Pocket Sports Series - Baseball Stars

by SNK

Product Features

• Create Original Teams with "VS EDIT!"
• Acquire Bonus Players In Competition Play Victories!
• New Bonus Players and Teams Appear!
• Aces in the Hole for One-Hit Comebacks!

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001OPJK
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,536 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

Hey batter, batter, batter! Swing into nonstop baseball action with SNK's Baseball Stars for the NEOGEO Pocket Color system. After choosing a team, scroll through your roster of talented ball players to select a pitcher and a batting order. Although all the players and 12 teams are fictional, each slugger comes complete with his own baseball card (featuring a photograph and player statistics).

Once a game begins, you can control batting, running, pitching, and base-stealing by using a combination of two buttons and an eight-way directional pad. Want a quick baseball fix? You can play as little as one inning and, if time is on your side, you can tear through nine plus innings. With a connecting cable, you can challenge a friend to your own pocket-sized World Series.

The team members are illustrated with Japanese anime graphics, which are particularly pronounced when a character strikes out or gets smacked by the ball. We got a kick out of the silly team names such as Real Runners, Grooves, and El Condors. And when a home run is hit, a full-on graphic assault kicks in with freeze-frame shots, flashing words, and music. --Carrie Bell

Pros:

• Creative character response to game events such as a home run or strikeout
• Cool statistics sheets on each player, and the option to decide your own lineups

Cons:

• No recognizable pro players or teams

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone who likes baseball, November 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pocket Sports Series - Baseball Stars (Video Game)

I absolutely love this game and I'm completely addicted. It takes awhile to get good at it though, I must have played 6 or 7 games before winning one and then lost a bunch more. But with time I learned all mechanics of fielding (which is the most difficult skill) and pitching (which, like in real baseball, will slowly become an artform).

My only complaints are that it doesn't keep a running stat sheet on the players for the particular team you choose to win with, it simply gives you the same statsbefore each game. Also the pitchers tire quickly (I don't think I've gone longer than 6 innings with one) but if you learn to not throw the same pitch over and over they will last a little longer.

Overall I don't know how it compares to other video baseball games but I think they did a great job in making realistic. If you are a baseball fan and know how to play the game from watching it on tv or playing it for real, all you need to do is apply those same rules to this game and you will do well. For example, if you don't know the pitcher too well, always take the first strike.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun but not quite the original arcade game, November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pocket Sports Series - Baseball Stars (Video Game)

This game is fun for a baseball fix, but expect to get very frustrated with the pitching. The pitchers get exausted way to easily. You can learn to hit after a game or two, however fielding effectivly takes a little more time.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice for slow days, November 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pocket Sports Series - Baseball Stars (Video Game)

I expected this game to be much like the early NES 16-bit offerings. In many ways it is. With a slow base runner you can expect to be thrown out at first even with a hit as deep as the warning track. The pitching is interesting. In the begining you can easily pitch the corners and get outs. In the middle, when the pitcher loses some pitching speed, you get might get dinged for a few runs. As your pitcher completely runs out of gas, you can strike batters out again by nibbling the corners. This type of gameplay should be expected for this level of a game though. The major gripe is with the mechanics of throwing base runners out. The control pad is just not responsive enough. Overall, it's a fun game if you're a baseball fan. The hidden teams are also a cool touch.