God almighty, tons of my college friends said this all the time to me and it drove me nuts.
Then yesterday the local sports radio hack comes on in the afternoon and was talking about Nintendo and said, "and when it comes to baseball games we all know that Baseball Stars is the best baseball video game ever invented."
I was madder than a wet hornet and immediately picked my phone up, at work, and called this asshat and got on the air and bitched him out live, asking "Have you EVER played RBI baseball?" This dumbass didn't even remember the game and I said, "Find a copy and play it and then tell me that Baseball Stars is the best. It's OVERRATED! Does Baseball Stars have Ruppert Jones? I don't think so!" I was proud to represent on the radio yesterday and call this guy out.
Anyway, I was at my parents' house a couple weekends ago, going through my old video games. I have the 8-bit system at my place, with RBI and Tecmo Super Bowl.
I have tons of other games at my parents house and thought I'd grab one or two....so I grabbed Mario 2 and then saw Baseball Stars and thought about it, but it just isn't that good. I mean it's fun and is way better than Bases Loaded and Major League Baseball and Tecmo Baseball, but Baseball Stars isn't even in the same ballpark as RBI.
The next time some jackass proclaims Baseball Stars as the best baseball video game ever, I'll slug them right in the balls.
Baseball Stars was fun
Sure, it was fun, but it also has a super shitty memory card in it.
I smashed this game into 100 pieces my Freshman year in college after I built up a super kick ass team, followed by 1 day where I turned it on and all the progress I made was deleted.
I have not played the game since.
fcking baseball stars!
I have a few friends who make this claim all the time as well, not to mention Bases Loaded.. Baseball Stars is far inferior to RBI. The only thing that made Baseball Stars good was that it kept stats and allowed you to make your own team. Other than that, the game play sucked.
I liked Baseball Stars better as a one-player game, thanks to the season mode and team-editing capabilities, plus the computer opponent didn't suck as much as the one in RBI.
I can't believe anyone could've liked Bases Loaded better than RBI - that game was crappy. Bases Loaded 3 was a decent change of pace, but the original was not a good game.
Despite his namesake DamnTheCowboys is a good man in my book. Way to represent.
Greatest baseball game of all time R.B.I.
I really liked Bases Loaded. Jersey was my team. . . . they had a guy with 60 homers and a .467 average ---- but he hardly hit homers. Bay had the homers on Jersey.
I used to keep stats on Bases Loaded.
I freakin' hated Major Leauge Baseball. It was fun for a week or two. . . . . then got stale.
I loved Tecmo Baseball.
Another favorite of mine was Roger Clemens Baseball.
However, none were as good as RBI.
here are some of the problems with "baseball stars", which was a great game but had its glaring flaws.
1. The "All Black dressed" japanese team were better to use and easier to win with than the "American Dreams".
2. The option to put women on your team. Are you serious? This flies in the face of any logic. OK, let me make a team with a woman to face cy young from the American Dreams. However growing up in
NY I had liberal PC friends who would try to incorperate one of these. I, given the right sized lead, would bean said females.
3. In a league that sized it is hard to believe every game was played at SNK park.
4. For some reason, the manager got paid after games and was paid for a teams prestige.
5. Lastly, my memory is playing tricks on me. I seem to remember that there was a team of all women. There may not have been, it may have been my friends little sisters team, in which case I apologize. Can you imagine that lockerroom. Filled with summers eve and tampax. the menstral cycle dictating the teams schedule. this is a travesty. How can this be in the same category as RBI?
Baseball Stars...as fun as it is...RBI it is not.
Quote from: mike larkin on 08/09/05, 06:52:58 PM
2. The option to put women on your team. Are you serious? This flies in the face of any logic. OK, let me make a team with a woman to face cy young from the American Dreams. However growing up in
NY I had liberal PC friends who would try to incorperate one of these. I, given the right sized lead, would bean said females.
5. Lastly, my memory is playing tricks on me. I seem to remember that there was a team of all women. There may not have been, it may have been my friends little sisters team, in which case I apologize. Can you imagine that lockerroom. Filled with summers eve and tampax. the menstral cycle dictating the teams schedule. this is a travesty. How can this be in the same category as RBI?
You rock.
Baseball Stars is a fun game, but nowhere near RBI.
Tecmo Baseball is what get me into RBI. In that I mean how much I suck at Tecmo Baseball, got frustrated, and traded it in for RBI.
Bases Loaded is okay, but Bases Loaded 2 is where it's at for that series. Good old choice between first player (a prestigeous thing when I was a kid) or Boston (they had a pitcher who pitched quick as fuck).
