams to chose from. So its fun to play through the game with a different team. Also you get to play a standard 9 inning game so that is a huge bonus. Thus I give the game a middle of the road rating concerning depth

Difficulty 6

The difficulty is kind of strange for several reasons. First of all, it seems certain teams are made to be better than others. It seems like certain teams have a harder time hitting the ball and getting batters out. I wonder if that was done on purpose. Second, this game could be difficult if you are not used to the controls or the type of graphics. When I was growing up this game was easy but again I was used to that controls. A gamer who is used to Xbox controls may find this one irritating. Especially since you got to really press on the controls to make things happen. Factoring these reasons in I give the game a 6 out of 10 in terms of difficulty.

This is a sports game so they are not known for difficulty. Its not like a Mario or Mega Man game were you have to deal with a lot of enemies or defeat bosses. But the game is not like a puzzle game either that is easy. As I mentioned above some of the teams seem to play more sloppy probably to give the impression that team would be a bad team if it was a real MLB team. I kind of like that to be honest. Because every year there is that one team in baseball that is horrible.

Overall rating 7

As I mentioned I grew up in the 80's as that was my decade. My first video game system was the Atari. Then came the NES. The NES took the gaming industry by storm. The NES games were revolutionary at that time. Baseball NES was one of the first games and one of the first sporting games. Me and my cousins played this game and we thought it was fun until Al Stars came out then we started playing that one. more. I'm a huge fan of baseball so you can see why I liked this game when I first got a hold of it.

So before I get into the negatives I will start with the positives. This game is a fun game to play and I certainly had fun taking a trip down memory lane. Its one of those games that is fun to play and see how far graphics have come. The game has more color to it. Back in the 1980's that was really something because most Atari games just had basic colors. In this game the colors really stand out. Like the color of the sky looks like the real thing, the stadium colors, look like an actual stadium, and player uniforms look like baseball uniforms. Also the graphics were so much better than the Atari. Players actually look like people. In addition the sound is mostly good except for the opening tune. The difficulty is about right for this type of game.

Now for the negatives. As one could expect with this being one of the first NES games there were some negatives. First of all while the graphics were improved from the Atari days. The sprites still seemed off some. Some of the players look fuzzy and look like they are missing a few pixles. The opening tune good grief why did they have to make a tune that sounds like nails on a chalk board that is irritating to say the least. I mute that part till the actual game starts its that bad. Even some of the Atari games did not have scratchy and tingly tunes. It makes me think what were they thinking bout creating an opening tune like that. Another thing, is the controls can be stiff as I mentioned earlier. You really have to mash the controls to make the players do things.

Overall I give the game a 7 out of 10. As I stated by today's standards this game would be sloppy. But I am basing my review on what the game was like back then not so much today. I had fun playing this game as a kid and guess what? I still think this is a fun game to play and take a trip down memory lane even with its issues. Would I recommend this game? Despite the issues I would recommend this game. It would be a good game to introduce someone to the NES type of games too. Second, the game could be used as a teaching game to see how far we have come in graphics. In addition, this game is fun for the entire family and all ages.

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