Baseball Stars review by substance J

Baseball Stars from SNK was released on November 24, 1998 after a slight delay (it was planned to be released at the NGP launch), and is housed on an 8 megabit cartridge. Baseball Stars has appeared on various system from Neo Geo arcade hardware to the age old 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, where I fell in love with the series year ago. As you can guess I've been looking forward to this title for quite some time. On to the review…

Graphics - B

Baseball Stars is not going to blow you away graphically (like most portable titles), but it's got some very cool little animations and effects. The field, players, and ball are all very easy to see and very well drawn and animated. Each batter has a different animation set depending on their physical status. It's really cool to see a powered up play flex and start twirling his bat while waiting for the pitch. When a strikeout is made, the pitcher will celebrate and the batter will collapse in disgust! The screen scrolls very well, to keep a good eye on those throws and pop-ups. The detail in the stadiums is high, with fans, scoreboards, and all the detailing you'd expect to see on the field. When the ball is popped up, you can even see the stitches spinning as the ball scales towards the screen!

Sound - C+

As always, it's a struggle to find anything to say about sound, good or bad. But overall, Baseball Stars is about average in this category. Some OK hitting and pitching effects, but the music is very monotonous, especially considering how long a game of Baseball Stars can last. When you compare to the top-notch sounds of Neo Geo Cup '98 and King of Fighters R-1, Baseball Stars will seem a bit lacking. But overall there is nothing to really complain about.

Gameplay - B+

Solid arcade gameplay is what it's all about in Baseball Stars. Choose from 11 teams (plus extra hidden ones) rated in various playing aspects, substitute your players, and fight your way to the championship. The simple 2 button control system works very well for all the functions; hitting, bunting, various kinds of pitches, throwing, diving catches, etc. Offensive and defensive controls are very intuitive, and a lot of fun. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but that's what makes it so enjoyable. You can save your progress and head for the title, or pick a team on the spot and play a single game. Baseball Stars supports the Neo Geo Pocket communication cable, in case you meet up with another Baseball Stars fan for some 2-player action. My only gripes with the gameplay are the length of the games, which can seem almost endless, and that it's quite easy to make it through 9 innings using only one of the pitches (I won't say which one)…

Presentation - B

The intro, title screen, option screens, graphical icons, etc. are all very well done and easy to look at and use. Baseball Stars takes advantage of the NGP's built in language option, so you can use English text if you wish. Although it falls short of Neo Geo Cup's super-high production values, it's a well-done and polished title.

Overall - B-

A must buy for any NGP owning baseball fan, and a high quality, enjoyable title for anyone in search of a fun game. While not nearly as deep as Neo Geo Cup '98, it's quite satisfying and worth the price for the box art alone! I would love to have seen an RPG-like experience, with power ups and events like in NGC98 (just imagine, super-powered bats and spikes!), but as I've said, Baseball Stars is a totally enjoyable game definitely worth your attention. The satisfaction of the Home Run animation is unbeatable!