Baseball Stars 2 (Virtual Console) Review

Baseball Stars 2

Lace up your cleats and step onto the diamond with the pros of Baseball Stars 2. You'll find everything you'd expect in a classic game of baseball, but with an arcade feel and intense action that distinguish it from the pack. Pick one of six unique teams from cities around the world, then get ready for nine innings of excitement, whether you're taking on the computer in a 15-game tournament or squaring off against a friend. There are two modes of game play, so even the most inexperienced player can compete at the major-league level (with a little computer-aided fielding).

Watch as the game develops through split-screen views and close-up shots worthy of any highlight film, and see if you can catch the numerous over-the-top animations of the large and detailed player models. Think you have what it takes to win the pennant?

By Drake

Are you getting sick of all the sub-par sports games on VC (excluding Kirby's Dream Course, Punch-Out!! and, to some, Ice Hockey)? Yeah? Well, here's Baseball Stars 2 - a game breaks every rule in the book and delivers a completely crazy experience filled to the top with style.

The gameplay's pretty much exactly like any other baseball game -- swing at balls, run around the field, hit the occasional homerun or grand slam, you know the drill. The only difference is the existence of Power Bats. You start with 10 of these and can use one to have a higher chance of hitting a homerun. If you win a match, the stock is replenished - if you lose, it's not. The gameplay's not the strong point though - the delivery is.

Given the time the game was released, each character looks really nice, with their own portrait and sprite (admittedly some characters of the same "type" have the same model). The game also boasts some really fluid animation on just about every thing that moves.

The really attractive thing is the speed at which everything comes at you. This game is FAST. In fact, it's so fast, the screen is pretty much constantly flashing because of the scene switches. Let's set up a scenario that happens frequently: a batter comes up and his portrait flashes onto the screen. You hit the ball, and the screen cuts to a view of the ball flying. A second later you see your batter underneath it running past the fielders. He reaches homebase, the letters of "HOMERUN" flash onto the screen one by one as he runs in between his teammates and the team mascot and dances. Now imagine all of this happening within 10 seconds. That's how fast it is.

Another thing that oozes style is the music and sound. While the music itself isn't THAT special, every now and then you will hear the announcer say "Baseball Stars 2!" in a ridiculous fashion, such as "B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Baseball Staaaars Twoooo!" This just sounds totally hilarious and has to be heard. The announcer also spurts out other quips for various events, each delivered in a stereotypical sports announcer way.

Another cool little thing is that some teams' members share names of similar things -- for example, in the New York Monsters team, you can find "Alien", "Mummy", "Zombie" and others.

Baseball Stars 2 isn't very deep, but what it lacks in gameplay it more than makes up for everywhere else. That's also the reason it's one of the most-loved baseball games of all time! If you like the sport, or you want a taste of it for the first time, look no further, because no better baseball games will be hitting VC, ever.

5/5

Average reader rating: 4.17 (42 ratings)

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