FAQ/Walkthrough for Baseball by: PKT_Paladin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I. Introduction II. Revision History III. Frequently Asked Questions IV. Walkthrough A. Main Menu Screen - Controls B. Team Selection - Controls C. Batting - Controls D. Pitching - Controls V. Credits VI. Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I. Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My alias is PKT_Paladin, but that is not my name. For this FAQ you don't need to know my real name =). Please don't steal anything from this FAQ for your site or for your own FAQ unless you provide some sort of credit. I wrote everything in this FAQ. This guide is for the NES game Baseball. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ II. Revision History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ v.99 : This guide reeks of awesomeness. If you can't play the game with this information then try playing something else instead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ III. Frequently Asked Questions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I lose all the time. What am I doing wrong? It is nearly impossible to win this game. The computer player's team is almost impossible to defeat and anyone who has defeated the computer player has played too much. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IV. Walkthrough ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Main Menu Screen: When you first being playing this game, you will see the infamous "Baseball" logo and one of the only three songs in the game will being to play. If after a few seconds you haven't chosen either one player or two players, the game will choose two random teams and the computer will begin playing baseball against itself for the top of the first inning with no sound effects or music. Then, once it is time to change teams, the game will go back to the title screen and play the same music again awaiting you to pick either one or two players. This is the screen in the beginning of the game before you even start playing and the only thing you have done is turned on your NES or started your ROM or whatever you've done to begin this game. It has a big blue rectangle surrounding the cleverly designed logo that says "BASE BALL." Below that, it should say "1 PLAYER GAME" and beneath that "2 PLAYER GAME," both which are in Orange-ish letters. Under that it says "1984 NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC." |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| |Controls for Main Menu Screen: | |Up - Nothing | |Down - Nothing | |Left - Nothing | |Right - Nothing | |A - Nothing | |B - Nothing | |Select - Switch between the option of "1 PLAYER GAME" and | | "2 PLAYER GAME" by moving the little Baseball | | icon up and down. | |Start - Once you've used select to move the baseball icon | | next to the option you've decided upon, press | | Start to move to the next feat. | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| If you choose "1 PLAYER GAME," you will engage in a hot baseball battle against the computer's best players. Be warned, however, it is highly unlikely that you will win since usually the batters for your team can never hit the ball into the outfield and the pitcher runs twice as quickly as your runners. If you choose "2 PLAYER GAME," you will need a friend to play with and two controllers to use for each player. Otherwise, you cannot play this mode unless you switch the controller between the first port and the second port extremely quickly or you control both controllers at once. Team Selection: On this screen, you will see the baseball field, which is complete with silent fans on both sides of the stadium. On the top of the screen you will see the scoreboard, ready to record the amount of runs each team receives in each inning as well as the team name and in the "R" column, the final score once the game is over. Below that is a nice white rectangle with a blue background that will have words in it once in a while which are vital to the game. Below that is our main focus: the box that says "SELECT YOUR TEAM." In the middle of the screen, there is a black rectangle that says (at the top) "SELECT YOUR TEAM." Below that, centered, are the teams: A, C, D, P, R, Y. Here are the controls for this screen: |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| |Controls for Team Selection: | |Up - Nothing | |Down - Nothing | |Left - Moves the cursor (either 1 or 2 depending on how many | | people are playing the game) to the left. | |Right - Moves the cursor (either 1 or 2 depending on how many | | people are playing the game) to the right. | |A - Confirms your team selection | |B - Nothing | |Select - Nothing | |Start - Nothing | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| Each time you play the game, the cursor is randomly under a different team. Usually, either the computer's cursor, player one's cursor, or player two's cursor is under team R, but that can change, and it is done by observing the controls above. If you feel sentimental about being team "R," since nine times out of ten the computer will select that team, you can reset your NES and try again. Batting: Once you have pressed A to select your team (and your friend has done so as well if you chose "2 PLAYER GAME" earlier [otherwise the computer will have already chosen]), the music that was played on the title screen will be played again. Then, five umpires will appear (they are in black and located on home plate, first base, second base, and third base. Two more are located on the foul lines next to the walls of the stands.) along with 9 of the computer's players (or player two's players if you earlier chose "2 PLAYER GAME"). Notice that on the back wall it says "NINTENDO" and just above that "PLAYBALL" will flash inside the white rectangle I was talking about earlier. Then, after a second or two, the view will change to the infield. You will be able to see the four bases along with each of the 2nd Player or Computer Player's team members on each base. At home plate, which is at the bottom of the center of the screen, you will see two batting boxes and one of them contains your batter. If your batter is in the left box, that means he is right-handed, and if he is in the right box that means he is left-handed. This does not make a difference as far as batting abilities