Games in this post:
Nolan Ryan's Baseball
Kidou Senshi Gundam F91
Super Baseball Simulator 1.000
Super R-Type
I sort of feel bad for the games in today's post. This is basically a placeholder on the way to the bigger games from the second half of July, 1991. Covering all eight games would end up being a gigantic wall of text, considering one of them is the Japanese release of one of my favorite games of all time. I'm almost considering not playing it at all, because there's a risk that my quest will fall apart and I'll just play it from start to finish. See? It's distracting me already just thinking about it. Must. Press. On.
Nolan Ryan's Baseball - Western Marketing at work
Developer: Affect
Publisher: Seta (JP)
Romstar (US)
Released:
7/2/1991 (JP)
Feb. 1992 (US)
I'm not sure why this is called Nolan Ryan's Baseball, other than pure marketing. He's on the box and title screen, but that's it. In Japan it's just called Super Stadium, and that actually makes more sense because there's no MLB license whatsoever. Poor kids get a box with Nolan Ryan on it and then get to play as the L team which is full of random names for chibi-style players. Super Bases Loaded is a better game overall. Better Graphics, and better hitting and pitching control. The outfielders in Nolan Ryan's Baseball can't even get the ball to the infield properly. This game just doesn't have much going for it, and putting a hall-of-famer on the box doesn't change that.
Game info and shopping options:
My Grade: C-
Worth Playing: No.
Kidou Senshi Gundam F91: Formula Senki 0122 - Real Time Turn Based Mech RPG Action
Developer:
Nova Games
Publisher:
Bandai (JP)
Released:
7/6/1991 (JP)
This is another Japanese game, and I'm not familiar with Gundam, so I'm not going to try to figure out the plot. Mainly a space war of some sort and you're controlling the battle from a strategic standpoint. I imagine as you play through the game you can customize the weapons but the first battle was getting long so I'm not sure. You move your unit on a map and then the battle screen is more real time. You watch for enemies to show up in range on your radar and hit an attack button to select the weapon to use. This might be fun if you didn't miss 80% of the time but the enemies only miss 30%.
Game info and shopping options:
My Grade: D
Worth Playing: No, unless you know Japanese and loooooove Gundam.
Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 - At least they're honest about being generic
Developer:
Culture Brain
Publisher:
Culture Brain
Released:
7/12/1991 (JP)
December, '91 (US)
By honesty I mean there isn't a professional baseball player on the cover, since this is also an unlicensed game. I also can't tell if it's "one point zero" or if it's foreign punctuation for "one thousand", but I'd guess it's the later. All in all though, it's a pretty decent baseball game. some of the batter sprites are strange, but the animations are well done. Multiple stadiums and the ability to play shorter games are also nice touches. Being a sports game, it's probably really cheap so if you're looking for a simpler baseball game to play this wouldn't be a bad option. I'm guessing that later ones using the MLB license will be better though.
Game info and shopping options:
My Grade: B
Worth Playing: For it's time, yes
Super R-Type - No Konami Code But Still Awesome
Developer:
Irem
Publisher:
Irem
Released:
7/13/1991 (JP)
September, '91 (US)
Super R-type is a shmup. That might sound like a rude name but it's really a term of endearment for scrolling shoot 'em ups. I always loved the concept of this gigantic alien fleet that's heading for Earth and our only hope lies in this experimental single person space plane. Really? Nothing else will work? Oh yeah, they've also been able to manufacture thousands of upgrades but haven't had time to make a bunch of the ships that use them. Doesn't matter really, since you don't play a game like this for the story. You play it for the gameplay, which in this case is very high quality. The ship controls well, the visuals are sharp and colorful, the upgrades are varied. You can even charge up your shot. Gradius III was a great game, but Super R-Type unseats it as the early must have shooter on the SNES. If you have access to the virtual console you can check it out here
to see if you want to pick it up.
Game info and shopping options:
My Grade: A
Worth Playing: Yes
Now we're half way into July. I'll be back soon with the rest of the month, but be warned. There's going to be a bunch of gushy nerd love from my childhood, but if you're keeping up with this that probably will be fine with you.
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