Back in the good old days, baseball games were fairly simple and easy to play. One of the more popular NES baseball games was Bases Loaded from Jaleco. A sequel called Super Bases Loaded was later released for the Super NES, offering much improved graphics and sound. Rather than allow the series to be forgotten, Sickhead Games and Rock It Games have just released a collection called Jaleco Sports: Bases Loaded on PC.
Official descriptions of the included games:
Bases Loaded (NES, 1988)
- Realistic retro voice, action, and graphics.
- Unique television-style presentation.
- Play against the computer or a friend.
- Pick your team from 12 different lineups.
- Select your lineup from 30 unique players.
- Each ball player has his own style.
- Control and play any position.
Super Bases Loaded (SNES, 1991)
- All-new center field TV perspective.
- Rates your skill in 13 categories.
- 5 increasingly difficult levels of play.
- Pick from 13 different teams.
- Watch mode to see the computer play itself.
- Unique “radar” feature that shows location of fielders.
- New strategies allow you to customize your team.
While it's great to see these two games released again for modern audiences, this collection is just the tip of the iceberg for the Bases Loaded series. Several NES sequels, a GameBoy game, and even a Saturn sequel did not make the cut this time. Maybe Rock It Games will release another collection in the future. Before that happens, let's hope that they bring this first installment to consoles. Everybody deserves a chance to play some quality 8-bit and 16-bit baseball!
Curiously, the Steam store page for Jaleco Sports: Bases Loaded lists it as supporting "Shared/Split-screen Co-op," and the GOG page lists "Co-op" as well. It's doubtful that the two games let both human players team up against an AI team, but I'm eager to find out. We'll try to get our hands on the collection and report back soon.