80s baseball video game flaw that nobody seemed capable of correcting

[InRepair]

Hey, all.  I just stumbled upon this place the other night.  Part of me wants to say that I'm amazed that such an old video game might still command such a large body of fans and such a cool online community and website; but, then again, thanks to the Net, almost everything has a corresponding website.

Now, on to my comment:

The thing that always bugged me the most about almost all of the baseball games for the NES (and some for the SNES; I think only "Baseball Stars" got it right on the 8-bit system) was the way in which (a.) hits that should have been singles would manage to roll past the outfielder and go all the way to the wall and thus end up a double or a triple; and/or (b.) which is sort of the opposite of (a.): balls smashed down the first or third baseline hitting the wall too soon, getting picked up by the outfielder, and ending up merely singles (or, corniest of all, in some cases resulting in a close play at first); it doesn't matter how slow a runner is--if he hits one two the fence, he's getting at least two bases. 

As a result of these sorts of things, hitting a single through the hole that's merely picked up by the outfielder and tossed back into the infield (in real life, one of the most common outcomes to an at-bat that there is) ended up a ridiculously rare event.  The first RBI has trouble with both (a) and (b), and RBI's sequels are horrible about (a); I mean, not only have you got balls rolling to the fence left and right, but outfielders so slow you half expect to see little pixilated colostomy bags hanging from their belts.

Now that I've started playing RBI again (as inspired by this forum), I got to wondering why the hell nobody could get this right.  My guess is that there had to be a finely-tuned ratio between 1. the speed of your average baserunner, 2. the speed and arm-strength of your average outfielder, 3. how far away from home the outfield wall is positioned, and 4. the average velocity of a hit ball.  If the outfield wall was disproportionately far away from home, and singles zipped across the ground disproportionately quickly, and the outfielders were really, really slow, almost everything that's not a fly-out or weak grounder to one of the infielders is going to go for extra bases.  As I mentioned, if my memory serves me, one reason I really liked "Baseball Stars" was because its programmers seemed to get the balance just right.  (Oh, and, by the way, I read the thread lynching those who claim BS is better than RBI, so you aren't gonna catch me admitting to it, especially in my first post  )

Of course, even with this annoying (at least to me) problem, RBI's plenty of fun to play.  It has its own special charm, I'll give it that.

[TbT]

rbi ultimately shines in 2-player mode.  that is all you need to know.

the problem with the computer in most cases is the dang infielders cant stop half the groundballs......that coupled with some fast astroturf, and youve got a recipe for disaster for the comp.  in most cases the outfielders can get to ground balls decently, but they programmed the players all together so it throws off the outfielders when say the 3rd basemen roves too far one way, youve gotta make hay back the other with the left fielder. 

if the game didnt have this flaw it would be decidedly funner to play thre computer...is funner even a word?  rbi however does not have the issue of balls hit down the line being only sinlges though.  those are almost always doubles..vs the comp or humans.  once in a while coleman or raines turns e into a triple.  on a side note this roling to the wall crap does not happen often vs humans.

[RedBarron]

Just remember that RBI is not real life and everything will be oh-tay.

[DiscoStu]

I like two use the wrong words. And I also talk to much.

[InRepair]

^^^  Uh...okaaay.

[Attezzobal]

Triples are the result of horrible fielding, even Vince or Raines can't get a triple against someone who knows what they're doing.

Welcome, InRepair. It's cool if you type too fast and that causes a few mistakes, we'll forgive, hell, just look at the first reply to your first thread.

[ultimate7]

I assume you are talking about 1 player format (for singles into doubles), this was due to the lazy programming forcing all the players to move in unison and have the closest guy chase the ball (even if there is no chance he gets it).  Like TBT said, RBI is mostly a 2 player game, as CPU play is bad

[Shooty]

I echo the statement above that the CPU is ass and doesn't know what its doing.

