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Title: Little League Baseball - Championship Series
Author:SNK
Rom Player: Nesticle (but boo, roms are bad. Get yourself an NES to truly experience this one...)
Reviewer: Hammer
Synopsis: How hard it is to condense 10+ years of joy, pain, and enchantment into a few simple paragraphs...
I'm not even sure why I'm reviewing this particular game, as most of you have never heard of it. What I will say you cannot comprehend. It's just the sort of situation where you would have to have experienced what I have. Think of it like an "inside joke", but on a monumental level. Hopefully there are a few of you who will understand me when I say "the incestual crowd" or "those poor little italians", and this is for you...
The premise of the game is simple, baseball. But this game is much different than any other baseball game you've ever played. This game goes back to the roots, little league. Without the MLBPA to help associate teams and players some may find the game uninteresting, but it is far from that. As you find a favorite team and play the game many times through, you start to learn your players. You start to associate with them, you understand their strengths and weeknesses. You begin to contemplate their lives off the field. Everybody knows Ezra is just the coach's son and can't hit worth shit. Ward is the only power hitter on a team full of speedy contact hitters. Little Mike seems to have a confidence problem, but leave him in the game long enough and he'll show you what he's made of... Sure, I could go on for hours, but none of you have a clue what I am talking about. This is less a review of the game and more a mystical trip down memory lane for me. So many Saturday night double headers. Canada (My brother's team of choice) vs. New York (My team). Nothing can compare to the enjoyment of playing a game that I loved with the people who shared the same enthusiasm towards the game. I don't really know where I'm headed with this, and like I said, I could go on for hours, so let's just get right into the actual review of the game.
It's hard to comment on the game from a normal point of view. I view myself as a game enthusiast, and I am very enthusiastic about this game. But alas, I will try my best not to be biased.
Graphics - Nothing spectacular, but they suit their purpose well. It's a friggin baseball game for crying out loud, you don't need much. The charaters have 3 distinct body types, and based on nothing than my own vivid imagination, I have associated those body types with styles of hitting. First off you have the "Little Guys". These guys are noticeably shorter than the other players, and they also tend to be the fastest of the group. Next up are the "Tall Skinny Guys". These guys happen to be your main contact hitters and are good all around players. Finally, we have the "Little Pudgy Sluggers", the powerhouse of the little leagues. While these guys may lack speed due to their large waistlines, they don't need speed as long as they hit homers. Again, none of these body type conclusions have any statistical reasoning or facts behind them. It's just something you come up with when you enjoy a game this much...
Music - Meh, who needs music in a baseball game. The constant "bleeps" and "bloops" of sound effects are nicely accompanied by simple cheerful tunes that repeat throughout the game. Sometimes catchy, not at all annoying. To tell you the truth I think you almost forget about the music, which isn't all a bad thing.
Game Play - Well, here we go again. I could go on forever envoking childhood memories of my brother and I duking it out all night, but none of you really care. It all depends on how you perceive the game. For me, it's one of the most delightful experiences to share this game with friends, for others it might not be that exciting. If you love the game, then you'll love playing it. And I love this game...
Originality - Okay, it's baseball. Nothing new, but at least this game trys to put a spin on the old idea by implementing the soap opera of the little leagues. I actually watched a little league game on TV the other day. Much more interesting than regular baseball. These little Puerto Rican kids beat the hell out of some gaybo midwest team of fat kids. The Puerto Rican kid was throwing a no hitter and then they went to commercial and it was a commercial for "Skip-It", you know, the old toy from the early 90's that you put around your ankle and twirl and the little thing will count how many times you jump over it? It even had a sweet little jingle to go along with it... "Skip it, skip it, something do da count the score something something." Meh I can't remember what is was exactly. So anyway I'm like "what the hell is a Skip-It commercial doing on now" cause you know it's like long since been discontinued and such? My cousin actually still has hers though, but the hole for the foot is like made for an 8 year old and I can't even begin to get my size 13 foot through the hole. They really should re-release that thing. It was the coolest. So anyways, where was I...? Um, I don't even remember... Oh yeah, so I was watching the little league thing on TV. Well, I don't really know where I was going with that story. So anyways, um yeah...
That's my amazing review, now try and beat my Skip-It record of 438. I've got an ice cold Crystal Pepsi waiting for the winner...
Best Cheats: Um, not many cheats in this kind of game... One of my favorite tactics when I was like 7 was whenever you hit a pop-fluy, run up to the tv screen and put your hand over your opponent's fielder and scream "Can't catch it if you can't see it!!" over and over again. Oh yeah, this is for only when you are playing against a human counterpart. I guess you could do it in a 1 player game, but you might look a little silly.
Although I view it as a strictly multiplayer game, if you decide to play by yourself and get self gratification out of mutilating terrible computer oppenents then be sure to set yourself up against Italy. They suck so bad it's not even funny...
Game Play: 10
Graphics: 8
Music/Sound: 8
Originality: 8
Overall Rating: 9
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