Bad News Baseball

It's new! It's fun! It's Bad News Baseball, the new cartoon-style, outrageously, funny baseball game from Tecmo. We're sure you have never seen anything quite like this baseball game. It's fast-paced and jam-packed full of new animated cinema screens. Play against the computer, play with a buddy, or use the spectator mode, but you had better get ready to laugh.

Welcome to the way-out world of Bad News Baseball, a place where rabbits serve as umpires, homeruns escape the earth's atmosphere, and batters are knocked unconscious when they make an out. If you guessed that Bad News Baseball from Tecmo isn't the most serious baseball game to ever hit the NES, you win a corked bat.

Bad News Baseball is a Japanese import for a younger audience. The overall game-play is standard fare, but it features plenty of interesting cartoon sequences that keep the game humorous.

Play Ball

You gel two leagues -- the Ultra and the Super leagues -- with 12 teams that represent major league cities with-out using real team or player names. There are several play modes to choose from at the start of the game. You can play a one-player tournament versus the computer: pick a team and play against every other team once. Or, you can play a three-game series against a friend. There's also an all-star mode, which enables you to build a 23-player team from the rosters of the Ultra or Super league. And if you just want to watch a game, there's a spectator mode.

Playing the D

As in other baseball games, pitching and defense are as important as hitting. Pitchers have the basic array of pitches -- fastballs, curves, sliders, and changeups. Effectiveness depends on their ERA.

Fielders are rated either A, B, or C at one a more positions. If possible, try to have A rated players at every position. A players can do the extras such as jump for balls over their heads or dive for balls out of reach. B players have average skills and C players have limited range. For some realty adventuresome defense, try placing a player at a position for which he isn't rated.

Hit and Run

Baiting is similar to that of RBI Baseball Major League Baseball, and other "home plate view" games. You don't have to worry about the height of the pitch, just whether or not it's over the plate.

The running game is a key ingredient in a successful game of Bad News Baseball. Runners are rated from 1 to 8, with 8 being the fastest. A runner with an 8 rating can usually beat out a bunt for a hit, then steal second and third unchallenged.

Tecmo's Bad News Baseball will give you a solid game of ball in a variety of modes. Get into a tournament and you'll have to draw on all your video baseball savvy to emerge victorious.

Tecmo introduces their second baseball game - this one geared towards a slightly younger crowd. Bad News Baseball features well-drawn intermissions and comical characters who take to the field for a game of baseball that stresses fun more than statistics. A scrolling playficld, well-executed batter/pitcher confrontation and nice controls round out the game