Bases Loaded II: Second Season
System: NES
Release Date: January 1990
Developer: TOSE
Publisher: Jaleco
Genre: Sports
When loading up Bases Loaded II: Second Season, I thought this was the first sports game sequel we’ve run into, but then I looked at my list. Track & Field I and II started things out, then Hoops and All-Pro Basketball came along. Now we get it in baseball! You can start up a 130 game season. You choose one of twelve teams from two divisions. You get a password after every game and can continue on at your leisure.
Both the pitching and batting views are from behind the pitcher, which I always dislike. On the pitching side of things, you choose your pitch by pressing the A Button with the D-Pad, then during the windup, whichever direction you press will be where you aim your pitch. You can get some wild double curves in this way.
If you give up contact, the fielding view has changed from behind home plate. Now it’s from along the 1st or 3rd base line. It’s a bit awkward to get used to. This doesn’t help your fielding control, which is terrible. You get no indication of where the ball is actually going to land and the player movement is so stilted, I wish you luck making any plays in the outfield. You can trick the base running AI, which can make for easy outs.
There’s not much special when it comes to batting. You can put your swing in any direction with the D-Pad. I was able to hit a couple home runs, but I didn’t have a whole lot of luck otherwise. Some of this may have to do with the Biorhythm mechanic, which gives a rating on a scale of -9 to 9. The higher the number, the better the effect on the player’s statistics. After the game, you see the updated stats for your starters.
Graphics: 2.5
The graphics haven’t gotten any better since the first release and I think the fielding are a bit worse.
Sound: 1.5
The music that continuously drones on isn’t very good, in fact, it gets pretty annoying. The voice samples aren’t super clear, either.
Gameplay: 2.0
The bad fielding view cuts down on the gameplay value for me. I gave up 42 hits in 2 games.
Difficulty: 2.0
How hard this one is comes mostly down to you. Can you lay off the bad pitches? The umps are pretty terrible, though.
Fun Factor: 1.5
It isn’t any more fun than the original.
Overall Grade: 1.9
Bases Loaded II: Second Season earns a C. This iteration is worse than the first. We get two more attempts before the NES is over, we’ll see if those get any better.