Emulator Hour: Bases Loaded (NES/3DS)

Bases Loaded is a 1988 game by presumably now defunct Japanese company Jaleco (although the NES port was handled by "ghost developer" Tose Software), which is all beside the point, but I figured it was the best way to start of today's edition of Emulator Hour.  I played this game a bit back in the NES glory days, although I seem to recall playing a lot more of Bases Loaded II, but I could be mistaken on that part.  What I can tell you about the Bases Loaded port for the 3DS (no 3D effects however), is that it is a damn faithful port of the NES game, all the way down to the way the music stalls when the game moves back from fielding to the batting/pitching screen.

One of the things that drew me to Bases Loaded back in the day, was the semi-realistic design of the players, which were not depicted as the rotund characters that were present in Nintendo's Baseball, or in the MLB licensed  Major League Baseball.  These players were better proportioned and even had varying pitching styles and batting stances, which I was, and probably still am, convinced that they have an affect on how the ball is hit/thrown.

Now, I would like to think that I am a pretty decent video game player, except when it comes to sportsing games when you play against a computer controlled opponent apparently.  This is where my paranoia comes into play again.  Presently, I have played seven games, the first two I played as the L.A. team, and the last five as the Boston team.  I have managed to lose all seven games.  Don't believe me?  Here are screen shots from the end of the game with a little bit (from what I can remember) about each game.

Game 1: Hawaii (Comp) vs. L.A. (Me)

Being my first game, I was a little frustrated by this beating.  I genuinely could not figure out how to hit the ball in an area of the field that was not occupied by one of the opposing fielders.  I was also trying to figure out the pitching mechanism.

Game 2: Hawaii vs. L.A.

This was a horrible, horrible game.  By the end of the 6th inning when I was down by 13, I was hoping that a 10 run mercy rule would take effect, but then the 7th inning started and I knew that I was in for more digital torture.  Same issues as the first game in trying to figure out the best way to pitch against the batters.  I was also trying to determine when/if to take control of the outfielders, if the computer had better control/aim when it came to fielding balls and catching fly balls and seeing as how Hawaii's team was doing such a great job at defense, I figured that the computer would do a better job than I had been doing.  That was not the case.

Game 3: Jersey (Comp.) vs. Boston (Me)

I decided that a team change was in order as I seem to recall having played as Boston when I first played the game on the NES and I didn't recall losing as frequently and by as much as I had just been (see Game 2).  So I picked Boston and while I still lost, I was able to hold Jersey to under 10, which I considered to be an improvement.  What I did notice was that while I was at bat, that at least 50% of time, I would hit a foul ball, which did not happen as often as when I was pitching.  Now, this could be a difference in style of pitching, or it could have been that the computer just did not want to lose.  And as you can see, I apparently did not have a hard time getting on base as I had 14 hits to Jersey's 16, but getting those runners home is where I faltered.

Game 4: Jersey vs. Boston

This game was about as annoying as Game 2.  I simply could not get on base enough.  Out of  35 batters, only 8 got on base, and the 27 others either struck out (which happened very rarely, as in less than 5 times) or fielded out (including flied out).  This was painful to watch as fly ball after fly ball seemed to be hit to an outfielder who either did not have to move or moved so quickly that by the time the ball came to them, they had already arrived and finished their dissertation on "War and Peace."  There was even a play during either this game where I threw the ball to third base from home plate and apparently the short stop was covering third (with a runner on third) and the short stop stepped off the bag as the third basemen was running and the ball passed everyone up and went into left field.  The runner on third scored driving another proverbial nail even deeper into my coffin.

Game 5: Jersey vs. Boston

Not ready to throw in the towel (or my 3DS across the room and through a window), I soldiered on against Jersey.  This game was infuriating to lose.  By the end of the 7th inning, I had pulled ahead 3 - 5 and was feeling good about how the game had progressed.  By this point, I had stopped swinging as frequently, usually waiting for the third or fourth pitch as the first two would typically be just barely strikes and the third pitch would usually be right down the middle (a bit fast mind you, but usually I could hit the damn thing); still hit a lot of foul balls though.  So as I had expected, Jersey scored in the 8th, but so did I to maintain a lead in the 9th.  Then Jersey scored 2 more to be ahead 7 - 6.  The final out happened like this:  I had the bases loaded, my current batter (I've forgotten whom) did not have a great batting average and had less than 5 home runs, so I called in a pinch hitter who had a better average and 15 home runs.  First pitch was a ball, second pitch was a strike.  Third pitch I swung at, popped the ball up at home base (in-game it looked about maybe 10 feet in the air), the catcher moved forward, caught the ball and that was the game.

Game 6: Miami vs. Boston & Game 7: Miami vs. Boston

I decided to combine Games 6 and 7 into one entry for a couple of reasons, foremost being that I cannot remember a whole lot about these games individually, but I do remember events that happened during both games.  During Game 6, was when the computer decided that it was going to introduce stealing bases, which did catch me off guard the first couple of times, mainly because it had never happened before, and because I had been unable to figure out how to do it when I was at bat.  It was also at some point during these games that I came to the conclusion that in a game of Pickle, the computer will always win since its reaction time is far superior to mine and unlike me, it will not mess up a throw.  By this point I had also learned that in Bases Loaded, the tie does not in fact, go to the runner.

As you can tell, I have had and am still having trouble with Bases Loaded.  I would even say that it is a fun game despite all of the losing.  I am still trying to figure out the best way to beat the computer, and so far using pitchers with an ERA hovering around and below 3.0 does not seem to be working, nor does throwing pitches that should not be hittable (not including the ones that are waaaaaay outside).  I do not know exactly how the game determines if when I hit the ball, if it goes foul or now.  Is it determined by why I select to hit the ball and where the ball is pitched?  I have tried looking up this information and either no one else has experienced this (which I doubt), or that barely anyone else cares.  Or I am, again, just being paranoid.

So that is my rant/review of Bases Loaded on the 3DS.  Perhaps I just need to move on.  Or perhaps I just need to kick the computer's ass at least once before moving on. . .

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental