Those classic words have probably been heard at nearly every baseball game. Well, it is a classic after all. Baseball is also something of a classic too. Hey, it's always referred to as the great American pastime. Of course, I don't think anyone imagined baseball quite like this, except for the people at Nintendo.
I was originally going to dedicate my next post to one of the other contenders, but that will have to come later this week. Bummer. So, for now, you'll have to put up with more of me.
For the purpose of this contest, and also for the heck of it, I decided to replay the Mushroom Kingdom's version of that great American pastime. This makes win number 67. I bet I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking, "how can this guy beat so many games?" Trust me, it's not easy. Lately, I've been playing games that are the very definition of not easy (I'm looking right at you Super Metroid). Super Sluggers was another one that wasn't easy, even though it sure seems that way - in theory that is. Of course, you never had to worry about banana peels, bombs, and careening shells in traditional baseball; just grass stains and spit.
In order to count this as a win, I had to complete the Challenge mode. Up until this point, I only played Exhibition. They couldn't have named this mode any better, since you have to build up a team from the ground up, starting with our favorite plumber. Actually that's the easy part, and some of the missions I had to complete sure weren't easy. One that quickly comes to mind is hitting three balls no where else but right field. If that wasn't bad enough, you had to make sure you got on base too.
Still, the real challenge was to meet Bowser and his nasty little brat in a real game. After gathering up what I thought was a suitable team consisting of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, and a handful of Toads and/or Yoshis, I set out to meet the little brat. 3 innings later, I was going up against his dad. Oh boy...
I'll say one thing. Bowser is sure mean on the mound. Actually, he's just mean in general, and he's pretty good at bat. He's not so hot in the outfield though, at least he wasn't in my game (luckily since they always seem to make the last opponent good at everything). I didn't score a lot of runs in that game, but luckily Mario on the mound managed to keep them from scoring - most of the time. It finally ended with a 6-4 victory in the 5th inning. Bowser's team was up, and two runners were on 1st and 2nd. There were two outs, and I had Mario throw the pitch. Much to my dismay, the goon hit it. It went deep into center, as as luck would have it, it was going right towards one of my Yoshis. I crossed my fingers for a bit of luck (at this point, I needed a bit of luck after Bowser got a three run homer earlier) and nothing got thrown at the little, yellow guy. So, that was the game. He caught the ball, the batter was out, and Bowser threw another epic tantrum.
Needless to say, I breathed a sigh of relief. I think I'd rather just have to worry about the spit though.
As far as the experience, I was still pretty pleased with this game. The graphics are really impressive, at least I thought they were. With the sound coming out the Wii Remote, you can hear the crack of your bat against the ball. Or in my case, I heard the crack of what I hit with the remote after swinging.
Notice: No Wii Remotes or Household Objects Were Harmed During Play
The controls, well I'll be honest, I thought fielding was a pain with them, of course I used the Nunchuck attachment. It might have been different with just the remote, but I liked being able to use my little control stick to throw that perfect curve ball. Then again, I did wind up throwing the ball into the batter during that last game. The story is pretty much non-existent, but what do you expect from a Mario sports game? I wish I'd gotten into this sooner though. I forgot how much motion controls can hurt your pitching/batting arm.
All in all, I think the game was a bit more fun in Exhibition, but Challenge mode sure put up its name. But I think it was just fun watching Mario, Luigi and the rest of them running around after fly balls or putting enough force into the bat to send that ball clear into the next galaxy (look out Rosalina). Plus, with all the recognizable faces and names, we can avoid a situation much like this:
So, I was pretty happy with Mario at bat, but which sports game do you think was the best for our overall wearing hero? I'm always looking for new games after all.
Until next time, keep playing.
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