I've been burned at the stake for my heretic love for Tecmo Babeball before, but I still love it. I mean, there's a pitcher named Fries, how can you go wrong with that?
MVP 2005
Quote from: mike larkin on 08/09/05, 06:52:58 PM
5. Lastly, my memory is playing tricks on me. I seem to remember that there was a team of all women. There may not have been, it may have been my friends little sisters team, in which case I apologize. Can you imagine that lockerroom. Filled with summers eve and tampax. the menstral cycle dictating the teams schedule. this is a travesty. How can this be in the same category as RBI?
That was an included team, the "Lovely Ladies" if I remember correctly. While they were a bit out of place, beating them was quite profitable.
Nightwulf
Ha, that's hilarious. Those letters aren't even close to each other on the keyboard.
Quote from: BeeJay on 08/09/05, 08:57:27 PM
Ha, that's hilarious. Those letters aren't even close to each other on the keyboard.
Dee-Nee posting, a game of inches.
Bases Loaded 2 was awesome. It had an odd view but still a great game.
The bio rythms were great. I'd say it was the first game to incorporate hot / cold streaks.
I like Baseball Stars and really think it's a great game. The two-player mode cannot match the enjoyment and strategy of RBI, but it really was a great effort by the folks at SNK....
Never played Tecmo Baseball, at least I don't ever remember playing it...
Sadly, I owned Baseball Stars looooooong before I ever got my hands on my first copy of RBI Baseball. I bought into the hype. It was enjoyable, but the novelty of having real MLB players was too much to pass up. I think I ended up giving my copy of Baseball Stars away to a friend of mine.
Then again, this was the mid 90s. I wasn't old enough to appreciate RBI Baseball when it first came out (I was 3.)
The gameplay was too slow. However, I think if a rom editor (to create real teams/players) was around it would greatly improve its playability.
Why no love for Microleague Baseball? Or NES Baseball? Or that handheld game from the early 80s that is out again now with the green field and red LED graphics?
I remember liking NES baseball when it first came out, but that doesn't mean it was any good.
I loved Micro League baseball. I'd still play it if someone knows of an emulator.
Quote from: ben seaver on 08/10/05, 11:21:43 AM
Or that handheld game from the early 80s that is out again now with the green field and red LED graphics?
I played the shit out of that game. I still play it, although the reproduction they sell now is not quite the same. Luckily, I still have the original.
Quote from: ultimate7 on 08/10/05, 11:30:04 AM
I remember liking NES baseball when it first came out, but that doesn't mean it was any good.
I loved Micro League baseball. I'd still play it if someone knows of an emulator.
Did you play the game on Apple or Commodore? I've used CCS64 (http://www.computerbrains.com/ccs64/) (a Commodore 64 emulator) before, although it's been a few years, and I never played MicroLeague. It takes a bit to figure out how to use the disk images, but it seemed to work okay generally. It's shareware. I've never tried out an Apple emulator, so I don't have any recommendations in that regard.
I've used an apple emulator, but I think the version I played was IBM.
Quote from: ultimate7 on 08/10/05, 11:56:19 AM
I've used an apple emulator, but I think the version I played was IBM.
If it's for DOS, you can try DOSBox (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1). I discovered it a year or two ago, and it's worked well for most of the games I've tried with it.
You can play it via an online apple ii emulator @
http://www.virtualapple.com/microleaguebaseballdisk.html
you can also play Oregon Trail there
Quote from: ultimate7 on 08/10/05, 11:30:04 AM
I remember liking NES baseball when it first came out, but that doesn't mean it was any good.
I loved Micro League baseball. I'd still play it if someone knows of an emulator.
I feel that my love for RBI could only have gotten to where it is today because of Baseball Stars. It was a first of its time. You could create and modify and trade and hire and fire. Its gameplay was smoother, but no better than RBI. And after many dominating teams that I created had fallen to the shitty memory card in the game, I fell back to the simplicity and reality RBI baseball.
VIVA LA RBI
Baseball Stars is a great game, and I still play now and then. It has some features that would be cool on RBI. I think Gantry was dead on in saying that Baseball Stars has a lot to offer in the 1 player category. However, RBI is superior in gameplay, especially in 2 player mode!
For those of you who want to talk about Tecmo baseball. it sucked because it contradicted Tecmo. Tecmo Bowl had actual NFL players, and Tecmo basketball had actual NBA players. Yet, Tecmo Baseball didn't! WTF!?
I had Tecmo Super Baseball on the SNES - it was one of the worst baseball games I have ever played. It had real MLB players but not team names/logos, the reverse of Griffey. The gameplay was simply horrific.
