The Video Game Critic

For those who know me, you know a few things: 1, I love baseball. 2, I cherish my childhood. And 3, I love games that feature the 1989 rosters. I alluded to this in another post, but this is another one of those games that I never owned as a kid. However, my mom used to take me to Blockbuster on a Friday night, and we'd often rent this game. And pick up a frozen yogurt from a nearby TCBY. We'd go home, watch Urkel, and I'd pop in this game afterwards.

In the late 80s, and all throughout the 90s, baseball was it for me. I could still smell my leather mitt. My friends and I would go out and play all day. My favorite store in the mall was this Cubs store that sold everything from jerseys to tickets. Every day I'd have a Cubs jersey on.

Although we did have lights in the back yard that we'd often play under, it did get late, and it did rain. And so I'd play this. Looking back on it today, I love the rosters too, with players like Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, and my all-time favorite, Andre Dawson. Unlike the first RBI Baseball which didn't even have the Cubs, this version has every single roster in the game. And what's nice is that it plays like a cleaned-up version of the original. Games are rather streamlined and quick. Two other nice features include an easy way to leap and dive for balls, and a replay system to show you again the nice play you just made.

Might not be The Show, but we really didn't have it all that bad back then.

Awesome. The original RBI, warts and all, is somehow my favorite baseball game of all time. I have no idea why either. Lol. Maybe it's the pacing.

Either way, I've never tried the sequels, but I have it on my mind to look for RBI 2 next time I'm in the video game store.

Question: anybody know any good baseball games on the iPhone?

Voor wrote:
Question: anybody know any good baseball games on the iPhone?

Well, RBI Baseball 16 should be coming out soon.

Thanks, downloaded 15 this morning. Plays great! Finally a baseball game that uses an actual dpad and buttons for control (as oppose to all those "tap and swipe" controls).

Thanks again for the heads up. If only it had that corny music loop.....

They had a demo for RBI Baseball 16 at the Cubs Convention last weekend. I didn't get a chance to play, since there were so many kids lined up waiting. Imagine how I would have looked as a 35-year-old insisting on getting his chance while a bunch of kids are patiently waiting their turn. But I did watch for a couple minutes, and it did look like fun. I just don't want to shell out twenty dollars when I'm playing so many other games right now, in addition to keeping my wife and boss happy.

Great game. And the third was even better. Next to Baseball Stars and the first Bases Loaded, this has to be one of my favorite NES baseball games. Just a lot of fun. And it still holds up today.