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 In 1991 Roger Clemens and the NES had a couple
of things in common, for one they were both at the tail-end of their
domination in their respective areas.
The NES was still the number one video game system in the country
but was about to cede that position to the Super NES and Sega
Genesis. Roger Clemens was still
one of the greatest pitchers in the AL
but only had one more season at the top before he began a four-year stint
of mediocrity (we’ll leave it to the United States government to
decide how he made his storied resurgence back to the top of the
mound). The other thing that the
NES and Roger Clemens shared that year was, of course, this video
game. Now when you notice that the
game is made by LJN and you combine that with the fact that almost all
games licensed by an athlete are awful, I’m sure that you are feeling as
hesitant as I was about playing this game. What I discovered was very interesting.
Roger
Clemens’ MVP Baseball is
a very strange baseball game. When
you first play the game, it is not an enjoyable experience. But once you play the game a couple
times it because quite a bit more fun.
This is because LJN went with a style that completely disregarded
all common baseball video game rules that had been established over the
previous four years by such classics as R.B.I. Baseball and Baseball
Stars. This game goes for
realism in a big way and that is why at first it is a frustrating
experience. Let’s start with
batting. In most video games you
wait for the pitch and then watch where it is going and decide whether to
swing or not based on what we see.
This game is more realistic in that you really don’t have time to
check out the pitch, you just have to guess ahead of time whether they
are going to pitch a ball or a strike.
More than any other game a pitcher can really make the batter look
foolish by busting out a change-up and having the batter swing extremely
early and unlike other games you can’t just swing again. Certainly this is more like real  baseball but most people will not
appreciate the guesswork involved with batting. As for pitching, you can’t do wild and
crazy curves. The earlier you
start to curve the ball the more outside it will go, in order to pitch a
strike with curve you have to move the ball right as it hits the plate. The fielding, though, is where things
really get crazy. Whenever the
ball is hit, the game shifts to that player’s perspective. You must move to the ball with the
assigned player and can dive or jump, if needed, to get to the ball. The crazy part is that when you go to
throw it, you don’t always push the standard button to get it to the base
you want. Your directional pad
always recalibrates to the direction you are facing. This is very confusing at first and
will cause you to make many throwing mistakes before you finally master
this system. The final unique
aspect of the gameplay is that when you slide you must pick if you want
to slide into the side or middle of the base. The defender also picks where he will
tag and then if he picks right you are out, otherwise you’re safe.
Like I said, all of these changes
make this game hard to get used to but once you do the game is somewhat
fun. Let’s check out the positives
to see what makes this game worth playing.
Positives:
When I play a sports game the
first thing I always want to know is if it has real players. Surprisingly, this game does – but it
is in a sneaky way. The game
features the 1991 opening day rosters of all 26 Major League teams but
does not have a player or team license.
To get around that all the players have names very similar to their
real ones and stats that also aren’t quite right but make sense for the
given player. That means the
Jerome Walton becomes. W. Jeromes and Steve Sax becomes S. Clarinet. To be honest, that is good enough for
me, I really appreciate that the game bothered to add that bit of
realism. The rosters are surprisingly
pretty deep as well. You are given
a handful of pinch hitters and relievers.
Of course, Roger Clemens is actually in the game as R. Clemens and
has killer stats to boot.
Another positive to me is that
you get a password and have to play the final month of the season. Every team starts out with equal
records through around 130 games and you have to pilot your team through
September in order to make the playoffs.
No stats are saved but you get to see the updated standings after
each game. I like that you don’t
have to play all 162 games to finish a season – 30-odd games seems to be
the right amount for a video baseball game  league that doesn’t keep track of stats.
I really appreciate some of the
unique aspects of the game, particularly the fielding. It is annoying at first but it is fun
and really separates it from the pack.
The sliding is somewhat entertaining as well since it is a little
battle of the minds.
The pitching is also pretty cool
because you only have a little curve to work with otherwise it will be a
ball and the computer will never swing at it. You have to put on your curve at the
last minute and if you’re too late then the ball just hangs over the
plate begging to be clubbed.
Another cool aspect of pitching is that it keeps track of your
pitch count; once you get high on that the other team will rock your
world until you replace him. You
also have to go with a three man rotation because your pitchers require
days off.
The graphics in Roger Clemens Baseball are top of
the line. It came out at the same
time as the Super NES version was released and really benefited from
this. All the players look
realistic when they dive and jump.
The umps even look very detailed and real when they call a player
safe or out.
Glaring
Negatives:
There are a lot of things about
this game that really irk people.
Number One on that list is the crazy defensive set-up. When a ball is hit to the shortstop,
you have to press down to throw it to second base because it is behind
you. This takes a little while to
get used to. These controls also
make it tricky when trying to return to a base when running. I often end up getting tagged out
because I take too long remembering what button will take me back to
which base. In the field I have
never seen an error occur nor have I ever been able to pull off a
standard double play, every time the runner is safe at first after
throwing the ball to second base. To
me, more annoying than the fielding is the batting. You basically have to swing as soon as
the ball is thrown to be able to hit it.
This means you just have to guess ahead of time if the ball is a
strike or a ball and if it is a fastball or a changeup. Roger Clemens
offers really lame tips such as look for signs that the pitcher is going
to throw a changeup. Now that
works in real life but I’ve yet to discover anything the pitcher will do
to tell me that in this game.
Although Roger Clemens
Baseball has a password, it does not keep track of your stats.
 Graphics and Sound:
Great
The graphics in this game are
pretty good. They are probably the
best on the system for a baseball game in terms of realism and fluid running
and diving. The theme song is very
catchy but it is only played on the menu screens and then disappears once
the game starts up. During the
game you have your typical little organ ditties that pop up every now and
then. The umpire will say safe or
out and sounds good; strangely a bit like Homer Simpson.
Gameplay
and Controls: Odd
It always feels weird to play a
baseball game that chooses to go in a different direction in the controls
department. Because the typical
baseball controls are so standard it actually makes this game less fun to
try and master the different controls.
The hitting isn’t as fun as most baseball games either.
Features:
Password
You get to play a three game
series against each team in your league and then if you’re good enough
you can go to the playoffs. After
each game you receive a password.
Fun?: A
little
The game is downright painful at
first but becomes more fun as you master the controls. It definitely isn’t a great game but it
can be a bit fun to replay a season with your favorite team’s players
from 1991.
Challenge:
Yes
Just like in baseball it is very
hard to go undefeated. It isn’t
too hard to win your division but if you want a perfect record, good
luck!
Replay:
Not Much
This really isn’t that much fun
of a game so once you win the World Series with your favorite team I
really can’t imagine you going back and winning at all with some other
team.
2
Player: Yes
You can play against a friend but
you can only have one player running a season at a time.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
http://www.nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Element.View&egID=1938&lgID=848
Bottom
Line: A Non-Essential Baseball Game
Roger
Clemens’ MVP Baseball
would go in the 2nd tier of baseball games on the NES. It is certainly not one of the better
baseball games but it is unique enough to be worth playing if you are a
diehard baseball or Roger Clemens fan.
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