Bad News Baseball

 It's always fun to come across new things on the internet, even when those new things are actually old.

In my never-ending quest to get more eyes on Gaming Off the Beaten Path, I find myself interacting on social media far more often than I ever thought. I don't really do personal social media, so this is all very new to me. I've started following quite a few streamers, both old school and new, and stopping by the occasional stream when I get the chance. Usually, these are games I've heard of before, the new school stuff is Call of Duty, Fortnite, etc. while the old school stuff is typically games like Super Mario World or things of that ilk (though right now it seems both the old and new are hooked on the Super Mario RPG remake). So I was intrigued when I saw streamer Juyceman Gaming playing an NES baseball title I've never heard of, a game called Bad News Baseball. Not that a guy with over a thousand followers needs a recommendation from someone like me, but you should definitely check out his old-school game streams.

Anyway, I kind of have a love hate relationship with old sports games. To me, the 6th generation is the peak of sports gaming, you had Madden at its peak competing with NFL 2K, MVP Baseball, both EA and 2K putting out solid hockey titles and a boat load of college football and basketball games. I still like modern sports games, but I find they don't focus enough on their franchise/dynasty modes and that's where I spend the bulk of my time. As for anything older than 6th gen though...sometimes it can get rough. I typically hate to say that games "aged poorly," it's usually an easy criticism people levy with little thought to what it actually means. However, it is often true with sports games, especially simulation titles. Don't get me wrong, I still have fun playing the occasional Gameday and All-Star Baseball games, but they just can't match their successors. The 4th gen may be my favorite gaming generation...but I actively hate most sports games from this era. Outside of NHL 94, there isn't much that I would ever touch again. I know everyone loves the Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball games for the SNES, but I didn't like them then and I still don't like them now. Honestly, my favorite sports game from this era is probably NBA Jam, and I'm not a basketball fan at all. You would think the 3rd gen would be even worse. In some cases, that's true, but I actually tend to like these games better. I think it's a matter of them not trying to do too much. Tecmo Super Bowl is what it is, the people who created it used the tools they had to the best of their ability and erred on the side of fun rather than accuracy they knew they couldn't achieve. The SNES and Genesis Madden games, on the other hand, tried to do too much with too little, at least I think so.

Baseball games are a whole other ball of wax. While there was far more variety than there is today, it always felt like the other three major sports had one or two titles that stood out above the rest. But it seems like baseball was always up for debate. There were always alternatives to the big name series', and up until a few weeks ago I didn't realize Bad News Baseball was one of them. Everyone kind of has their own experience growing up, but I always felt the R.B.I. series was the most popular NES baseball game, at least it was the one that most people talked about. And it's understandable as to why. It was licensed by the MLB Player's Association, so it used actual MLB players (though strangely enough not by MLB itself, so no real teams). Of course, that's not the game we are going to be discussing today, but it is important, because the game we are actually talking about is very similar gameplay-wise. Bad News Baseball has a lot in common with its more popular brethren, especially gameplay wise. However, it does enough different and has enough personality to make it worth a look.

We will start with the graphics, which I think are very good for the NES. The player sprites are fairly detailed and the field view looks halfway decent. The in-game cutscenes and inning transitions look excellent, but we will get back to those later. BNB was released fairly late into the NES lifecycle, it came out in 1990, so it makes sense that it looks so good. It sounds pretty good too, there isn't much variety in the music but what's there is solid. The sound effects are good too, they were pretty standard for baseball games of the era. Overall, the presentation here is outstanding and what sets it apart from other NES baseball titles.

Which brings us back to those in-game cutscenes. Every time a big event happens, a home run or close play or something like that, you will get a cutscene showing the play. It's similar to Tecmo Super Bowl, which makes total sense, because BNB was developed and published by Tecmo. The art is done in a kind of anime style and it looks great, with big, expressive and colorful characters. BNB was essentially the American version of a Japanese title called Gekito!! Stadium, so I guess that is where the art style came from. I kind of like how goofy the game is, the Tecmo Rabbit serves as the umpire and players fall over and get dizzy when they are called out or make an error. It almost kind of feels like an anime version of the peanuts playing baseball, which I kind of like. I don't typically love that art style, but it works here.

There is no MLB or Player's association license here, so all of the players and teams are made up. The teams are all based off real teams, they are named after cities and have logos that look like stock versions of actual team logos. The Oakland team, for example, has a gold O on a green background, with the O done in the same font and style as the Athletics logo. You have two leagues with Boston, Detroit, Minnesota, Oakland, Texas and Toronto making up the Super League and Atlanta, Chicago, LA, New York, St. Louis and San Francisco comprising the Ultra League. This was my first big critique, as they put New York in the National League-adjacent Ultra League. We all know there is only one real baseball team in New York and its not the one in the NL. Yeah, I know, no one likes Yankee fans, but give us a break here. Getting to be a Yankee fan is supposed to be a NY fan's reward for having to root for the Giants, Jets or any of the umphteen crappy basketball or hockey teams we have in this city. In all seriousness, this was probably the best way to put this together without the licenses. The teams are well balanced and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. There is no season mode here, you beat the game when you get a Win against each team. That may not seem like much now, but it's actually a little more than what you would typically see in a 3rd gen sports game.

While it's presentation is quite different, Bad News Baseball's gameplay is very similar to R.B.I. You move your character around the batters box with the d-pad and swing with A. The harder you push, the more smooth your swing will be. B tells your runner to move up and a tells them to move back. It's nice and simple. Pitching is similarly easy, you can move your character back and forth on the mound for inside and outside pitches. Press A once to ready and again to throw. Once you release the ball, holding down on the d-pad will make it go faster and up will make it go slower. You can also use left and right to throw a breaking pitch. I always liked pitching in these games, it almost feels more natural than picking a pitch and throwing it. The biggest issue with the gameplay is the fielding, which was always a problem in baseball games of the era. When the ball is put in play, you take control of the second baseman, pitcher, shortstop and all of your outfielders. Yes, at the same time. It's hard to tell who you are controlling and the way everyone moves is very disorienting, so the CPU will end up with a lot of infield singles. There also isn't a catch indicator for popups, so they are really hard to catch. Fielding is what brings this game, and most of its contemporaries, down.

Bad News Baseball wasn't revolutionary by any means, but it was a solid baseball game with a fun and unique presentation. It's not ever going to be a simulation style baseball experience, it probably wasn't even that in 1990. But it's a good time and cuts a quick pace, which is definitely something more modern baseball games aren't. You don't need to be a fan of the sport to enjoy this game and it's very easy to pick up and play. If you are a fan of old school sports games, honestly if you are a fan of 3rd gen games at all, then you are probably going to have something to like here. Not an all timer, but still a solid game.

7.5/10