Baseball Stars Color Review
Baseball Stars Color is portable baseball at its finest.
Remember SNK's baseball game for the NES, Baseball Stars? Baseball Stars Color closely mimics the original game's gameplay, but most of that game's options have been removed, and replaced with a new set of choices. The result is a fun baseball game that serves as a throwback to simpler times, when you could have fun playing a baseball game that only required two buttons.
The game is missing the NES version's deep create-a-player mode, which allowed you to create new players, name them, and spend the money you earned from wins to upgrade their talents. Instead, Baseball Stars Color awards you bonus players and teams as you move through the tournament. These bonus players can be called in as pinch hitters and relief pitchers. It is possible to create your own team in the game's two-player mode, but you're limited to the players already on hand. There are also a few hidden teams in the game.
There are a few small problems with the gameplay, but nothing too damning. The main complaint is that most of the third basemen in the game don't have very powerful arms. This leads to a few too many infield singles. Also, the spacious outfields have huge gaps, allowing plenty of balls to drop in for hits. Nevertheless, beyond that, the game is fun, nostalgic baseball that reminds you that not all sports games need to be super-realistic to succeed.
Baseball Stars Color is portable baseball at its finest. It doesn't get bogged down with too many options, and the ability to save your tournament status between games is a nice touch. If you ever have a hankering for the old style 8-bit baseball classics, like RBI Baseball or Baseball Stars, then Baseball Stars Color is exactly what you need.
