Nintendo Entertainment System
Released in 1990 by Tengen
Grade: D
RBI’s second installment is mostly a graphical upgrade from the original, with a more realistic look, while the frustrating gameplay is unchanged.
Where it falls in the series
Following the original R.B.I. Baseball, this is the second of three on NES. The series moved along through four Genesis editions and one SNES edition, then was brought back on newer consoles from 2014 to 2021.
Praises and gripes
The graphics look cleaner this time around, with player models that have actual limbs and rendered with black outlines, a la the Baseball Stars series. The animations mostly look smooth, especially in the attractive pitching-batting screen. That said, I personally find the original’s cartoonishly fat player models more charming.
That’s about it for anything nice to say, because I don’t care much for RBI’s ruthless brand of retro baseball. The old-school “throw and steer” pitching is outlandish, allowing super-fast fastballs and dancing breaking balls, making hitting a frustrating task.
The fielding is even worse. With quick action and no AI assistance, you need to be fast on the D-pad to get your guys into position, but often some of them won’t move! Outs become singles, singles become doubles, and doubles become in-the-park home runs after the game has beaten you into a state of not caring anymore.
Teams
This installment expands its team list to include all MLB franchises of its time with faithful player names. The teams are labeled by two-letter abbreviations and they have extremely generic uniforms, some of which are different colors from their real-life counterparts.
Published November 8, 2025