MLBPA Baseball (SNES)

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Herschie
Posts: 1183
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:44 pm

MLBPA Baseball (SNES)

Postby Herschie » June 21st, 2016, 12:02 am

Ok, this here is not a bad game! There's something charming about sports when you were a kid, especially in grade school. Beforehand, you're too young to really understand what's going on. I love my Cubbies, and I love my Bears, but my mom had to tell me that I watched the Bears Superbowl in January of 1986. I don't remember the Cubs winning the division in 1984. I do, however, remember them from 1989. It seems to be most memorable when I first started understanding what was going on.

MLBPA came out when I was in 6th grade, which unfortunately was 1994. Many were predicting a White Sox/Expos World Series. For us Cub fans, the strike mercifully ended a miserable season. Ryne Sandberg couldn't even take it, and retired in June that year. The Cubs were just a mess all around.

It's not immediately apparent that this is supposed to be 1994, however, as Dwight Smith (Who signed with the Angels prior to the 1994 season) lead off for my Cubs. It actually seems to be from late 1993, as Eric Yelding and Mike Harkey shouldn't be on the Cubs either. All the players who would have been around in 1993, are. Still, 20-plus years later, it doesn't seem to be a big deal. And the game is fun. What I like about it is that it doesn't try to do too much with hardware at hand. It's an RBI-style game, and that was a fun formula for years, which is still used today. What I do like is how everyone is in their proper colored uniforms, though the road team wears their colored alternates, something not seen as commonly in 1994 (1993?). You can choose from either an Astroturf stadium (This was before the grassy fieldturf became common), or natural grass. You really can't see much of the ballparks anyway, so there's not much difference between the Astrodome and Three Rivers Stadium.

One thing I don't like is how zoomed-in the camera when the ball is in play, so fielding can be tricky. On a fly ball to the outfield, you're best off using the radar that they provide for you at the bottom of the screen. Pitching and hitting are identical to RBI Baseball, and you can even throw the drop-ball that RBI made famous. The A.I. seems to be a little too smart to swing at such a pitch, however. The controls are nice and responsive, and the challenge is reasonable.

I also love the ambient crowd noise. At the time, that was a big deal to me. Other games I played on the PC (I never had an SNES until 1998) had the crowd roar during big plays, but nothing in between. Also, there's a display of what the batter did on his previous at-bat, and that's a nice touch!

I like this game. I might play it more and more since I'm not enjoying The Show much this year. Really glad I picked it up, only cost me three bucks.

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