#503 – R.B.I. Baseball 2

All your favorite players from 1989 are here!

PLAYERS: 1-2 simultaneous

PUBLISHER: Tengen

DEVELOPER: Tengen

GENRE: Sports

RELEASE DATE: 1990

Before the days of yearly updates, sports games had sequels just like every other genre. Don’t be fooled, though: sports sequels are nothing more than roster updates. R.B.I. Baseball 2 looks and plays almost exactly like its slightly older brother, but with 1989 rosters. Almost twenty-five years later, said rosters don’t particularly matter unless the thought of modern-day baseball gives you the cold sweats. Take out the “updated” rosters and you’re left with the gameplay, which hasn’t changed all that much. Batting and pitching controls feel slightly more accurate than the original, which is a plus. Unfortunately, your outfielders still move too slow; the NES must have a helluva time processing a moving ball next to a couple of shuffling miniature people. Much to my dismay, the squatty player caricatures – so endearing and adorable in the original – have been removed for boring figures that slightly resemble human beings. Sounds minor, but if I have to look at the players the entire game (this is baseball, of course I do), I’d like to appreciate what I’m looking at. Just like in the first game, you can watch the computer play (if you’re really that bored, my condolences). New to this edition is the ability to enter cheats. Some of these cheats allow you to pit your favorite teams against the Tengen team, which could be cool when you’re bored of playing against the regular teams. R.B.I. Baseball 2‘s fundamentals are still rock solid, but it’s hard to recommend what is essentially the same game twice. I wish it had been called R.B.I. ’89: Give Us Your Money.

C