Most underrated 16 bit baseball game

[Anthony1]

Power League III for PC Engine.


This game is a very tight game of arcade style baseball. Pure fun factor and great background music and sound effects.


I honestly believe that if Electronic Arts had bought the rights to this game, and they put the U.S. players in there, with the names and uniforms, etc, this game could have been a huge, huge sports game hit in the U.S.

It probably would have sold quite a few Turbografx-16 systems.


If you have a TG-16 with a converter, and you can find Power League III for a really good price, then I highly suggest trying it out. It's a very, very good game of Arcade baseball.


It's even better with a Turbo Tap and 3 other friends to play a game of 2 on 2.

[Steven]

I dunno about underrated but best I'd say is the original Ken Griffey game on SNES

[FurinkanianFrood]

Baseball Stars 2 (hey, Neo Geo is 16-bit after all....)

Never played any 16-bitters other than that and Ken Griffey, but I'll have to go check out Power League III now since I love PCE so darn much. Other than BS2, I just don't normally play anything sports related that doesn't have Kunio-kun in it anymore, except Virtua Tennis and Beach Spikers and such.

The power league games are darn cheap too if I remember... Do you have any idea how they compare too each other, there are something like 6 of them (not counting the promo)?

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I dunno about underrated but best I'd say is the original Ken Griffey game on SNESAgreed. That's one of the few sports games that I enjoyed playing.

[Anthony1]

Baseball Stars 2 (hey, Neo Geo is 16-bit after all....)

Never played any 16-bitters other than that and Ken Griffey, but I'll have to go check out Power League III now since I love PCE so darn much. Other than BS2, I just don't normally play anything sports related that doesn't have Kunio-kun in it anymore, except Virtua Tennis and Beach Spikers and such.

The power league games are darn cheap too if I remember... Do you have any idea how they compare too each other, there are something like 6 of them (not counting the promo)?


Actually, isn't Neo more like 24 bit? I mean, if you count the TG-16 as 16 bit, then Neo would count as 24 bit. So Neo wouldn't be included in the discussion.

If it was included, then I would be inclined to agree. Baseball Stars 2 and the original are awesome. As well as Baseball 2020.


Ken Griffey is pretty sweet too, for SNES, the developers were actually "trying" to make it like their version of Baseball Stars. They were huge Baseball stars fans.


Power League is still somewhat arcadish, but not to the degree of Baseball Stars and Ken Griffey. So some people might prefer it to be more arcadish. But the pitching/batting situation is still very much arcadish. The background music is definitely arcade like.


As for the various power leagues, well, here is a breakdown:


Power League = World Class Baseball for american TG-16

Power League II = In Power League II, the fielding graphics change somewhat. The batter/pitcher sequence is the same, but when the ball has been hit, instead of a more birds eye view, you have a more on field view. You see your little player running around, rather than just seeing his head and arms. Hard to explain. Also, the fences where the home runs are hit are better. More realistic than the first Power League. But all in all, not that much different than the original Power League. I would skip this one and go to III.

Power League III - This game has revamped graphics for the outfield and the ability for 5 players to play with the multitap. Incredible music, and super fun gameplay. Three stadiums can be chosen, two outdoor, and one dome, giving the game a different flavor. I had this game back in 1990/1991, and let me tell you, it was freaking awesome. I actually had one of those Turbo converters back then, and this was the game that I bought it for. I was way more into sports games back then.

Power League IV - Not really a big time improvement over III. I think this one has more stadiums to play in, but the music definitely got a downgrade, and I'm not sure that I like the flow of this game as much as III

Power League V - can't remember exactly, but at this point the game started to go more to the sim side and less arcade. Players started to look more realistic and less cartoony.

Power League 93 - again, not alot of experience with this one. But it became more simish. Less arcadish.

Power League All Stars - don't think I ever played this.

[FurinkanianFrood]

Neo-Geo is 16-bit. PCE is technically 8-bit even though it's more powerful than Megadrive (and even SNES in some ways). It can be argued that the the 16-bit graphics chip makes the PCE 16-bit. Heck, the PCE actually does some effects much better than the any of the others, including the NeoGeo.

The whole bit thing is meaningless. I was going more by era/generation.

The Intellivision is technically 16-bit.
The XBOX is 32-bit.

Also, it depends what the N-bit means... data words? instructions? register size? memory addressing? It's not a solid definition here. Definitely can't add together the Z80 and the 68000 to make 24-bits, though.

It was the ROM size and the huge (at the time) RAM that made the difference. ROM chips are expensive and 8 megs of ram was way expensive
back then. Games used more VRAM than PS2 games can (it doesn't have enough) :D

The bit thing is marketing junk, always has been. They easily pulled it off back because most people (understandably) aren't technical enough to see through it.

[Dobie]

Ken Griffey was probably my favorite, but for under-rated, I'll go with Extra Innings on SNES. Very fun RBI-ish title made by Sony.

[The Manimal]

Tecmo Super Baseball

fielding is odd at first, but once you 'get' it, the game is GOLD :)


I also like Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball despite my version (SNES) not remembering individual BATTER stats...it remembers W & L's and pitching data, but every time a batter comes up.... .000 AVG, etc... Grrr...

[Ikari Warrior]

I'll go with Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 for SNES and Hardball for Genesis. I tried Power League 1 and 3 today and wasn't too impressed. Played like Tommy Lasorda with lesser graphics.

[Anthony1]

I'll go with Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 for SNES and Hardball for Genesis. I tried Power League 1 and 3 today and wasn't too impressed. Played like Tommy Lasorda with lesser graphics.


shame on you! Tommy Lasorda?


That game sucked. Power League III has incredible sound and outstanding playability.


Hardball for Genny is pretty decent. Kinda slow, but decent. Tecmo Super Baseball is pretty cool. It has some nice mode 7 effects to it.

[Ikari Warrior]

I meant the camera views and such. I'm not saying Lasorda is any good, it just reminded me of it.

[Anthony1]

I meant the camera views and such. I'm not saying Lasorda is any good, it just reminded me of it.


The first Power League, which is World Class Baseball in the U.S. was similar to Lasorda in the fact that the fielding camera kinda went with the birds eye view, looking down on the players heads. But Power League III uses a different fielding camera. It's more of a 3/4 side type view.

[shai hulud]

i really liked Nolan Ryan baseball for the SNES as a kid, i think its just Konami big head baseball with Nolar Ryan slapped on the cover.

[scooterb23]

Relief Pitcher for the SNES. An interesting arcade port, which puts you right in the middle of the action...usually in the 7th or 8th inning, and you either have to hold on for a win, or make a comeback. A very addictive baseball game that doesn't take long to play, since you usually only play an inning or two. I love this one, and it seems to be quite far under the radar.

[pookninja]

I'll go with Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 for SNES and Hardball for Genesis. I tried Power League 1 and 3 today and wasn't too impressed. Played like Tommy Lasorda with lesser graphics.


shame on you! Tommy Lasorda?


That game sucked. Power League III has incredible sound and outstanding playability.


Hardball for Genny is pretty decent. Kinda slow, but decent. Tecmo Super Baseball is pretty cool. It has some nice mode 7 effects to it.tommy lasorda baseball for genesis doesnt suck.its a fun baseball game.i always thought it was cool.also,super baseball simulator 1000 for the snes is one of the most fun baseball games ever made,in my opinion.

[devilman]

I'd go for Super Baseball 2020 on the Mega Drive. I'm not a fan of Baseball but I love that game.

[Gapporin]

Super Baseball 2020 (SNES)
Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 (SNES)
Super Famista (SFC)

All of them are really good 16-bit games.