Quote from: ultimate7 on 08/10/05, 11:30:04 AM
I remember liking NES baseball when it first came out, but that doesn't mean it was any good.
I loved Micro League baseball. I'd still play it if someone knows of an emulator.
I grew up on Microleague. I even have a copy on my Palm Pilot. Ah, the memories.
I too grew up on Microleague... I played it so much I had dreams about it. One dream I remember (I must have been about 10 or so), I was the 69 Mets and Ron Swaboda hit a dinger. But on the scoreboard after the dinger there were weird characters with a question mark at the end. Then the fans stormed the field. Scared the shit out of me for days afterwards...
For some reason I didn't remember what Microleague was until Gantry's post. That game was pretty damn fun. I also had a handheld game called Batter Up World Series or something like that. It was 2 player, meaning it was fkn huge. It also had an uppity robot voice that announced the game. It sucked ass though. I think you could get there were only 4 different spots the ball could land.
Quote from: ben seaver on 08/10/05, 11:21:43 AM
The gameplay was too slow. However, I think if a rom editor (to create real teams/players) was around it would greatly improve its playability.
There've been requests for this before, but I've not even glanced at the ROM. My biggest concern is the battery-backed RAM. [nerd]It's mapped into the NES' address space at 0x6000-0x7FFF if I remember correctly and is read/written normally[/nerd] but there's often checksum routines and whatnot that look for invalid saves, and working around them sounds like a bag of no fun.
Nightwulf
Uh oh folks, I'm in a jam... Seaver has a tough no out situation with RBI Legend Rick Burleson at the plate. What would a good MicroLeague manager do here?
Holy fucking shit....
Ron Swaboda just hit a home run for me. I'm scared to go to sleep tonight... I can see the scoreboard characters in my head now, so fucking frightening. Hold me!
i can't get this virtual apple stuff to work? help?
Quote from: BeeJay on 08/11/05, 08:32:49 PM
I also had a handheld game called Batter Up World Series or something like that. It was 2 player, meaning it was fkn huge. It also had an uppity robot voice that announced the game. It sucked ass though. I think you could get there were only 4 different spots the ball could land.
I had that game, too - the name was "Talking Baseball" or something like that. The "Batter Up World Series" you remember was from the opening line of the announcer: "Welcome to the Batter Up World Series between the Eagles and the Buffaloes."
I could slaughter the computer in one inning in that game by bunting to third with every batter and taking extra bases on the throws.
Quote from: Strassy on 08/12/05, 12:25:52 AM
i can't get this virtual apple stuff to work? help?
I got it to work, but I could figure out what the commands were, so I had to just hit enter every pitch. Also couldn't use my mouse while it was running, so I couldn't do anything besides play, which won't work at work.
The the numbers...
Oh, OK, I figured next time at start up I'd try to find the help, but I kept hoping 'B' would be bunt, but it never was.
Quote from: Gantry on 08/11/05, 08:49:03 PM
Uh oh folks, I'm in a jam... Seaver has a tough no out situation with RBI Legend Rick Burleson at the plate. What would a good MicroLeague manager do here?
Ya gotta go with the "4". It's the best shot to get a K.
Can someone please post the numbers and what they do, I can't figure out how to get the list from the game (if it's possible)
Microleague baseball commands:
R: toggle running to/from dugouts (speeds up the game)
Offense
Bases empty:
0 or enter: swing away
6: Bunt
7: pinch hit
9: see lineup
Runners on:
0 or enter: swing away
1: swing away, aggressive running
2: swing away, safe running
3: steal
4: hit and run
5: sac bunt
6: bunt
7: pinch hit
8: pinch run
9: see lineup
Defense
0: visit the mound
1 or enter: fastball
2: curve
3: slider
4: changeup
5: pitchout
6: corners in
7: infield in
8: intentional walk
9: see lineup
Thanks to all for your help.
Man twice in a row with a guy on 2nd and 2 outs, I swung away with aggressive running hit a single and the guy didn't even try to score WTF? Aggressive my ass.
The CPU manager sucks, down 4-2 in the bottom of the 9th, the '27 Yankees had the bases loaded with 2 outs, and they let the relief pitcher hit for himself.
Haha
The commodore Microleague CPU would have never pulled off such a stunt..
Quote from: BeefMaster on 08/12/05, 07:56:10 AM
Quote from: BeeJay on 08/11/05, 08:32:49 PM
I also had a handheld game called Batter Up World Series or something like that. It was 2 player, meaning it was fkn huge. It also had an uppity robot voice that announced the game. It sucked ass though. I think you could get there were only 4 different spots the ball could land.
