Video games - Baseball Stars

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	Video games - Baseball Stars

Baseball Stars is a 1989 baseball game that was produced for the NES by SNK. It became a major hit in many countries worldwide, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Features

Baseball Stars was one of the first sports games to have data memory, therefore players could create a team, configure a small baseball league, and play a whole season (all while the CPU stored cumulative statistics). Baseball Stars was also the first sports game to have the create a player feature; giving players the power to name their players, as well as their teams. The game also introduced a role playing element. Each game played earns the winning team money, and the amount won is directly related to the sum of the prestige ratings of the players from both teams (as prestige determines how many paying fans attend the game). The money can be used to purchase upgrades to the various abilities of players currently on the roster, or it can be used to purchase pre-designed players (available in the Rookie, Veteran, and All-Star categories). A hidden feature allows players to purchase female baseball players. This is done by pushing down on the joypad in the purchase player mode until the "hidden" option appears.

Gameplay

Simple graphics are coupled with repetitive upbeat 8-bit music. The pitching is simple: curve balls, fast balls, off speed pitches, and sinkers. The batting is a swing on a level plane, thus it is simply a question of timing. The fielding, at the time, was a revolution in arcade baseball; it achieved a level of realism unseen prior to its release. This realism, coupled with ease-of-fielding features contributed to the game's popularity. These ease-of-fielding features are characterized by examples such as: off-screen fielders automatically drifting towards fly balls, fielders catching balls anywhere near them, the ability to jump and dive, infielders shifting to prevent extra base hits down the line when men are on base, etc.

The game has a 10-run mercy rule. Thus, if at the end of any inning, one team is up by a total of 10 runs, the game is called in favor of the leading team. In addition to the 10-run mercy rule, there is also a 100-run mercy rule. If at any point in the game one team attains a lead of 100 or more, play is immediately stopped and a winner is declared, even though the inning is not over. For example, if the visiting team scores 100 runs in the top of the first inning, the visiting team will be declared the winner and the home team will not even have the chance to bat. If the game remains tied after 18 innings, the game is over and no winner is declared; all hits and other stats are not saved - as if the game never happened.

Seasons and vs.

Baseball Stars includes a simple one-off versus mode, but more interestingly it provides the option of creating a mini-league of up to six teams, with each team playing up to 25 games against every other team. That means a season with a maximum 125 game schedule can be created. When making a season, one chooses how many teams, how many games, and which teams are controlled by the AI (computer) and which are controlled by the gamers. In vs. mode no stats, such as wins, losses, hits, or homeruns are kept but money can still be won when a player controlled team plays against an AI controlled team. No money is won in this mode when it is player vs. player. Versus mode games can be considered exhibition games.

Teams

There can be a total of 14 teams. Eight teams come with the game and six more teams can be created. The original eight cannot in any way be edited or changed.

Although the game does not use any real Major League Baseball teams, one of the default teams, the American Dreams, included players with names that are based on real (former) baseball players such as Pete (Pete Rose), Hank (Hank Aaron), and Babe (Babe Ruth).

The other seven default teams are the Ninja BlackSox, Brave Warriors, Japan Robins, World Powers, Ghastly Monsters, Lovely Ladies (a women's team), and SNK Crushers.

When creating a new team, one is given the option of choosing its main strength (for example: defense, running, batting, balanced, etc). This does not mean that a chosen strength will remain with the team forever. The option simply favors the chosen attribute when the computer randomly generates the players. Each new teams gets about $30,000 to start and 18 players (5 pitchers, 8 batters, and 5 pinch hitters). From there, games are played and games that are won earn money for the team. Players on created teams can be modified and improved as well as traded amongst other created teams. It must be noted, though, that a pitcher cannot be traded for a batter; it must always be batter for batter or pitcher for pitcher. There is also a free agent market in which players can be bought ranging in price from $5,000 to $2,980,000. Since there is a limit of 18 players per team, before a free agent can be bought, a player must be fired. There is a way to create good teams from the beginning (See bottom).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Baseball Stars ]

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Video games - Baseball Stars

Features

Gameplay

Seasons and vs.

Teams

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