Legends of the Diamond

"A decent break from RBI...it's still more of the same."

Baseball games seem to be a big part of the Nintendo Entertainment System sports library and with all of the games that could have been greats, you have those particular games that go unnoticed and un-played simply because they don’t have an RBI or Triple Play attached to their titles. In this particular title, you are playing baseball with some of the greats throughout baseball history, before you had McGuire and Sosa! The rules of baseball is simple, in which you have two teams that play against each other and attempt to score as many points as possible in nine innings. Legends of the Diamond is a game that really doesn’t test your skill, or force you to create players, salary caps or otherwise and really boils down to playing a simple game of virtual baseball against the computer or a friend, and have fun doing it in the process. While not the most sophisticated of games, and quite honestly, the simplest looking, playing and sounding game there is, you’ll find that this title is a rather good break from the standard baseball games that you may or may not be used to, even though it is limited in the amount of play functions that you have.

The game play is relatively simple in which you pick one of several different teams, each with their own strengths and weaknesses that are easily found out through successive play. Players abound, you’ll find that you can’t create a team, and you’re limited to what the game has to offer you, even though you may find that the game has some pretty good rosters to choose from. There isn’t much else to the game other than the ability to play against the computer, and even through there isn’t much of a season mode or anything else, it does stand away from the rest of the baseball games, simply because it offers you different players that the superstars that were around at the time of the game’s release! With two-player mode, you can go up against a friend in the standard nine inning game, and select a couple of different places to play. Other than that, there really isn’t much difference from the RBI games, and you’ll find that the only thing that this game has that other ones don’t is the addition of a wind meter. The wind meter, as small and un-important as it may sound, can actually effect the direction of the ball and just how far it will go. The trick here is to learn how to position your batter and hit a homerun, using the wind as your guide to a grand slam win!

Controlling the game is simply knowing just how to throw the ball and in what direction. You won’t have to learn anything too extensive, other than how to pitch the ball and all that takes is knowledge of what directional press to push and then the action button! Other than that, batting is a simple matter of timing and angle, and with nothing too advanced in the control options, you’ll find that playing through is a simple matter of practicing for ten minutes and getting the feel of the NES controller. Something that most players will find is that the NES controller doesn’t always respond the way that you want it to, and if you’re too fast with your button presses, you may find yourself doing something that you don’t want or expect.

Visually, the game is simple in the respect that there really isn’t much detail to the players or even to the stadiums that you play in. Everything is made to the point of simplicity with the only real knowledge of who it is that you’re playing being the name strip at the bottom of the screen! Unlike most of the baseball games that we play now, there is nothing here that is spectacularly special and in most cases, you'll find that the game really doesn’t take on more that what it is that you see from the title screen. Animations and otherwise are limited to the NES hardware and what it is capable of, so if you’re looking for full running characters and special sequences where bases are being stolen, then you need to leave those expectations at the door when you hit the power button. If you like the simplicity of NES games, then you’ll enjoy it, if not, then you’ll find it to be rather lackluster in most respects in this particular department!

Audio wise, there isn’t much to listen to other than the standard music that you hear in other baseball games. Even then, you’re really not listening to much and what you do have, repeats over and over, regardless of how far ahead you are or even what inning you’re in! The sound effects are also your standard fair of the ball being cracked into the stands and it being thrown around. Most of this blends together to make your average sounding baseball game, and considering that the NES isn’t known for spectacular baseball games, you’ll find that this is all about par for the course. Because games such as this aren’t sound intensive, you’ll find that the game isn’t sound intensive and with a muting, you can pop in some music into your stereo and listen to something else without missing anything important.

Legends of the Diamond isn’t a bad baseball game, but it isn’t anything special either. Featuring some interesting team combinations and the simplicity of the sensory aspects, you’ll find that it is a rather decent break from the NES baseball games that everyone and their brother has played before! The control is easy enough to learn, and even though the game play is slightly repetitive, you’ll find that it is just like everything else you’ve played before, just with different players at your command. For baseball fanatics on the NES, this is a worthy addition although slightly old and would go well with the RBI series and even the Baseball Stars games.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/01, Updated 12/18/01