Why I Wish I Had My Nintendo 64

By Michael Haas

Here in Northeast Minneapolis, my roommates and I like to play video games. We have a pretty cool set-up. There is a big television for regular viewing, and a small 13-inch screen for playing games. The problem is, we only have one gaming system; the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's pretty fun, what with all three Marios and RBI baseball and Tecmo Superbowl. But sometimes we think that our 22-year old gaming system is becoming dated. We decided it might be time to move up to a new gaming platform: The Nintendo 64.

The Nintendo 64 debuted in the year of our lord, 1997. It was dubbed '64' for the 64 Japanese engineers who perished during it's long and fabled development. Dr. Orokosaki Nintendo was a powerful businessman, samurai and luminary, who rose to prominence in 1967 after slaying the last secret dragon. He went underground after his coke habit nearly killed him in 1979.

He was so bored without his drugs, that he contracted eight of the best technological experts to build him an entertainment machine even more addictive than drugs. The first Nintendo Entertainment System was finished in 1983, and warmly received by Dr. Nintendo. He never intended for his machine to be mass produced and sold, until he needed more cash to pay his growing army of technicians hired to produce more games for his personal pleasure. At first, his gaming habit was more expensive than his drug habit, albeit less destructive. His system was introduced to the general public in 1985, and people have been wishing they could shoot that dog ever since.

I don't know where I was going with that. The point is, I really want to play MarioKart and GoldenEye.

Daymonster's Baseball Video Game Review Special

Baseball games, like most sport games translate well to video games, every year there are new teams which makes the user need to constantly update their collection. Baseball in particular isn't super fast paced so transitioning from player to player was possible on the earlier systems. RBI baseball remains one of my favorite videogames of all time. (Check out Game 6 of the '86 WS recreated on RBI)

I have been playing video games all my life and have almost every mainstream platform available. While I pride myself in knowing my fair share about video games, this is my first attempt at a review. Let's see how it goes, we can learn together. All ratings are out of 5 Protective Cups.

Essentially there are two games that could even be called baseball simulations on the next gen systems. One is "Major League Baseball 2k7" which I have for the Xbox 360 and "MLB 07: The Show" for Playstation 3 (PS3).

The third game, which is more of an arcade style game is called "The Bigs", I have this game for the Nintendo Wii. Generally I do not like these types of games (NFL Blitz, NBA Street etc.) but I was drawn to this game for one reason and one reason only. Justin Morneau graced it's cover last year. Also, I figured if there was any system that could make these over the top ridiculous games fun, it would have to be the Wii.

Now that you have a little of the back story let's get into the games in the order in which I bought them.

Major League Baseball 2k7 (360)

Originally thought to be a machine only built for playing the Halo Franchise, turns out Microsoft's Xbox 360 can also play other games! This was my first baseball game on one of the new systems. I bought it expecting/hoping the graphics to to be like watching a game on TV. While its not quite that good, the stadiums and the player representations are about as good as anything I have ever seen from a video game. I sometimes I just start a game to see what a stadium looks like from the field level. My only issue is the crowd at times, when the Blue Jays are playing the Royals in May, I don't think it would be a packed house (and certainly it wouldn't be filled with the same 7 different people wearing generic Royals and 2K sports t-shirts)

The controls are pretty good for pitching and hitting. It's your standard timing system for throwing a pitch but instead of a meter, the outline of the ball expands and then contracts, the wider the outline expands the harder you throw the pitch, but more difficult it is to pinpoint the location.

There are two different options for hitting, you can go with the simple button hitting option that has been a staple of baseball games for years or you can use the analog stick to fluidly time your swing. On the PS3 version you can take advantage of the sixaxis (which is a palindrome) controller and swing it like a bat. Button mashing is by far the most efficient, swinging the controller is the most fun and using the joystick falls somewhere in between.

The one area where 2k7 falls short is in the base running and seemingly at random game play glitches. Base running can be difficult to manage at first with players constantly overrunning people in front of them, and others not running at all. Game play glitches include a ball passing through a shortstops chest or a catcher throwing the ball into right field in an attempt to throw down to second.

Franchise mode and the ability to create a realistic or outright crazy player make this game one that you don't get bored with quickly. It's fun to make a pitcher with 105 mph fastball and a 50mp eephus pitch and let him dominate single-A ball. All in all, I recommend this game to any fan that likes baseball and video games.

Daymonster rating:
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MLB 07: The Show (PS3)

I heard really good things about this game so I decided to check it out. Having three systems can make it difficult for picking out games, sometimes I put thought into which game would be best on each system and choose accordingly and sometimes I just randomly pick a system. Fortunately in this case I didn't have a choice. The Show is produced by Sony Entertainment meaning my only choices were PS2, PSP or PS3.

I won't bore you with going into the details as it doesn't vary much from MLB 2K7. It's still a baseball game and they tend to play on basic principles. But where this game excels is the "Road to the Show" mode. It's great for anyone who doesn't want to play a franchise mode but still wants a game mode that offers a lot of depth. Instead of creating a team and playing through a season you create a ballplayer, pick a position, and find a team you think you can make.

Instead of playing every pitch of every game, you play only when you're directly involved in the game. For example, if you're a right fielder, you'll play only when a ball is hit your way or when you're at bat. When your turn is over, the game simply fast-forwards to the next time you're involved. At first it might not sound like tons of fun, but believe me it's pretty awesome.

You can improve by reaching goals that are given to you. Like a pitcher will be told to do things like strike out the opposing batter or force a double play. While the batter is told to get a hit, or make contact. As you get points for doing what is needed you can use these to train your player. You can request trades, get contracts, etc. It's a pretty cool feature. It's very rewarding to work your way up from a nobody to a big star. Or if you're old school The Show has a classic Franchise mode that doesn't disappoint.

Daymonster rating:
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The Bigs (Wii)
The Bigs is your classic arcade style game where every hit is a home run and every pitch is a 120 mph fastball. However if you're into that sort of thing The Bigs is a lot of fun. The ability to actually determine how fast you throw the ball by how hard you move your arm in real life is pretty entertaining, and very dangerous. After a few innings my elbow gets tingly and my fingers get numb.

The game looks okay, not nearly as good as the other baseball games I own. Partly because it's not supposed to look great and also the Wii is not as powerful of a system. Fielding and base running are also poor, but the hitting and pitching definitely make up for it. If you are looking for an accurate baseball sim, The Bigs is not for you, but if you want a good drunk party game where you have a decent chance of putting a hole in your TV screen the size of a wiimote, then this game is definitely worth checking out.

Daymonster Rating: