It has 9 players on defense, which is correct. Too bad that's the ONLY thing it does right.
All the pitches are the exact same. They all go the same speed, and they all go straight.
The computer NEVER throws a ball, NEVER swings and misses, and NEVER takes a strike.
The defenders move about 3-4 times as fast as the batter, so you can actually have a grounder to the left side be fielded by the LF, who can then beat the batter in a race to 1st base. I turned several of those oh, so common, unassisted GIDP with the CF fielding a ground ball in front of the 2nd Baseman, tagging out the runner going to 2nd, and then beating the batter to 1st base.
In 5 games, I reached base exactly ONCE and that was on a grounder between 1st and 2nd, fielded by the RF whose throw was not caught by the 1B. I never, NEVER, had a ball get past the infield.
Bunting is pointless as you'll either pop out to the catcher or the catcher will instantly field it and tag out the hitter one step out of the batter's box.
It doesn't advance the runner automatically if you DO manage to get on base, even though that runner is in a force situation.
It even makes you play the bottom of the 9th if the home team is ahead.
And this game was released in 1988, by ATARI, more than a DECADE after the 2600 was released. How can you have more than 10 years to work on YOUR OWN system and get such a simple game as baseball so wrong?!?! This is easily the WORST baseball game, and possibly the worst game of ANY kind, that I've ever played.
Oh, I didn't actually win a game. I played the computer to a 0-0 tie through the 9th inning, so I'm calling it beaten.
The game bugged me for a couple days afterward, so I looked up anything online, and Classic Game Room has a review of it where he is able to hit HRs. So, I popped it back in my DS and tried again. I switched the difficulty to A (which, if it mirrors an actual 2600, would be Expert), and lo and behold, I was able to hit HRs at will (I think I hit 11 in a row at one point). I ended up beating the CPU 40-0, throwing a 27-pitch 1-hitter (pulled an unassisted GIDP with my 3rd Baseman fielding the grounder, then stepping on both 2B and 1B (um... yeah)). Except for one foul ball, everything I hit was either a HR or a fly/popout. Now I can truly count this game as beaten.
