"Kids Sometimes Cry When They Strike Out."

Introduction
Little League Baseball for the NES is nice and easy, fun and simple. It captures all of the basics of baseball and makes not being a professional fun. This game has it all, from fat kids to nervous little squirrelly kids. Play as one of 16 teams from around the world and become Little League Champs.

Game Modes
There are two game modes and one informational mode. The different play modes are Championship Series and Exhibition. The Championship Series is the Little League World Series. Play through it and beat all of the other teams and you will be the Little League Champs. Exhibition Mode is a simple one shot game. The informational mode is a Power Analysis that lets you look at the skill ratings for each team.

Gameplay
The greatest thing about Little League Baseball is that it plays so well. In Little League baseball games there are only 6 innings. The games finish quickly, but it doesn't seem like they are too short. Little League Baseball mimics the slight differences between Little League games and Professional ones. One difference is that when stealing a base, you can't lead off the bag until the pitcher throws a pitch. But you sure can get your fair share of hit and runs to advance runners. In this game, different players have different skill ratings. There are major skill differences between some teams and those match ups are totally unfair. Face it, some kids are better than others.

One gripe that I have is that the AI is pretty stupid sometimes. One more than one occasion, I've hit an inside the park home run off of a bunt. But hey, those are kids for you; sometimes they just aren't all that talented.

Graphics
The graphics are very nice for an NES baseball game. The sprites are nicely detailed and the characters are varied and animated differently. The guys with lower skill levels sweat when they get up to bat. The animations are very fluid. Watch when a batter is swinging and you can clearly see the bottom of their shoes. You also kick up a nice dust cloud when you slide. There are a lot of nice touches that really add to the look and feel of the game.

My only beef with the graphics is that the background is repetitive because there is only one stadium in the entire game. A little variety would have been nice, since you are playing games all over the world. The stadium and field look good though. You have a very large playfield and big sprites.

Sound
The music is decent enough, but it does get slightly repetitive. The music is not too distracting though, because it plays this little theme when you do something good. There are two songs that it plays, one for when each team in batting. Overall, the sound effects are good and are typical NES baseball fare.

Control
The greatness of this game comes from its simplicity of the controls. All of the basics are here. There is no aiming during batting. Just move your batter around the batter's box and swing at the ball. You can check your swing or lay down a bunt. You will use strategy when batting because you can steal bases and set up sacrifice plays. Pitching is easy too as there no different types of pitches. Just pick a speed and throw it. You can control the ball once you throw it to simulate curves and fastballs, etc. When fielding, you can dive and jump for the ball and once you catch it you can run it or throw it to a base.

Recommendation
The simplicity of the controls and the easy learning curve are what makes Little League Baseball great fun. This is one of the better baseball games for the NES. So stop your crying, rub some dirt on it and get back out there! Hit a home run and you'll get the cheerleaders in the audience to shake their pompoms for you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/19/06