GAME CLEAR No. 149 -- Rusty's Real Deal Baseball

Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball (2013, 3DS)

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Clear Date: 12/19/23

Hot stove

Here’s another entry in what will hopefully be a long line of little 3DS games I beat from my pre-eShop-closure shopping spree. And boy is this a 3DS game.

Like the best of ’em, it takes full advantage of 3D graphics, gyro controls, and touch controls, and you even play as your Mii. It may not use the microphone or camera, but this is still very much a Nintendo game of a certain era.

I faintly recall thinking it was a weird game when it was announced in a Nintendo Direct a little under a decade ago. It was one of Nintendo’s first free-to-play games (“free-to-start” as they called it), and microtransactions seemed to feature heavily. I had started to enjoy baseball by that time, but I was by no means the fanatic then that I am now, so I decided to pass on it.

What I didn’t appreciate from the trailer is just how goofy the game is. The story follows the eponymous Rusty Slugger, an anthropomorphic dog and former professional baseball player who now runs a sporting goods store. He’s struggling with sales, though, and he blames declining interest in sports among today’s kids. He decides to also stock baseball video games hopeful that they will spark an interest in baseball among the kids that play them. In an effort to get the word out, he gives you a “Nontendo 4DS” and a demo of one of his games. He then sends you home with one of his pups to show you how to set up and use the system.

You dutifully participate and jump directly into the screen of the cutting-edge, immersive VR system. The first game, Bat & Switch is basically a single-button batting practice simulator, and it’s pleasant enough. After giving the game a quick trial, though, it’s time to pay up. This is where the game’s haggling mechanic comes in. Rusty initially offers the game for $4.00 (real USD), but with smooth enough talking, you can get him down to a small fraction of that. When he finally hits a firm low price, you’ll have to either pay or walk.

You gotta help this guy, though. See, besides a failing business, Rusty also has a missing wife. Did she leave him? Is she cheating? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to keep talking to poor Rusty to see his bizarre life unfold.

To help him out of his predicaments, you’ll need to keep playing the game(s) you buy. By clearing their challenges, the Nontendo 4DS will conveniently and regularly reward you with prizes that just so happen to solve Rusty’s current predicament. Such items include nose-hair trimmers, shovels, and cooking class vouchers. How nice!

I won’t spoil the little story of down-on-his-luck Rusty, but suffice it to say it’s extremely goofy and charming. It’s worth a quick look on a longplay video or something on its own.

Once that’s all done and you’ve bought all the games, then Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball pretty much becomes a baseball-themed WarioWare. Each game you buy from the store contains a collection of themed minigames challenges to clear plus two high score challenges in the same vein. Game types include hitting and fielding, of course, but Rusty’s games will also challenge you to master umpiring, bat making, and even cleaning your glove. Some games simply use buttons, but others take advantage of the touch screen (e.g. for scrubbing your glove or calling balls and strikes) or gyro controls (for aiming a throw, for instance). I think I’ve always been a bit forgiving of Nintendo’s tendency toward these silly input methods, but I do geuninely believe these are enjoyable ways to use these 3DS features. More importantly, I don’t feel in any case that I’d rather just be using buttons to do the things the games ask me to do. I feel glad to be playing the games on the 3DS.

Perhaps the most thrilling thing of all, though, is that the stereoscopic 3D is actually somewhat useful in this game. Depth perception is nice for things like tracking balls and correctly calling a 3D strike zone, so unlike my experience with so many 3DS games, I actually left the effect on for most of my time with this one. I know I’m repeating myself a bit, but the combination of that with the usage of Miis, gyro, and touch controls really makes this game feel like a Nintendo product that just doesn’t exist anymore.

I want to stress also that the WarioWare vibe extends to the games’ whimsy as well. For instance, when you first boot up Bat & Switch and start your first game, your Mii stands at the plate facing a Nintendo Ultra Machine in a sandlot field. Before the pitching machine launches its first ball, it begins to shake and then uproots itself Pikmin-style to reveal a business-suited human body beneath it. These people with pitching machines for heads are then your hitting and fielding coaches throughout the game. Other games involve battling UFOs, and others still feature Rusty’s pups attempting to distract you from succeeding at your goals. All these little things help make these minigames less dry and sports-simmy and more like something that might’ve appeared on the Dreamcast.

So play this game. It’s a unique, fun, and hardware-specific experience that is emblematic of a time and place. You may not be able to enjoy this game exactly as it was when the eShop was alive, but I encourage you to hack your 3DS and give it a go sometime. I think you’ll be pleased with what you find.