I had that game, too - the name was "Talking Baseball" or something like that. The "Batter Up World Series" you remember was from the opening line of the announcer: "Welcome to the Batter Up World Series between the Eagles and the Buffaloes."
I could slaughter the computer in one inning in that game by bunting to third with every batter and taking extra bases on the throws.
Wow, I can't believe someone else had that game, and yea I was remembering that first line. It continued with "Beep boop, top of the first inning, Eagles at bat, beep boop boop."
I really don't want to be at work right now.
I think it only works with IE and Active X enabled. So if you are trying to get to it from a place of work (where if they are smart they would disable Active X) it won't work.
Quote from: Strassy on 08/12/05, 12:25:52 AM
i can't get this virtual apple stuff to work? help?
Not sure if it was here or not, but I saw a link to a site that no longer exists called Baseball Stars Online. It was a hacked rom with 2002 MLB Data in it and it wrote over the teams such as the American Dreams (Dusty Rhodes?) and stuff. I remember some glitches such as it freezing up when going into VS mode instead of the regular season mode. So you may be right in that it would be a little nasty to debug & stuff.
Quote from: nightwulf on 08/11/05, 08:42:12 PM
Quote from: ben seaver on 08/10/05, 11:21:43 AM
The gameplay was too slow. However, I think if a rom editor (to create real teams/players) was around it would greatly improve its playability.
There've been requests for this before, but I've not even glanced at the ROM. My biggest concern is the battery-backed RAM. [nerd]It's mapped into the NES' address space at 0x6000-0x7FFF if I remember correctly and is read/written normally[/nerd] but there's often checksum routines and whatnot that look for invalid saves, and working around them sounds like a bag of no fun.
Nightwulf
Quote from: ben seaver on 08/12/05, 01:18:54 PM
I think it only works with IE and Active X enabled. So if you are trying to get to it from a place of work (where if they are smart they would disable Active X) it won't work.
Quote from: Strassy on 08/12/05, 12:25:52 AM
i can't get this virtual apple stuff to work? help?
trying to get it to work at home, on firefox...which i know that's what gantry and nightwulf use...if it only worked on IE, they both would have made posts complaining about using IE
Yeah, it's implemented with an ActiveX control. Big thumbs down. Possible, but not really worth the hassle of getting it running in Firefox, because ...
There are a ton of other Apple emulators (http://www.zophar.net/apple2.html) available, and they don't require me to open The Browser of Death (tm).
Nightwulf
Major League Baseball(NES) was garbage.
You could hardy ever throw out runners after a groundball.
there were pretty much no groundballs...the ball rarely/never rolled. if you hit a short liner or popup to shortstop, the ball would just die right there. the game blows. one of my friends was trying to tell me it was better than RBI and i dang near strangled him.
I just played an inning of MLB.
WORST BASEBALL GAME EVER
Also played a game of NES Baseball. Enjoyable. I played that fucker for 2 years until RBI came out.
I don't think I ever got through an entire game of MLB.
Quote from: Bonny on 08/13/05, 03:22:14 PM
I just played an inning of MLB.
WORST BASEBALL GAME EVER
Also played a game of NES Baseball. Enjoyable. I played that fucker for 2 years until RBI came out.
this is where we differ. Baseball is ASS. Maybe it's because I played RBI, Major League Baseball (barf), and Bases Loaded before it...but it is just so unplayable. controls are terrible.
Quote from: Strassy on 08/13/05, 04:29:49 PM
Quote from: Bonny on 08/13/05, 03:22:14 PM
I just played an inning of MLB.
WORST BASEBALL GAME EVER
Also played a game of NES Baseball. Enjoyable. I played that fucker for 2 years until RBI came out.
this is where we differ. Baseball is ASS. Maybe it's because I played RBI, Major League Baseball (barf), and Bases Loaded before it...but it is just so unplayable. controls are terrible.
It was the only NES Baseball game for years. The Hitting,pitching,baserunning are all good. The fielding AI is another story.
The controls are almost exactly the same as RBI.
i don't know if controls was the right term...but something about the game doesn't feel right. i'll have to play it again and then write about my experiences.
Quote from: Strassy on 08/13/05, 06:25:02 PM
i don't know if controls was the right term...but something about the game doesn't feel right. i'll have to play it again and then write about my experiences.
You're the Hemmingway of NES Baseball.
Quote from: Strassy on 08/13/05, 06:25:02 PM
i don't know if controls was the right term...but something about the game doesn't feel right. i'll have to play it again and then write about my experiences.
You cant control the movement of the fielders
Quote from: Bonny on 08/13/05, 11:45:01 PM
Quote from: Strassy on 08/13/05, 06:25:02 PM
i don't know if controls was the right term...but something about the game doesn't feel right. i'll have to play it again and then write about my experiences.