However, your comments that the Outfielders are slow is a bit of a misconception.  RBI actually does a very decent job of handling speed (both running and throwing).  Remember, the stadium is a very small scale, so you can't realisticaly have guys running at the speed of the black dude from Hyper Olympics can you? The relative sizes and speeds make for fairly realistic gameplay.   

[TommyD (MrOJ)]

I once timed all runners from home to first and from home to home to see who the fastest guys in the game were about 10 years ago *before I knew shit about ratings*.  Coleman's time from home to first was realistic, as I looked it up in a book and it matched up with the fastest guys in the league at the time.  As far as arms go, it might be slightly too hard to throw out Coleman on the basepaths, but who am I to judge

[BeefMaster]

I assume you are talking about 1 player format (for singles into doubles), this was due to the lazy programming forcing all the players to move in unison and have the closest guy chase the ball (even if there is no chance he gets it).

That was why Baseball Stars didn't have this problem - the players moved one at a time based on where the ball was at, and the computer intelligently would move the other fielders into position - they'd even have the outfielders back each other up if possible.  As far as I know, it was the only NES game that had individual fielder movement.

[InRepair]

Okay.  So the reason I "like two (sic) use the wrong words," etc. is because I accidentally typed "...two (!!!!) the wall, he's gonna get two bases"?  And did this because I was obviously thinking of how I was going to write "two bases" in the next clause?  And that was the only mistake in the whole thing?  You really zeroed in on that, Disco Stu.  Way to go, champ!  Uh, wait...maybe I ought to, you know, bring it down a notch for ya'.  I don't want you to have to read any more than you absolutely have to... 

*clears voice*

Grimlock love RBI!  Grimlock crush preposition, "to," crush adverb, "too," crush adjective, "two"!  Me goodest proofreader Optimus have!! 

That better?

As for the OP, yeah, I was talking about in 1-player mode.  I only recently downloaded the ROM for RBI and some of its sequels, so I don't exactly have the experience some of you have.  I was really more reminiscing than anything.  I can't believe I didn't mention the thing about every single fielder moving in concert with one another.  Forest for the trees, etc.  I know this has a lot to do with the AI's problem.  Maybe I was thinking more of instances in which, say, there's a runner on first and there's a fly to the outfielder, he bobbles it, but then manages to get the force at second.  This wouldn't actually happen in a real MLB game. (Well, I guess I should never say "never"; how about "very rarely"?)  That doesn't have anything to do with fielder placement--that's an issue with something being wrong with either the outfielder's throwing speed/ability, the runner's speed/ability, or both.  So are the times in which the batter only ends up at first despite hitting one off the wall.  In any case, all I meant was that I remember liking Baseball Stars because you could play a game against the AI and not end up with things like that happening, not end up with 80% of your hits going for extra bases.  That's all it was.  And, as I said, RBI's sequels were particularly bad in regard to singles rolling past incredibly slow outfielders (because of the "everyone moves at the same time in the same direction" problem) and turning into triples, inside-the-park homeruns.  Compared to parts 2 & 3, just plain old RBI does a good job, and I think the reason for this is because the RBI 1 stadium is of a smaller scale than it is in 2 & 3.  Even if the OFers were slow, at least the ball didn't keep rolling and rolling and rolling.

[ultimate7]

Maybe I was thinking more of instances in which, say, there's a runner on first and there's a fly to the outfielder, he bobbles it, but then manages to get the force at second. This wouldn't actually happen in a real MLB game. (Well, I guess I should never say "never"; how about "very rarely"?) That doesn't have anything to do with fielder placement--that's an issue with something being wrong with either the outfielder's throwing speed/ability, the runner's speed/ability, or both.

Again I think this is more an AI problem, it is more an effect of the runner not going 1/3 of the way to 2nd as opposed to just waiting on 1st.  I think the batter speeds vs. OF throws is fairly realistic (though some throws are too strong to be realistic).

