#66 - Bases Loaded IV

Not only is this the best Bases Loaded yet, it also has the most interesting cover.

I'm really running out of captions here. It's all the same crap!


It's November 1993. You have a SNES, Genesis, and a NES. You are one spoiled kid. You also happen to be a baseball fan and possess Super Bases Loaded for the SNES. For Christmas, your parents purchase you Bases Loaded 4 for the NES, knowing that you love Super Bases Loaded. You are underwhelmed. It's not that BL 4 is a bad game, but it's essentially BL 3.1. And considering Super Bases Loaded was released the same year as BL 3, there is no point to BL 4's existence. And if I never write Bases Loaded or BL again or see another constipated full-sized sprite clutching a bat, it will be all too soon.

Here's what I can say about Bases Loaded 4: it's the best game in the series, bar none. It's what 3 should have been. Everything that was top-notch about 3 remains excellent here, and they even improved upon the tracking. During field play, there is a smaller map off to the right hand side of the screen that tracks the ball and your fielders' locations, so you can move them appropriately. Remember in the first game how your large sprites would change to freaky pixel demons when it would switch to field play? No longer. Your sprites are just as large batting and pitching as they are out in the field. Consistency: it's what's for breakfast.

In this reviewer's humble opinion, only two BL games should have ever been produced for the NES: the original which, for better or worse, introduced some new ideas to the land of NES baseball, and this game which finally brings together the full Bases Loaded package. But to release this as the fourth in the series with little to no change in gameplay, two years after the series made the 16-bit upgrade, is absurd. Jaleco, you diabolical salaryman bastards.

Thus my baseball marathon comes to a slow shuffling end. Getting through the Bases Loaded series is probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do for this quest, and three out of the four games were decent. It's just... nine baseball games in a row can make the most steely-eyed of American patriots cry foul. It'll be awhile before another one rears its tightly capped head, and for that, I salute the many NES publishers. Thank you for not always starting your baseball games with the prefix "Base-".

B - (the game)

B- - (the side quest "Baseball a Go-Go")

#65 - Bases Loaded III

Ryne Sandberg throws to first, and catches a fat paycheck!

Jaleco makes money by insulting its loyal fans.



If it weren't for Bases Loaded 1 and 2, there would be no Bases Loaded 3. An obvious conclusion, perhaps, but Bases Loaded 3 is actually - gasp! - the best of the three so far. Truthfully, with all the other decent to excellent baseball games available on the NES, this series is still fairly worthless. Many NES baseball games got it right the first time, so no sequels were necessary. Along with Baseball Stars, though, this is the most well-known, ubiquitous baseball series on the NES, so it's nice to finally play a good entry in the series.

Jaleco righted most of the wrongs of Bases Loaded 2 with this entry. While they retain the annoying "camera-behind-the-pitcher" feature, you are allowed to move your batter around the plate now! This makes it easier to actually hit the balls, which allows for actual gameplay. The field camera is now above the entire field, as it should be. The camera still starts from behind the pitcher, but it's such an improvement, it's hard for me to care. Also, the speed of the game is finally top-notch. It feels even tighter and more fluid than the speed of the first game, which was already well-done.

The one new feature of this game is controversial, if you're a tried and true Bases Loaded fan. Instead of simply playing a good ol' game of baseball (the way Mom used to play), Jaleco challenges you to play "the perfect game." At the end of every game, they rate you in thirteen different categories, many of them pathetic and pointless. Example: if you're caught stealing a base, you get three points off! What is this, the Middle Ages?! Stealing a base is one of the best parts of baseball! At any rate, the point is to get a score of 100. Otherwise, even if you beat the other team, you won't actually "win." My reasoning: it's a baseball game. Just because Jaleco tries to shove new features down your throat, doesn't mean you have to care.

As for the gameplay, it's well-programmed baseball designed simply to profit on the crappiness of Bases Loaded 2. Jaleco's strategy: Bases Loaded was a decent, if unspectacular game that managed to capture some decent sales. Bases Loaded 2 sucked it up. Bases Loaded 3 is the triumphant return to decency and good taste. There are other better baseball games for the NES, but unless Bases Loaded 4 comes along and sweeps me off my feet, there are no other better Bases Loaded games for the NES.

