The Top Five 8-Bit NES Baseball Games

[SeerMagicX]

boo, you missed roger clemens baseball.

[JayhawkerStL]

The original Hardball on the C64 was the game that made me love 8 bit baseball.

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[Facts]

Basewars was the bomb back in the day.

[pietasterp]

I remember I first saw/played RBI baseball on one of those flat-top games in a Pizza Hut when I was a kid...and after striking out the side with Jack Morris and having a huge innning capped by a multi-run extra base hit (by the mysteriously white "Sweet" Lou Whittaker), I was hooked for life...I pestered my parents to get me that game for the better part of the rest of the year, and when I finally got it that XMas, I played that thing into a flashing purple-and-white NES screen of death a few months later....the most fun I've ever had w/ a baseball game to this day.

[jeffy777]

Bases Loaded was amazing.

I loved RBI as well, but I remember it being too easy to exploit the pitching mechanic

[woodjer]

Never played BS 1.000 but each of the other four had some great things going for them. I have to say that Bases Loaded is number one for me simply because I remember it being the first Nintendo game that I had (ok, TECHNICALLY, it was second but I traded in Castlevania without even opening it) and the nights that I would play with my dad and the fun that we both had trying to outguess each other. Sentimental feelings aside, I can't argue too much with RBI getting the top spot.

[tke281]

How bout Bad News Baseball? I loved that game! I liked when there would be a close play and they would show the cut scene that determined if you were out or safe. Roger Clemens Baseball was a close 2nd favorite of mine as well.

[BobSacamano]

Re: The Top Five 8-Bit NES Baseball Games

I don't know the history of Baseball Simulator 1.000 but I always felt that it was identical to RBI Baseball, but with more stats and a season mode. It was so identical that it felt like a direct rip-off. A little Googling hasn't given me any answers, but were they developed by the same team or using the same code or something? I mean, the fielding is 100% identical.

My favorite NES baseball game other than RBI Baseball was Bo Jackson Baseball. The graphics were ridiculously good for "back in the day" and the umpires actually had voices! Also, Bo Jackson was absurdly good in the game. He was a guaranteed home run at least once a game. It doesn't seem like anyone really remembers the game though, perhaps because the SNES had been released by the time Bo Jackson Baseball came out.

I'll also submit Tecmo's Baseball as a pretty darn good baseball game. That one seems to be overshadowed by Tecmo's other sports offering, but it's a great game in its own right.

I only have one disagreement with your list: I hate NES Baseball. Maybe it's because I only played the game years after the fact, years after I'd fallen in love with RBI Baseball, but I thought it was incredibly slow and boring. It's not really fair that I'm comparing it to games really some five to eight years later, though. It's no Ice Hockey or Play Action Football, IMO.

[Mr5000]

Baseball Stars should have been number one. And that NES Baseball game shouldn't have been anywhere near this list.

[green94]

Baseball Stars should have been number one. And that NES Baseball game shouldn't have been anywhere near this list.

Baseball Stars >>>>>>>> everything else.

And it's not even close - franchise mode was top notch and leveling up by beating the Lovely Ladies was simply awesome.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Nice list. My 1a and 1b are Baseball Stars and Bases Loaded. Back in the day, I remember my cousin bragging about how good he was a Bases Loaded. I bet him a Willie Mays card (which I didn't have) against his Pete Rose card. Mopped the floor with him and kept the card. My dad asked was I going to give it back to him. Not a chance.

[ShaneFu]

I loved the bench clearing brawls on Bases Loaded...classic!

[ABR173rd]

Played RBI baseball so much I got blisters on both of my thumbs, amazing game, bases loaded was awesome to.

[DaReapa]

Baseball Stars and the Japanese team in the all-black uni's......classic. Bases Loaded gets the nod, too. And almost forgot, even though it had robots, BaseWars was a funfest in and of itself.

[PlottyDawg]

Having played all these games at one point or another, I would have rated them:

5) RBI Baseball
4) Baseball
3) Baseball Simulator 1.000
2) Baseball Stars
1) Bases Loaded...and that isn't even close. I always thought this was the most realistic baseball game for NES. And Paste on the Jersey team is the REAL Albert Pujols. .450 BA, 60 homerun power. Anything he touched flew out of the park. And his protector Bay wasn't too shabby, either.