Baseball Review

Nintendo's first attempt to attract non-gamers.


October, 1985. Had you been alive, and had you been out shopping, and had you been in a mall in the middle of Manhattan you might have chanced upon a scene. There, desperate for attention, a young and unproven company called Nintendo of America had set up a show.

On display -- the NES. On the NES -- Baseball.

One of 18 launch titles to debut alongside the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Baseball was heavily relied on to market the new gaming machine. It was a title for the everyman, the national pastime of the country. General passers-by couldn't be expected to know Ice Climber, Mach Rider or Gyromite on sight. But Baseball? Sure, everybody knows Baseball!

And everybody knows baseball players, a fact the young Nintendo street team in New York used to their advantage to add a little celebrity to the show. Major Leaguers like Mookie Wilson and Ron Darling were brought in to play NES Baseball on a giant-sized projection screen amid an array of a dozen other smaller monitors, each one hooked up to an NES. The Mets stars signed autographs and Nintendo's booth-manning employees got to see some return for their hard work when people who'd normally pay no attention to videogames actually came over to give them a shot while meeting the players.

The game itself is simulation, the best representation of a full nine-inning contest available at the time of its first release. By today's standards, it's limited. In 1985, it was robust.

Gameplay focuses on batting and pitching, with fielding the ball handled automatically. When a pop fly soars through the sky, it's hands-off the controller -- the computer A.I. takes over, positioning the appropriate fielder to make the catch. Only after the ball is caught or picked up off the field does control return to the player, then able to throw to any of the four bases.

Pitching has more depth than first glance would suggest. Fastballs, curveballs and change-ups are all possible through button combinations with the D-Pad. Batting, too, has a bit more strategy than just swinging away as the player at the plate also commands the running game for men already on base.

Six teams are available for players to choose, each one color-coded to represent a pennant-winning club from the mid-1980s. The game had no official MLB license, so gamers in the '80s had to use their imaginations -- Team C, clothed in red, and was probably meant to be the St. Louis Cardinals.

Today, the Cards are the reigning World Series champions. Back in 1985, they were also in the Fall Classic, playing Game 1 just one day after the NES launch on October 18. They ended up losing that year, but the NES came out a winner, thanks, in part, to Baseball.

The Verdict

Baseball games have come a long, long way since the NES launch title saw its release, but that doesn't change Baseball's important place in Nintendo's history. Its two-player support and its still-intact sense of fun keep it from striking out completely, but it just can't compete with most any other diamond king from 1985 or after. If you're a fan of hard hits, home runs and horsehide, there's some history here, but not a lot of depth.

  • 5.5 Presentation Six '80s-era pennant winners to choose from. Though they're not officially licensed teams, the colors show that NOA put some effort into this localization.
  • 5.5 Graphics Basic characters and simple animations, on par with the other earliest sports games to hit the NES.
  • 4 Sound There's a little music and a few sound effects, along with a small bit of fanfare for hitting a home -- but not much else.
  • 6 Gameplay The spirit of baseball is captured here. You won't get full control over your fielders, but the rest of the design allows for occassional entertainment.
  • 6 Lasting Appeal If you're hard up, there's still fun to be had in playing Baseball against a friend, and you can imagine that the game must have made a good impression on the autograph-seeking Mets fans of 1985.
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    Baseball [1985]