Super Nintendo
Released in 1991 by Jaleco
Grade: D-
This game offers a unique TV-style viewpoint and nothing else. It’s got bland pitching and hitting dynamics and all the problems that plague most other old-school baseball video games.
Where it falls in the series
Can you believe this is the fifth entry in the Bases Loaded series? There are four on NES, three on SNES, and one on PlayStation 1 and Sega Saturn.
Gripes
The viewpoint is an interesting choice. Maybe there’s some weirdo up late at night whispering to himself, “Goddamnit, I just wanna play video baseball the way it looks on TV!” For the rest of us, though, it’s a bit limiting.
It’s hard to tell where the ball is going. On the bright side, you can just swing at everything and rack up a ton of runs anyway, so whatever.
Pitching can be maddening, because you don’t have much control over your pitches. The only way to tell how bad you’re doing is that the opponent regularly rips the ball into the outfield stands. You steer the ball as you throw, but there’s only a slight difference between throwing “way outside” and “an inch from straight down the middle.”
In the field the action is decent … wait, hold up … I forgot to mention that every time the ball is hit, the game lags … so after that, then the action in the field is decent, if a bit slow. You see things from the outfield, an unusual viewpoint, but not necessarily bad.
The league is full of made-up teams, but you can edit them to your heart’s content. The graphics aren’t awful except for the lag. The sound is painful. Okay, that’s enough for this game. Don’t buy it unless you’re a crazy person who has a website dedicated to reviewing sports video games.