[ericdavisfan]

Okay.  So the reason I "like two (sic) use the wrong words," etc. is because I accidentally typed "...two (!!!!) the wall, he's gonna get two bases"?  And did this because I was obviously thinking of how I was going to write "two bases" in the next clause?  And that was the only mistake in the whole thing?  You really zeroed in on that, Disco Stu.  Way to go, champ!  Uh, wait...maybe I ought to, you know, bring it down a notch for ya'.  I don't want you to have to read any more than you absolutely have to... 

*clears voice*

Grimlock love RBI!  Grimlock crush preposition, "to," crush adverb, "too," crush adjective, "two"!  Me goodest proofreader Optimus have!! 

That better?

Welcome InRepair 

I think that our new friend DiscoStu was giving you some of the good-natured sarcasm that can typically be expected in Dee-Neeland.  Usually, the quote change + sarcasm is used on the veteran posters, or by those screaming to be made fun of.  I'm sure that no ill will was intended.  You've brought up a good point, but it's just one of the quirks that makes NES what it is.

[BeefMaster]

Anyone who does a Grimlock impression in his first three posts is Dee-Nee material, regardless of his grammar skills.

[Attezzobal]

Okay. So the reason I "like two (sic) use the wrong words," etc. is because I accidentally typed "...two (!!!!) the wall, he's gonna get two bases"? And did this because I was obviously thinking of how I was going to write "two bases" in the next clause? And that was the only mistake in the whole thing? You really zeroed in on that, Disco Stu. Way to go, champ! Uh, wait...maybe I ought to, you know, bring it down a notch for ya'. I don't want you to have to read any more than you absolutely have to...

*clears voice*

Grimlock love RBI! Grimlock crush preposition, "to," crush adverb, "too," crush adjective, "two"! Me goodest proofreader Optimus have!!

That better?

Will you marry me?

[DiscoStu]

Grimlock love RBI!  Grimlock crush preposition, "to," crush adverb, "too," crush adjective, "two"!  Me goodest proofreader Optimus have!! 

That better?

Much Better!  Thanks!

(and you're the only person "newer" on here than me... there was much sarcasm in my "quote" but yeah, my sarcasm hasn't been caught on very well yet... But soon... it will muahahahaha!)

[InRepair]

 

Yeah, I was thinking, "Oh, damn.  I've stumbled upon one of those BBSes where anything written by anyone with a post count not in the triple-digits is torn to shreds."  So I was kind of taken aback.  See, believe it or else, I'm actually a writer (talk about a pretentious-sounding, meaningless thing to say, huh?) and have been both an editor and proofreader in the past, too.  A publication here, a standardized test there, etc.  Nothing big time (yet), but...you know the drill.  So I almost always make an effort to keep the spelling/grammatical errors to a minimum when it comes to my emails, BBS posts...hell, my sticky-notes to myself.  Mind you, it's not that doing this sort of thing is my idea of a good time.  It's just a knee-jerk reaction. 

[InRepair]

Okay. So the reason I "like two (sic) use the wrong words," etc. is because I accidentally typed "...two (!!!!) the wall, he's gonna get two bases"? And did this because I was obviously thinking of how I was going to write "two bases" in the next clause? And that was the only mistake in the whole thing? You really zeroed in on that, Disco Stu. Way to go, champ! Uh, wait...maybe I ought to, you know, bring it down a notch for ya'. I don't want you to have to read any more than you absolutely have to...

*clears voice*

Grimlock love RBI! Grimlock crush preposition, "to," crush adverb, "too," crush adjective, "two"! Me goodest proofreader Optimus have!!

That better?

Will you marry me?

Uh...I don't know.  I'm assuming you're a male.  Given our current political climate, it's going to be a long while before that sort of thing is legal outside of Vermont or Hawaii. 

[fknmclane]

I'm gonna throw this out there as well.  I've already revealed that I've never seen The Warriors and confirmed the fact that The Breakfast Club sucks...

I don't know who the fuck this Grimlock character is and I find him rather annoying.  BOOYAH!

[InRepair]

Grimlock was a robotic dinosaur from back in the day.  There's still some question as to whether he died as a result of an asteroid striking the Earth, or if he just evolved into a robotic bird.