Microsoft Explorapedia: The World of Nature software

Bases Loaded 

Look at this game from the original Nintendo Entertainment System. It is so bad compared to modern day standards. Yet it was phenomenal when compared with what we were used to with Atari and Intellivision baseball games. I remember on the Intellivision game there were no fly-outs and my dad and I could routinely make a 9-3 play (right-fielder to first base) for the out.

I played my seasons with the team called Jersey. This game was not licensed by the MLB. The best hitter was "the godly" Paste, who at .467 and 60 home runs was "good for at least one homer a game (provided you can get the lumber on the ball)" (GameFAQs.com). Also there was one pitcher who I figured out some kind of in-game cheat without any codes. The pitcher was Hall and somehow I figured out there was one pitch--up-and-in switch quick to low-and-out--that I could throw every single time and get the batter to swing and miss. I routinely got 27 straight strikeouts. As a kid, I thought that if the game allowed it, considering it wasn't really a cheat code, that I could do it. Hall didn't even need to rest. This was on the original Nintendo remember, where you had to use these long drawn out codes to save the game. Hall played every game. Eventually, it got boring on the defense side of the ball. I only liked hitting. There was no post-season, either, just making it to the post-season, and then that was it. There was only a very quick bonus scene where they guys were cheering and carrying each other and that was it. Made you wonder why you played the game if that's all you got for beating it.

I think I only played one season of 80 games and then was bored with it. It was one of those games that I mastered and didn't mean to. You used to be able to do that. Master a game at the highest level and it became boring. I believe I had the first 18-or-so boards of Intellivision's Burgertime memorized. I also remember some original Nintendo basketball game, also not licensed by the NBA, that I used to have to beat by 100 points, something like 110-10, in order to make it a challenge for me. Eventually, I felt stupid playing a game I was whooping on by 100 points.

So I probably should have changed my team on Bases Loaded so as not to be tempted by using Hall to pitch. But I did it a couple of times and whenever I would get into trouble I would put Hall in as the ultimate Save pitcher. I mean, I simply could not miss with that guy.

Amazingly, I still think of Bases Loaded. Doing a season was cool, just like doing my Franchise with my Gamecube Madden 2007. It several years in the future in my Madden right now.