You cant control the movement of the fielders
there it is...that's the problem. what's the point of playing on autopilot?
Baseball Stars, to me, is equal to RBI purely because you could save leagues. My friend and I had quite a league going on my old NES in college. We made our own players. I still remember some player names... Bong, Beer, Dylan, Weed. Dylan was a good gap hitter. I think Bong had a lot of power. Weed was a speedy singles guy if I remember. I wonder if the league is still on the game cartridge... I need to find it.
And you've got to admit it was pretty cool that you could climb the wall.
The problem was that since you got money for winning and you could improve your players with money, the more you win the better you get and the more you start crushing the other guy.
Quote from: VanceLaw on 08/17/05, 07:39:44 PM
Baseball Stars, to me, is equal to RBI . . . .
curtflood, kill him!
Quote from: Ryno on 08/17/05, 07:59:41 PM
Quote from: VanceLaw on 08/17/05, 07:39:44 PM
Baseball Stars, to me, is equal to RBI . . . .
curtflood, kill him!
First post for Vance Law and he strikes out. Great, must of played for the Cubbies. Cubs fans may put up with you, but not me. R.B.I. is Numero Uno.
Vance was an all star in 1988.
Back in 88 he was probably my second favorite player behind Ryno. However, I will not be naming my next child after Vance.
Quote from: VanceLaw on 08/17/05, 07:39:44 PM
Baseball Stars, to me, is equal to RBI . . . .
II have to agree. Baseball Stars is very, very good. Especially the fielding control.
Quote from: Bonny on 08/17/05, 08:29:12 PM
Quote from: VanceLaw on 08/17/05, 07:39:44 PM
Baseball Stars, to me, is equal to RBI . . . .
II have to agree. Baseball Stars is very, very good. Especially the fielding control.
i rescend my friendship from you.
Yyou fkn butt kisser.
suck my hemmorroids, bitch.
Quote from: Bonny on 08/17/05, 08:29:12 PM
Quote from: VanceLaw on 08/17/05, 07:39:44 PM
Baseball Stars, to me, is equal to RBI . . . .
II have to agree. Baseball Stars is very, very good. Especially the fielding control.
Hmmmmm. I don't believe he meant this. He was setting up a trap for me to bite on. He loves R.B.I.
You're weird. Stop following me.
I also love baseball stars equally to RBI. If that causes you to want to kill me then, BRING IT MOTHER FUCKER!!!!!!
Quote from: Ryno on 08/17/05, 08:13:23 PM
Vance was an all star in 1988.
Back in 88 he was probably my second favorite player behind Ryno. However, I will not be naming my next child after Vance.
Vance Law WATN...
http://www.byucougars.com/baseball/head_coach.html
BYU can eat a dick.
Hate em
Quote from: erhajj on 08/18/05, 09:44:45 AM
I also love baseball stars equally to RBI. If that causes you to want to kill me then, BRING IT MOTHER FUCKER!!!!!!
You will DIE.
Unless, of course, you are the highlander.
Personally, I'm pretty fond of jackasses
Quote from: nightwulf on 08/09/05, 08:01:56 PM
Quote from: mike larkin on 08/09/05, 06:52:58 PM
5. Lastly, my memory is playing tricks on me. I seem to remember that there was a team of all women. There may not have been, it may have been my friends little sisters team, in which case I apologize. Can you imagine that lockerroom. Filled with summers eve and tampax. the menstral cycle dictating the teams schedule. this is a travesty. How can this be in the same category as RBI?
That was an included team, the "Lovely Ladies" if I remember correctly. While they were a bit out of place, beating them was quite profitable.
Nightwulf
The Lovely Ladies were a scrappy and very fast team. It was no fun to play them because they would run you to death on the bases and we're a good pitching team. Of course, it was also fun to bean them and see them cry for a split second:
My Haiku for Baseball Stars:
Baseball Stars was good
But without Major League "stars"
R.B.I. wins war
Out!
the american dreams had old time stars on it. but rbi is still better
my friends will only play roger clemens baseball, and sometimes bases loaded three. i enjoy the novelty of roger clemens, especially with the slide sequences. and i'm pretty sure the players have the same attributes, because we average a homerun with a pitcher once a game. bases loaded iii has its ups and downs, fly balls are hard to track down, as they switch screens right before the catch, plus, it's all from the pitchers perspective, which is very difficult at first.
I bought Baseball Stars at a pawn shop having only heard of it. The team editing is O.K, but I think the gameplay sucks ass.