GAME CLEAR No. 44 -- ACA NEOGEO Baseball Stars 2

ACA NEOGEO Baseball Stars 2 (2019, Multiplatform)

Enhanced Port Of: Baseball Stars 2 (1992, Neo Geo MVS)
Original Developer: SNK
Original Publisher: SNK
Port Publisher: Hamster Corporation
Clear Platform: PlayStation 5 via Backwards Compatibility
Clear Date: 7/25/2021

This is maybe the best baseball game ever made. My path to finally putting appreciable time into Baseball Stars 2 was quite protracted. I originally got the game on Wii Virtual Console years ago when I saw it got good reviews as an excellent arcade baseball title. I wasn’t able to appreciate this because I didn’t really know the rules of baseball well at the time, which certainly is necessary to play the game well. So I dropped it after only briefly playing it.

Years later (i.e. June of this year), I was browsing the PlayStation Network store when I happened upon this particular rerelease. Now that I am a big baseball fan (something my past self would not have believed would ever happen), I figured it was a good time to give it another shot. I’m so glad I did. Like I said before: I think this may be the best baseball game ever. If it’s not, it’s certainly my favorite.

The main things it gets right are that it’s simple as hell and fun as hell. You move your batter around in the box and try to put the barrel on the ball by swinging at the right time. Since it’s sprite-based (and quite beautifully so), there’s really only one dimension the pitcher has to work with (unless he throws a curveball, more on that momentarily). This means succesful batting relies mostly on getting timing down and positioning your player such that the bat’s sweet spot is what hits the ball. From the pitcher’s perspective, this means mixing up your pitch timing as much as possible, painting the corners as best you can, and throwing the very occasional curve. If you don’t abuse it, it will look just like a regular pitch until the last second, when it drops hard (and becomes unhittable). Of course, it’s a ball if the batter doesn’t swing, but it certainly fooled me many times. The only downside is that its chance of becoming a “hanging” curveball, meaning it’s just a slow pitch over the plate. These are a batter’s dream and easy to take deep. I certainly gave up a home run or two hoping to ring up a batter with a clutch breaking ball.

And that’s pretty much it in terms of gameplay! Fielding is pretty standard and surprisingly unfrustrating considering the game is based on 2D art. It does a great job of appropriately depicting depth to make fielding possible in 2D.

From a game management perspective, this game is also interesting. You have your starter and three relievers and that’s it! Starters tire quickly (at least in my experience), usually only good for about 5 innings, and exhaustion sets in fast. When pitchers hit their tiredness threshold, they become basically in capable of throwing fastballs. You can try to pitch to contact for an extra out or two at that point, but you’re probably better off pulling him. Pitchers also bat for themselves in this game, so deciding when/if to pinch hit is tricky too. Again, your pen is only 3 deep. If you get to your last reliever, you have to leave him in the rest of the way for better or worse. Stressful!

The only other managerial call at your disposal is the Power Up. Each game you can give your current batter a powered up bat a finite number of times. This drastically improves his hitting ability and distance. I typically saved these for situations where I had runners on base. Pair it with a tired opposing pitcher, and you have a really good chance to hit a multi-run homer. Just make sure you don’t let the same happen to you.

I also really can’t say enough about how pretty this game is. Exciting moments in games like diving catches or close out calls are presented in beautiful, detailed interjection panes like the one shown below. They really add to the character of the game and make those moments shine in ways even contemporary baseball games don’t.

Close-ups of the pitcher and batter are also shown during each at-bat in either corner of the screen. Pitchers smirk when they throw strikes, and start panting when they are due for relief. The first base coach is shown arguing every call at the bag if the batter is called out, and baserunners jump for joy when they’re safe. The game is just insanely charming.

So anyway, how did I “clear” this game? Well the arcade mode has you play a 15 game season. If you finish with the best record in your league (the two leagues are the Exciting League and the Fighting League), you win the pennant and move on to the single-game World Championship. I picked the U.S.A Bison to play as (love that name). Their thing is basically that they have a whole lineup of home run hitters but are slow as hell both on the basepaths and on defense. Plus their pitching is just okay. But I can’t stress that home run part enough. I only dropped two or three games all season despite hitting, if memory serves, just two RBI from hits that were not home runs. Wild! Anyway, I captured the Pennant and moved on to the championship and… lost in heartbreaking walkoff fashion! But I kept a save-state at the start of the game and retried and won! You get credits either way, so it’s a CLEAR either way. I have no idea how anyone ever would’ve done this in an actual arcade (where I’m sure head-to-head play was more the point), as I pumped an insane number of credits into the game’s virtual coin slot. I never really figured out what causes you to have to feed more quarters in (time?), but obviously it didn’t matter.

“Winning” the championship was a ton of fun, and I often had a “one more game” urge while working my way through the 15-game season. I think the big key is that the presentation bits between at bats and between innings are just as pretty and amusing as anything else in the game, but they are super brief. You’re basically always playing baseball, which is the great advantage video game baseball should have over the real thing. It rules.

Play this game.