B

#64 - Bases Loaded II: Second Season

Doesn't that look like Gary Cole from Office Space? If only this game were as intentionally hilarious...

Believe it or not, that's third base.


Yes, Bases Loaded 2 is far, far worse than the original; a shame as the original had its moments. Perhaps the main problem is, the game doesn't need to exist. It was released in January 1990, a mere year after the first game. Releasing sports games once a year is common now, but as I've discussed elsewhere, in the days before stat updates, sports sequels were hardly justified unless you really screwed up the fundamentals in your first game. In trying to justify a reason for this sequel's existence, Jaleco gave it some minor tweaks, many of which hinder the game's once solid gameplay.

First of all, may I say that I don't understand why the camera is behind the pitcher again. I could understand if it was an honest mistake the first time, but c'mon: the camera belongs behind the batter. Every other baseball game knows this, so get it right. Personally, I just think Jaleco didn't know where to put the camera in this game, as it is really all over the place. You know how in every other baseball game, the field camera is perfectly centered so you are able to see all four bases with little troubles? Yeah, it makes sense, it's logical. Jaleco's motto was "Screw logic!" and they placed the field camera in between third base and home. Instead of viewing the in-field completely, you're viewing it from an abstract angle that is incredibly confusing. Perhaps you warm up to it the more you play, but this was the NES: you shouldn't have to warm up to anything, you should just jump right in.

The other large problem with this game is how fast the field play became. If the opposing team gets a hit and you don't catch it right away, good luck throwing it back in time because that runner is going home, or at least to third. Perhaps the speed wouldn't have been that great of an issue, except, oh wait, the camera disorients you so it's hard to tell where the ball is going. When you finally catch it and throw it back, it's a crapshoot as to where it will actually go, and the runner probably already scored a point anyway.

As for other "added features," oh boy, you can switch out players between different teams. All the other options - 1P and Versus mode only - remain the same. The robotic voice is back, although he sounds more congested than in the last game. Graphics and animation are still impressive, but as they're attached to such a mediocre product, it's hard for me to care.

I don't want to know what Jaleco has in store with the next two games. As it stands, the series went from pretty good to nearly unplayable. Perhaps all the next game will be is a screen with a pixelated middle finger and text that says, "You thought you were playing a baseball game, didn't you, punk?" while the robotic voice laughs at you from the background. If that's really what Bases Loaded III was, I'd still probably rate it higher than this.

D-

#63 - Bases Loaded

Constipation Jones steps up to pitch!

All the players have a feminine swagger, but according to the Jaleco press release for the game, they're "all man!"




Baseball is a relatively simple sport: throw the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball, run fast, and that's about it. Somehow, the good people at Jaleco managed to make four entries into the Bases Loaded series on the NES, before continuing with three more entries on the SNES. This makes for a total of at least SEVEN Bases Loaded games. Now, as I've only played the first one, I can't judge Jaleco prematurely for their decision to rob baseball fans blind (games still cost forty to sixty dollars in the NES days)... but why were three sequels necessary? It's not like a series like Mega Man where Capcom makes entirely new bosses, levels, weapons, and music, but keeps the same basic gameplay. Unless you add cartoonish elements, baseball remains the SAME FREAKIN' GAME.

But I digress. For its day, Bases Loaded isn't that bad. There are some features, for better or for worse, that make it stand out against the rest of the NES baseball pack.

Better Features

1. Graphics and animation - When the camera is zoomed in on the pitcher and the hitter, the players actually resemble real people instead of outcast midgets from the land of Oz (see Baseball). The pitching and swinging animations are also top-notch. It's a shame, then, when the camera zooms out to the entire field and, once again, every player turns into a pixelated hobbit.

Neutral Features

2. The umpire/sound quality - To my surprise, the umpire's voice is not nearly as annoying as it should be. He always calls the plays with the power of the NES sound chip, so it's a good thing his robotic voice doesn't grate. The only time he sounds like a squelchy 8-bit fart is when he calls a "foul," but the rest of the time, he's tolerable.