goes. |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| |Controls for Batting: | |Up - Moves the batter upwards a small amount in the | | batting box. | |Down - Moves the batter downwards a small amount in the | | batting box. | |Left - Moves the batter to the left a small amount in the | | batting box. | |Right - Moves the batter to the right a small amount in the | | batting box. | |A - Swings the bat (tap to bunt) | |B - Steals bases | |Select - Nothing | |Start - Pauses the game (press again to resume) | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| When moving your batter up and down, you can move between a range of 15 spaces. When moving your batter left nd right, you can move between a range of 5 spaces. When swinging the bat, if you tap the bat you can stop in the middle of a swing to bunt the ball. Start pauses the game, in which instance in the black rectangle to the right of the batter will say "PAUSE." To resume playing, press Start again and the word "PAUSE" will disappear. In the center of the screen, on a brown mound with a white rectangle on it is the pitcher for the computer's team or the 2nd player's team (depending on whether or not you chose "2 PLAYER GAME" earlier). As the music comes to a close for the second time, he is preparing to pitch the ball to you. He sometimes does so before the music ends, so be careful. After the pitcher pitches, it is up to the batter to swing. If the ball is too far to the left or the right, don't swing at it. These pitches are out of the batting zone and the batter will not be able to his them. Instead, the pitcher will be penalized with a "BALL." However, if the pitch is just down the middle, the batter is forced to swing or else he is penalized with a "STRIKE." These words appear in the black rectangle to the right of the batter once the decision is made by the umpire. Either way, the speed of the pitch is recorded and displayed in a black rectangle in the middle of the path between the batter and the pitcher in Miles Per Hour. As you accumulate "BALLs" and "STRIKEs", you will advance in the game. If you are given four "BALLs," your batter is "WALKed" to the next base. If you already have a batter on first base, the player on first base will move to second base and the batter will move to first base. If you already have a batter on first base and second base, the player on first base will move to second base and the player on second base will move to third base. Then, the batter will move to first base. If you already have a batter on first base, second base, and third base, the player on first base will move to second base, the player on second base will move to third base, and the player on third base will move to home plate, scoring a run. Then, the batter will move to first base. If you are given three strikes, you receive an "OUT" which will remove the current batter and place a new batter into the game. Be warned, once you get three "OUTs" you are forced to become the pitcher. All of the runs you accumulate as well as the BALLs, OUTs, and STRIKEs are marked in the box to the left of the batter. In the black rectangle is a "B," under that is a "S," and under that is a "O," which stands for BALL, STRIKE, and OUT (respectively). Pitching: Now that you have accumulated three "OUTs," it is time to "CHANGE" which is the word that appears in the box to the left. This word means that it is the other team's turn to bat and your turn to pitch. The screen zooms out to show the entire baseball field, and you will notice that a new song is playing (the 2nd song in the game), and the players have switched to your players in the outfield. Here are the pitching controls: |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| |Controls for Pitching: | |Up - Nothing | |Down - Nothing | |Left - Nothing | |Right - Nothing | |A - Pitches the ball to the batter | |B - Throws ball to base instead | |Select - Nothing | |Start - Pauses the game (press again to resume) | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| The B button, while pitching, will make the pitcher throw the ball the the base with the runner on it. If there are multiple runners, the batter will throw the ball to the runner who is closest to home plate. The A button pitches the ball but it is more complicated than that. If you hold Up before you press A, you will pitch a slow ball which is easier for the batter to hit because it moves slowly. While holding Down instead, the ball will increase speed and move quicker, enabling you to throw a fast ball. Holding left or right before a pitch will throw a BALL to the left or right in an attempt to confuse the batter into swinging at something he cannot hit which is very useful. After the batter hits the ball, assuming he does, you will control the outfielders/infielders. |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| |Controls for Outfielders/Infielders: | |Up - Moves Player Up | |Down - Moves Player Down | |Left - Moves Player Left | |Right - Moves Player Right | |A - Throws the ball to a base | |B - Nothing | |Select - Nothing | |Start - Pauses the game (press again to resume) | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| While you are controlling the outfielders, use the Up, Down, Left, and Right directions to run. The object is to recover the ball and throw it to whichever base the runner has gotten to by the time you have gotten it. If you are able to throw it to the base before they get there you will see OUT in the box to the bottom right (the black rectangle). If not, you will see SAFE instead. ~~~~~~~~~~ V. Credits ~~~~~~~~~~ NINTENDO OF AMERICA - They made this awesome game back in 1984 and it should earn them a medal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VI. Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you want to send me an e-mail, please send it pkt_paladin@yahoo.com. Since there are a few things that I have yet to know that you might know, I would appreciate any submissions (you will be given credit, of course) to help further develop this FAQ. Please submit any questions so I can answer them for you and anyone else who reads this FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This guide was written by PKT_Paladin (pkt_paladin@yahoo.com. Please do not use this guide without permission or take direct information from it. Doing that is illegal. I am in no way affiliated with the makers of Baseball (NINTENDO OF AMERICA).