Nintendo 64
Released in 1998 by Acclaim
Grade: D+
This ambitious attempt at simulation baseball is spoiled by a stupid batting interface and sketchy motions.
Where it falls in the series
Acclaim’s baseball efforts began in 1995 with Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball on 16-bit and 32-bit consoles. The N64 run of All-Star Baseball goes from 1999 to 2001. The series made it through four more releases on the next gen, ending with the 2005 installment on PS2 and Xbox.
Praises and gripes
At this point I’ve reviewed 35 baseball games. One thing I have no patience for is a bad pitching/batting interface.
Pitching in this game is fine. Choose a pitch type and location and fire away.
Batting is annoying as hell. The game tips off the location of the pitch with a little circle icon, then the icon moves with the pitch. You match it up with a square icon for your bat. You can decide not to see the icon before the pitch, but it still appears during the pitch. The strike zone marker is also meant to help you, showing green or red depending on a strike or ball. It’s a nuisance trying to line up the icons, especially with sluggish bat movement. If you can manage to ignore the icons and, you know, “keep your eye on the ball” like every baseball coach taught you to do, then you’ll find that the ball doesn’t move fluidly. I can’t imagine trying to hunker down with this game, watching a sketchy-moving ball over and over.
The rest of the game seems okay, meant to satisfy baseball purists. The action in the field is in sync with itself, so you can use realistic baseball instincts and get fair results. It has a realistic look and standard sounds without much razzle dazzle. The pace is rather slow between pitches, but it’s not terrible. There’s even a “guess the pitch” mechanic that’s ahead of its time.
Baseball games hinge on pitching and hitting, and when it’s flat-out annoying to hit, why bother?