Bad News Baseball
| Bad News Baseball | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Tecmo[1] |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Engine | Proprietary |
| Platform(s) | NES |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Traditional baseball simulation[1] |
| Mode(s) | CPU vs. CPU Single-player Two-player |
| Distribution | Cartridge |
Bad News Baseball, originally released as Gekitō!! Stadium (激闘スタジアム Gekitō Sutajiamu, lit. "Fierce Fighting!! Stadium") in Japan, is a baseball game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The goal for players was to defeat every other team in the game. Gameplay could continue indefinitely until this occurred.
Gameplay
The game lacks a season mode. Instead, in the one-player mode the player's goal was to defeat every other team featured in the game in the order of their choosing in a round robin style. Wins and losses were not recorded, and the player could continue playing indefinitely until all other teams were defeated. While this meant that there was no set schedule of games, pitchers did have a stamina rating that once depleted would take several games worth of rest to recover from. In this way, the game simulated the idea of a pitching rotation.
On the initial screen, players can choose to play 1 or 2 player games, as well as spectator mode (CPU vs. CPU), a 1 or 2 player All-Star game, or enter a password. Passwords are given out after every game and record what teams the player has beat, as well as the pitcher's stamina levels.
Functionally, the game plays similarly to R.B.I. Baseball, but with a few notable fun exceptions. For example, the umpires are rabbits, players become unconscious when they are forced out or knocked out by the ball, and there are different, more kid-friendly animations for events such as home runs and close plays at the plate. If neither team has won after the 12th inning, the game ends in a tie, similar to the Japanese League. Like in real baseball, typical gameplay includes pinch hitters and pinch runners, stolen bases, four types of pitches and players with different attributes. Neither the ultra, nor the super league uses the DH rule.
Girls mode
The game also features the ability to play as girls. In girls mode, the teams remain the same, but the rosters are completely different, effectively creating 12 new teams. This feat is achieved by holding Down and Left on Controller 1 and holding Up on controller 2 (while still holding Down+Left) and hitting the RESET button on the NES.
Featured teams and attributes
Bad News Baseball features 12 teams, each with imaginary rosters. The teams themselves correspond loosely to actual Major League Baseball teams. For example, the Oakland team has green and yellow uniforms, much like the Oakland A's baseball team does. However, no actual team nicknames are used, and rosters have no resemblance to their MLB counterparts. The game also boasted all-star teams for each of the two leagues, which the player could modify.
| Super League | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Batting | Power | Defense | Pitching | Speed |
| Boston | A | A | C | C | C |
| Detroit | B | C | B | C | A |
| Minnesota | B+ | B | B | B | A+ |
| Oakland | C | B | B | A- | C |
| Texas | C | B | B | A- | B |
| Toronto | A | D | C | B | A+ |
| Ultra League | |||||
| Team | Batting | Power | Defense | Pitching | Speed |
| Atlanta | B | B | A | A+ | B |
| Chicago | B | D | B | C | A |
| Los Angeles | A+ | C | B | A+ | C |
| New York | B | A | B | C | B |
| St. Louis | B | C | B | C- | B |
| San Francisco | B | C | C | A- | F |
Players
Each player has different abilities based on their ratings. Each team carries 14 hitters and 6 pitchers (usually 4 "starters", with high stamina, and 2 "relievers"). Batters are rated by the 5-tools scouts consider: Batting (hitting for average), HRs (hitting for power), Running (speed, rated 1-8), Defense (ability to defend a position, graded A-C or "-"), and Arm (rated 1-8). Pitcher ratings include ERA, Stamina, right-side curve, left-side curve, and forkball ratings. Pitch ratings are 1-7.
Batting leaders
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Home run leaders
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ERA leaders
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Reception
Bad News Baseball generally receives average reviews from critics. Stan Stepanic of Game Freaks 365 said that the game was "definitely one of the better baseball titles for the NES, but it does have several flaws that people seem to miss that bring it down."[2] He cited an extremely difficult computer, an AI glitch that makes it easy, and scoring almost completely on home runs as the game's major flaws. On the other hand, in recent years it has developed a cult following from numerous users.[3][4] It is Tim Harding from 2P Start's favorite game.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Bad News Baseball Release information". Retrieved 2011-01-05.
- ↑ "All-Pro Basketball Review". Retrieved 2014-04-11.
- ↑ "The Flatness: Bad News Baseball Review". Retrieved 2013-02-22.
- ↑ "Bad News Baseball". Retrieved 2013-02-22.