Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest

"Angel Studios hits a home run with this game, it's grand salami time, etc etc"

Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest is just as good as the game developed with Griffey in it last year: Major League Baseball featuring Ken Griffey Jr. (listed at GameFAQs as Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball) The important part is that it's better than all of this World Series Baseball, All Star Baseball, and Home Run King stuff that you see today; not only that, it's better than all other N64 baseball games. Of course, Slugfest certainly does have less features than most next-gen baseball games, but its simplicity does add to the fun.

Graphics

At the time, Slugfest had great graphics. Terrible games like Mike Piazza's Strikezone couldn't even compare to Slugfest. The stadiums (yes, all thirty of them) all basically matched the way they are in reality. Of course, they couldn't completely look the same because of the limit in developing for older systems like the Nintendo 64. Except for the rather stupid advertisements, everything looked pretty good. The players were drawn better than those of All-Star Baseball and, of course, the lackluster Strikezone. I can't say that this game's graphics are better than any of the next-gen baseball games, really. Unfortunately, that's what most of the developers of those next-gen games focus on, so you have worse gameplay.

Sound

There is no annoying commentator that tries to interpret every play. This is a good thing, too, as Slugfest is quite fast-paced for a baseball game. Of course, if you turn a double play, make an amazing catch, throw a perfect game (which is certainly possible, even in All-Star difficulty; I've done it), strike out a hitter on three pitches, hit a home run, etc... Dave Niehaus, who was also the commentator for the Seattle Mariners games (I don't know if he is anymore), will say something. If you hit a grand slam, he'll go wild and say ''......... It's GRAND SALAMI TIME!'' I put in the 9 periods because I can't quite remember what he says before that, but it's actually cool to hear it. It's a shame that I don't know that line, really, because in full, it is a great one. Griffey might even say something. If you hit, for example, a home run of 520 feet, then he'll say something like ''What a shot.''
Another thing under this category is that each hitter's name is called out. If you've created a player, then it depends. Let's say that you didn't like how Boston Red Sox player Brian Daubach isn't in the game, so you create him. Only his first name, Brian, will be said. This is because Brian is in the game's data and Daubach is not. Whether a name is in the game's data or not depends on if there is a player that goes by that name or not... or, if the people who developed the game decided to put in the name anyway. For instance, someone discovered that you can have a player named Jennifer Lopez, and it WILL be announced. Why? Maybe it's because one of the people who worked on the team had a first name of Jennifer. Lopez is there because of players who have a first name of Lopez, such as Mendy Lopez of the Kansas City Royals.

Then there's the music. Background music during a game is optional, so if you don't like only listening to the simple background crowd noises and the vendors calling out for people to buy their food, then you can turn this option on. A short sample of music plays every time somebody steps up to the plate. Griffey himself has his own music as he steps up; after all, he's the player the game is named after, so he's logically the best one. Music in the menus is pretty impressive. It feels like consistent blues-like melodies, with some of the more electronic instruments in the music. Nothing really that you'd want the soundtrack for, which should be obvious, since there isn't much music in the game anyway.

Unfortunately, Slugfest has some noticeable sound glitches. One of the more obvious ones is random crumbled bits of sound that come out; these sounds are like the ones that come from malfunctioning speakers. The less obvious one, and of course rather less occurring, is when the announcer stops saying anything at all. It's really noticeable because the players' names stop getting called out. I've noticed that this occurs when you make two or three amazing catches in one inning, especially on consecutive plays. Usually, after a few innings, the announcer comes back. *NOTE: If you jump right before you're about to catch a ball, and you catch it, then the game calls it an amazing catch. So this is why I've seen it quite a bit.

Season Gameplay
Aha, yes. This is where Slugfest really shines. Let's go over hitting first. Angel Studios figured out a good way to make hitting difficult and more realistic. In the Arcade mode of batting (which is what I recommend you use), the cursor that you move around to get to the ball is a bat head. This bat head is bigger for hitters who have a higher batting rating, which I'll explain later. So, for example, Barry Bonds will be much easier to hit with than the pitcher. And of course, you move it around and try to swing. But the thing is, the cursor does not stay in one place UNLESS YOU HOLD THE CONTROL STICK THERE. It automatically goes back to the center of the strike zone. If you want the cursor a little bit away from the strike zone, then tilt the control stick a bit away and hold it there. If you want it far, far away from the strike zone, then tilt the control stick as much as you can in one direction and it'll be far off. You'll understand when you play how this makes this game more of a challenge. The pitch is showed by a white square. Bring the cursor to the square, hold it there, and swing when the pitch comes across the plate. You will get used to it. You can bunt by pressing B, and if do this, the cursor will automatically go to the ball. Trouble is, if the ball is too far away from the strike zone, the batter won't bunt it. They could've made it so that you use the default batting system, but this works just fine.