3. Lack of options - Personally, I just want to play baseball. I don't have a desire to create a team, or play through a million games a season. Thankfully, that's what Bases Loaded provides, along with your typical versus mode. Sim fans looking for options should move on to Baseball Simulator 1,000 or the first Baseball Stars.

Weird/Poorly Done Features

4. Camera behind the pitcher instead of the batter - Why mess with success? Every NES baseball game places the camera behind the batter. It makes sense. If you're batting, you want to be able to see and adjust your batter properly, in time with the pitch. Obviously, when you're pitching, this camera angle is less of a problem, but batting quickly becomes a pain.

5. The infielder/outfielder difference - I know in real baseball, it takes longer for outfielders to throw to the base. But for crying out loud, it's not like the ball is gently rolling through the air, carried along by a soft summer breeze. The outfielders throws suck in this game, and it doesn't matter if they're in center, left, or right field. The infielders, on the other hand, have mitts of fire. If they throw a ball, it zooms to the proper base in record time. Had Jaleco found a happy medium, Bases Loaded would have my favorite field play so far. The camera is super smooth and follows the ball perfectly.

So far, Bases Loaded seems like a decent series, but I doubt Jaleco can sustain my already limited interest over three more games.

B-

#62 - Baseball Stars II

A generic cover for a missed opportunity.

Seeing this made me get my hopes up for Extreme Baseball Action



Does anyone actually play sports games anymore? Perhaps I'm just not friends with the right gamers. Outside of one high-school buddy who had NBA 2K on the Dreamcast, none of my friends care, and it's easy to see why. Sports games as they are today have little personality. Back before licensing and yearly updates were thrust upon a wary consumer, sports games had to have some quirky attributes to make them stand out. Even Baseball Stars, a well-made but straightforward sports game, had teams consisting of pirates and ninjas. So as I approached Baseball Stars 2, I wondered, why bother making a sequel? Without licensed characters and stat updates, it seemed irrelevant; especially since the first one was as good as it was.

What made BS 1 stand out originally was the awesome create-a-team/player feature. If a sequel needed to exist, surely, I thought, it would be to enhance the first game's strongest point. And lo, I was mistaken. Essentially nothing has changed, and what little has is barely worth mentioning. I will say this: when you make a sequel to any game, whether it's an action, RPG, sports, whatever, don't take away worthwhile features of the game without replacing them with something better. As silly as it may sound, you are no longer able to hire players from other teams, nor can you change the name of a user-created team or player once it is made. It's not a huge deal, per say, but why bother taking it away? As a casual Nintendo baseball fan, it doesn't really concern me, but I can see how it would concern hardcore BS nuts.

The pitching felt a little looser, and I noticed that each batter had a different batting stance (I think the latter may have been in the first game), but other than that, the mechanics felt as good as they did in the previous game. The graphics and environments look basically the same. The AI seemed a little more difficult, but that could have been due to the team I chose. On a more personal note, in BS 1, there was a team with all females which I used to dominate the field. Sadly, my ladies were nowhere to be found in this game. Points off.

Does it make a difference that SNK didn't develop this game? A company named Romstar acquired it and put it out on the NES in 1992, while SNK put their own version out on Neo-Geo. I have yet to play the Neo-Geo version, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a lot better than this bland rehash. While there's nothing particularly wrong with the gameplay, Romstar did nothing to improve the game either. It's like playing BS 1, with less features and less personality. Since hardly anyone bought it, I wouldn't be surprised if it's rare and costs $200. Don't be fooled.

C-

#61 - Baseball Stars

Biff Wellington smacks it out of the box!

Yes, that is a ninja pitching.

 

Whenever I see the three letters "SNK," a tidal wave of nostalgia rushes over me, reminding me of simpler, better days in the gaming industry; days when any company could conceivably produce a console, if they had the financial wherewithal. SNK was always one of the craziest third-party developers, as anyone who has witnessed a Neo-Geo console in person can attest. Granted, they always made great games, even if they competed with Capcom for the company who could put out the "least essential sequels" in the early-to-mid 90s. The size of their collective cojones eventually became their downfall, when they were trying to juggle three systems that weren't selling in the late 90s. But in 1989, before the Neo-Geo CD, before the crazy 6-in-1 arcade systems, and for lack of a better segue, they produced Baseball Stars.

