Grip it and rip it.
Super Nintendo
Released in 1994 by Nintendo
Grade: B+
This is old-school arcade baseball done right. It’s fast, fun, and charming.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the first on SNES and the only one developed by Nintendo. There was one more Griffey game on SNES, Ken Griffey Jr.’s Winning Run, and two more on N64. They’re decent, but this is the only one people still talk about today.
Praises
This game has the most charming style ever. The color is vibrant, the animations are smooth, and the players are detailed. You can even see the team names on the hitter’s jersey. I like how hitters chew bubblegum and fidget as they wait for the pitch, and they yell at umpires after strikeouts. Runners look dismayed after being gunned down. The batters box fades into the dirt as the game progresses. There’s funky 90s music chugging along, along with perfectly loud sound effects. It’s a charm feast out there! Even the fake player names are kinda funny. (The game has real MLB teams, but just not real names.)
The snappy action, easy controls, blistering pace, and genuine MLB vibe makes this game a pleasure to play as you zip through nine innings in 15 or 20 minutes.
The gameplay is standard old-school stuff. As a pitcher, you move side to side on the rubber, press a button, and point the ball in a direction. Down for fast, up for slow, and left or right as you please. I generally dislike this type of system, but it works okay here. Most pitches come in fast and don’t move sideways too much, and there are no cheap sinkers. Making contact isn’t the difficult task it is in other baseball games.
The action in the field looks superb, but unfortunately it has its issues. The camera is zoomed in close, and there’s a great feeling of speed when the ball is in play. Controlling fielders is very responsive, but the close zoom makes it hard to see the whole play. You can watch a little diagram in the corner for outfield catches, but there’s no help in the infield, where you really need it. If you can’t avoid careless errors, you can opt for the “auto fielding” setting, but you’ll suffer from fielders making bad throwing decisions.
The game is missing other bits of baseball savvy. On the basepaths, you get no AI assistance. You’ve got to furiously input commands the first millisecond you can. Even a simple lead-off is a risky move. The CPU opponents are apparently traumatized by these baserunning struggles, because they’re the most timid baserunners ever.
All these complaints are pretty much standard for baseball games at the time, but they’re certainly agitating when going back to play this game. Saying that, though, is sort of a compliment to the game in itself. It means I’ve actually tried to go back and play this game, expecting to have fun with it. I can’t say that for many old-school baseball games.
Published September 30, 2017
Updated August 20, 2024