When you pitch, the computer's (or, because this game does have 2-player, your friend's) batting icon shows too. Each pitcher has four pitches: A fastball, a changeup, a pitch that curves (curveball, slider, screwball), and a special pitch (knuckleball, super-fast, etc). These are thrown by the buttons A, B, Z+A, Z+B. The cursor moves just like the batting cursor. Holding the button(s) longer makes the pitch stronger. A changeup will be slower, a fastball will be faster, a curveball will curve more sharply, etc. You can move the pitch after you throw it by holding down the control stick in a direction that you want it to go. So, you can trick the computer by putting a super change-up far off of the strikezone, and, because this pitch is the one that you are able to move the farthest, you can move it into a corner of the strikezone and then you get a tough strike. During pitching, you can make a pickoff move by pressing the C button that corresponds with the base. An alarm sound goes off when someone is stealing.
One feature notable in Slugfest is that, when you aren't in a 2-player game, you can use pitch cam, and view the plate from the pitcher's mound. Fielding is made much more difficult because it's harder to see where the ball is it, but if this camera makes the experience better, then go ahead and use it.

Then there's fielding. Some people say that the fielding is a bit hard, but when you play a full season, and the balls keep getting hit to similar places, you'll remember where the balls get hit each time and therefore make the right move. Usually, the fielder closest to the ball gets to make the play. A player can use A to dive and B to jump. To make a catch, just go to the ball. To throw to bases, you press the C buttons that correspond to each base (C+up to second, C+down to home, etc) or A + control stick in the direction of the base you want to throw to. For example, A and Up is second base, even if you're out in center field. The C buttons are easier to use. Now, if you catch someone in a rundown between bases, then you can use Z+C button to automatically run to the base. When you do this, you run faster than the runners on the basepads. (Something notable about the runners is that they appear to be jogging all. the. time.)
Now, errors are quite rare. You NEVER make an overthrow. You can drop balls in the outfield or bobble balls in the infield. That's it. No wild pitches or passed balls either.

Baserunning is a snap when you get used to it, too. I say ''when you get used to it'' a lot, but I certainly mean it for this category. I have over 100 steals for two people in my season, Barry Larkin, and Fernando Vina. They both have a speed of 8/10. If the pitcher hasn't started his windup yet, you can take a lead of up to three steps. Press the C button towards the base in front of you for as big as you want your lead to be; if you press CLeft two times, your runner at second will have a lead of two steps towards third base. If you use the R button, you can get all baserunners to take a lead. Pressing Z+C or Z+R will make them go back to the base. Remember, this is all BEFORE the pitcher starts his windup. If he begins and you press C or R, then the runners take off. If you press C or R four times before his windup starts, then you take off. Now, if you take off too soon, the pitcher will throw to the base you're running to. If you time it just right and you get a good jump, then you've pretty much got the base, unless your runner is really slow. Once you start getting the timing right for baserunning, you can steal bases a LOT. I think I multiplied the Reds' record for steals in a season by two :)

Note: If you haven't figured it out already, you do baserunning during batting, so you have to think fast.

Season Managing

This is where the menus are, and you manage your lineup, trades, free agency, etc. It's pretty organized. In trades, you can make any trade you want (e.g. you have a terrible player, trade for Ken Griffey Jr.) or you can do the more realistic setting, where you have equal trades and the computer thinks about it.
Now. Free agency. If you create a player before your season starts, he will appear in free agency. If you're in the same season and you create a player, that player will not be available as a free agent, or, for that matter, available at all. There's a few good free agents, but you have to pick them up before the computer does, and the computer does so quite quickly and automatically. However, they never pick up created players, and they never value created players in a trade, so never trade a created player. Another thing is, other teams NEVER trade with each other. YOU do all the trades.
The Sports Wire has the daily scores, league standings, league leaders' statistics, transactions (you can see trades, free agent acquisitions, and the list of injured players), and your schedule. The team schedule is always behind by one month for some reason. The daily schedule (what games are happening today) is never off. That one's odd. Of course, there's no minor leagues in this game. The Sports Wire is a good tool for looking over the best players and who you think would be good for your team.
Another notable feature is a Sim Game. Basically, it's just a random game result. If you choose Sim Game, a game result appears for the game you have today, if you don't feel like playing or something odd like that. If you don't like your result, turn the power off, because after seeing all of the statistics, the game automatically saves :)

I almost forgot. The players' statistics are numbers from 1-10, 10 being best. For a hitter, there are five categories: Batting, Power, Speed, Defense, and Arm. The arm is the strength in the outfield. You could have a batter with a 10 on Power and a 1 on Arm and the batter would be terribly weak throwing home from the outfield. Something else notable about arm is that you can't just put in a person with a 10 arm for catcher. The player has to actually be a catcher, not some great outfielder, or he'll just lob it to the base he's throwing to when a person steals. This was put in to make the game more realistic, although that's not what Slugfest focuses on.

Other Gameplay

You can do an exhibition game, play a World Series, do Home Run Derby, and create players. You can save quite a few players. You don't need a memory card. For a season, you can do a draft or change the length before you start it.

Pros:
Great batting and pitching system
No annoying commentator
Good managing system
Great create-a-player
Fast, entertaining arcade gameplay

Cons:
After you get used to it, it tends to be too easy for you
Sound glitches
Balls only get hit to certain places

Overall
Here it is, the simple conclusion: Get Slugfest; the arcade-like gameplay and excellent batting and pitching system make it more fun than other baseball video games. 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/02, Updated 10/20/02