World Series Baseball

"THE BEST HANDHELD BASEBALL GAME...ever!"

I am writing this review on September 29th, 2001. WARNING: You will be in handheld baseball heaven when you play this game! I got this game roughly 6 or 7 years ago when GameGear was still prominent (as a pack-in game, no less), and guess what? I still play it! Yes, it's that fun. I used to have over 20 GameGear games, now I only have four, and guess what? This excellent on the road baseball game is one of them Okay, enough of the talk, onto the review!

Graphics 7/10: Better than a GameBoy Color baseball game, but compared to GameBoy Advance, this isn't so hot. The players are easy to see and colorful when they are showing the behind-the-batter cam, but when they switch to field mode (or nose-bleed section mode) the players turn into little dots. Nothing else much to say here, other than I like the little Home-run and Walk animations.

Gameplay 8/10: Here's where all the fun is at. You can play a season [which actually saves to the game's battery (yes!!!)], an exhibition game, or a 2-Player Link-up mode if you have 2 GameGears and 2 Games, and a Link Cable. Difficult at first, but once you get the hang of how dumb the batters are you be pitching no-hitters and grand slams in no time!!!

Sound 6/10: Average sound at best, but I do indeed like that nifty theme music when you first start up the game. The same can be said of the sound effects.

Overall 8/10: Yes, you should get this game if you like sports and own a GameGear. I've never played the sequel for this on GameGear, (or the sequels 2K1 and 2K2 on Dreamcast) but I'm willing to bet if it is exactly like this with newer rosters, it'll be good.
To buy or not to buy? I'd say buy, since it's only a $5 spot, but since I've never played the sequel, I can't tell you which one is better. I'd go personally with this, even if the sequel might have better graphics, more gameplay options, updated (slightly, I'd guess they would still be outdated but newer than the rosters in this game) rosters, and maybe even better sound (but, I doubt it. It's GameGear for God's sakes!). Why? Well, first because World Series Baseball sounds less outdated than World Series Baseball '94, and 2nd World Series Baseball is the first in the series, a series that still continues today!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/01, Updated 07/31/02