Hardball III

"A forerunner of today's PC Baseball Sims"

This was a great baseball game that barely sold. Back around a year and a half ago, I found this game in a rental shop being sold for a few dollars and picked it up because it looked like it might be a good Super NES game.

Graphics - 7 out of 10

The graphics for this game were not revolutionary or even among the best of their time. They wern't great but they were ok, for the early 90s.

Gameplay - 10 out of 10

In this game, you got to play as 1 or more baseball teams for one season in an accurate simming league. The problem was that it was password-based. It was good despite that and actually was a great simulation of baseball.

League Editor Features - 10 out of 10

In this league editor, you could draw your own logo, rename the league and even rename the awards.

Edit A Player Mode - 10 out of 10

This game actually featured an Edit A Player mode which was revolutionary, as you could update it to some future season. The stats wern't the greatest but it was unbelieveable for 10 years ago.

Real Player Names - Yes

Unlike most other SNES baseball games, this one had real player names. Players also performed based on how good that player really would perform.

Arcade or Sim - Sim

This game was a Sim of baseball from the early 90s. It was a realistic sim in an age where all baseball games were arcade.

Season Mode - Yes

This game featured a season mode where you could even simulate the games. Back in 1994, this was unbelieveable. I don't see how people overlooked this great game.

Franchise Mode - No

At the time this game was made, Franchise Mode did not exist so this was not and is not a major problem for an SNES game. You can find games for 30+ dollars that do not have a Franchise Mode.

Should you Buy this Game - Yes

I believe you should buy this game if you can find it and you still have a working SNES because it is one of my favorite SNES games of all time and I'm sure anyone who plays it will agree. If you can find this game, it will probably be under a dollar and it will be very inexpensive to get a copy of this SNES classic.

Acceptable Pricing Range - Free to 5 Dollars

I would say that this game is worth anything in this range of prices because of the quality of play. The system was made 13 years ago and the game is 10 years old, so I lowered the ceiling on this price.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/04