Bad News Baseball

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Bad News Baseball
Image:Badnewsbaseballbox.jpg
Developer(s) Tecmo
Publisher(s) Tecmo
Release date(s) December 15, 1989 (Japan), June 1990 (USA)
Genre(s) Sports
Mode(s) CPU vs. CPU, Single Player, and Two Player
Platform(s) NES
Media Cartridge

Bad News Baseball, originally released as Gekitō!! Stadium (激闘スタジアム? lit. Fierce Fighting!! Stadium) in Japan, is a baseball game for the Nintendo Entertainment System using fantasy teams and a somewhat silly attitude towards the game. The gameplay is simple but what makes the game great is its use of comical cutscenes especially during close-call scenarios including slides and outs.

[edit] Localization

Serveral notable differences exist between Gekitō!! Stadium and Bad News Baseball.

The short vocal sound bites (such as "Strike!" and "Safe!") were rerecorded with a lower pitched voice. Note that because all of the baseball words used also exist as loan words in Japanese, no actual translation was necessary.

Despite localization efforts, some Japanese specific references persist in Bad News Baseball. For example, after a game a rabbit umpire can be seen soaking in a public bath in from of an image of Mount Fuji formed out of tiles.

[edit] Teams

The most obvious effect of localization is the complete changing of teams and players. Since Bad News Baseball is not officially licensed by the MLB, only cities (or states) are given as teams, all of which have Major League Baseball teams. The team colors do emulate that of the team's that are unofficially representing, such as the St. Louis team's color being red to match that of the St. Louis Cardinals. The players are stated by first name only and are completely fictitious. Comparitively, the original Gekitō!! Stadium had completely made up teams with no relation, official or implied, to Nippon Professional Baseball teams.

Bad News Baseball teams

Gekitō!! Stadium teams

  • Blue Eyes
  • Bumpers
  • Cats
  • Dogs
  • Fevers
  • Giants
  • Liners
  • Orbits
  • Homer's
  • Skyers
  • Troubles
  • Winks
  • Cerulean (All Stars)
  • Powerful (All Stars)
Screenshot of Bad News Baseball. Here, Oakland is up to bat against L.A.
Screenshot of Bad News Baseball. Here, Oakland is up to bat against L.A.

[edit] External link