For baseball gaming fans, Baseball Stars is a revelation. It introduces two new features never before seen in a baseball game up to that point: create-a-team and create-a-player, on top of already excellent game mechanics. For the time, these two features were remarkably in-depth. In addition to the twelve default teams, you could make up to six teams and save them with the memory chip. For your teams, you can make up to eighteen players and trade them between other created teams. Also groundbreaking: tweaking player statistics and "upgrading" player features with money from won games may be two of the first RPG-like characteristics featured in any sports game. Truthfully, do any of the stats matter? I'm sure they do to some degree, but lest we forget, this is still just the NES. Only the hardest of the hardcore will be able to tell the significant difference in play between characters and teams.

That's all fine and good for baseball sim freaks, but for the rest of us - for the people - how does it play? Amazingly enough, it plays like a worthwhile baseball game. It's a bit harder than Baseball Simulator 1000, but from my perspective, the AI feels just about perfect. In BS 1000, home runs were prevalent from both the player's and computer's end. In this game, each team is going to have to work for their choice hits, which is the way it should be. I've never seen such a good camera in a Nintendo baseball game, either; it scrolls perfectly along the field and it never lets the ball get too ahead of itself.

Even though this is probably the most well-crafted baseball game I've played so far, I think I would still pick one of the other games over this one. BS 1000 and Base Wars might be lacking, mechanic-wise, but their personality shines over Baseball Stars. It's not a boring game, by any means, but aside from the two features discussed earlier, it lacks that special something that makes it stand out. To many who read this (does anybody read these?), that might seem like blasphemy. But I was never the player that Baseball Stars catered to to begin with, so cut me some slack! It's getting a good score!!!! GWARRRRRRRRRGH!!!

B+

#60 - Baseball Simulator 1,000

Go get 'em boys!

You can do it, Mr. Frodo!



With a name like Baseball Simulator 1,000, one could be forgiven for thinking this game wouldn't provide a whirlwind of fun. I would think that, to spruce the name up a little, they could have made it 2,000 or, God forbid, 3,000 (heh heh, BS 3000) to make it sound all futuristic and stuff. Then again, I guess Base Wars has that whole futuristic baseball thing covered, so who am I to judge? The point is, this game plays like an updated, well-rounded sequel to the original Baseball and that makes for some solid gameplay.

Baseball Simulator isn't entirely true to its name, though. Compared to what I perceive baseball simulators to be, this game felt very arcadey and fun, albeit with more options available than the traditional arcade baseball game. You have your choice of three leagues, with six teams available in each league; the Atlantic League, the Northern League, and the Ultra League. Unless you're crazy, you're picking the Ultra League because you automatically get special hitting and pitching powers. Why they give you this league right away, I'm not sure, but playing in one of the six Ultra teams makes the game infinitely more fun.

You can play in an exhibition game or you can play through a season. Seasons are the way to go if you have a friend at your disposal (you can play up to 165 games!), but if not, an exhibition game will probably be all that you will need. The gameplay itself isn't different from Baseball except your characters are more competent in the art of catching and throwing. The game itself feels incredibly fair: all the games I've played have been really close between me and the computer. The one way this game is different is the switching of players. You can press Start and hit A and switch between batters if you're hitting, or if you're pitching, switch between pitchers or your in-field or out-fielders. The only person you'll need to switch out, truthfully, is your pitcher. They start to emit pixelated sweat if they're getting tired, and eventually, they'll look like they're going to pass out! It's a nice touch, and it gives the game a little bit more depth than one expects.

Graphics are solid, but nothing spectacular. The music wouldn't be so bad, if it didn't repeat itself through nine long innings; I couldn't imagine listening to it for hours on end while you and a buddy go through a 165-game season. The controls are where this game really shines. If they weren't so tight, then the game would be a complete failure, despite the interesting ideas at work.

Truth be told, I'm surprised that my baseball extravaganza has been so... enjoyable. I'm not a baseball fan in the least, but these past three games have all been moderately to extremely fun. I know I've only played three baseball games so far (six more to go) so there's a lot of potential for a crappy one to excise all good feelings. Here's hoping Bases Loaded 1-4 have what it takes.

B+