Baseball Stars (NES) Review

Baseball Stars is a baseball video game developed and published by SNK for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that was released in July 1989 in North America. It was originally released in Japan as an arcade game before being ported to the NES. This game was my favorite NES game as a kid, let's see if it helps up after all these years.

Baseball Stars has a handful of different modes that can be played. You can play exhibition games either against a computer opponent or a living person. There is also a league mode, create a player, and create your own team. Because of these features, the game has a battery save which was the first baseball game on the NES to have one.

All of these options on their own would be cool but Baseball Stars goes even farther. After a game ends you are given money that you can use to up the stats of your players or to buy new players for your team. All of this adds up to make Baseball Stars feel like it was created ten years after Major League Baseball instead of only a year.

This game looks and sounds awesome. The 8-bit music is great, the sound effects are good, and the graphics are probably better than any other 8-bit baseball game.

There is no MLB license so this game has made up players, teams, and stadiums. They did it so well that you don't miss playing as the Cubs. My favorite teams are the ninja team and the stars team that has classic players from the MLB.

Babe "Ruth"

The gameplay is pretty standard NES baseball setup. Pitcher on top, the batter at the bottom for plate appearances. When in the field home plate is at the bottom and the field above. Fielding is easier than in Major League Baseball but it's still not perfect. Again it's probably the best an 8-Bit Nintendo game could pull off and until I've tried them all I'm sticking with this statement.

Overall this is a great baseball game that is still fun to play today. It has a great look, great gameplay, and great features that give you a reason to come back to play more. I give Baseball Stars an 8 out of 10.