''Nolan Ryan's Baseball'' (known in Japan as ) is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

video game endorsed by then-Texas Rangers baseball player

Nolan Ryan Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed "the Ryan Express", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sports executive. Over a record 27-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB), Ryan pitched for the New Yo ...

; one of the most popular baseball players of the late 20th century. It has no licensing from Major League Baseball and the

Major League Baseball Players Association The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is the labor union representing all current Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held ...

; meaning that

is the only non-fictional ballplayer in the entire game. All the other players have names that appear to be

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

s while Nolan Ryan uses his

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

Gameplay

Different modes for playing include

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

and

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

(lasting anywhere from ten games per team to an impressive 100 games per team). Unusual for a game at that time, it allowed a position player to be chosen as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

or even as a

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

. There is no

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

rule in this game so that the pitchers must go up to bat with their .150

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(which is below the

Mendoza Line The Mendoza Line is baseball jargon for a .200 batting average, the supposed threshold for offensive futility in Major League Baseball. It derives from light-hitting shortstop Mario Mendoza, who failed to reach .200 five times in his nine big l ...

). While pitchers are not expected to hit above the Mendoza Line, having a hitter (or a group of hitters) go through a season with a batting average below .200 could indicate a lack of player skill. There is no

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

mode after regular season because all the teams are under one

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

, but if more than one team has the lead for the pennant, a short elimination

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

will be held to determine the champion. The graphics look childish although their pitches are similar in speed to the actual

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

of that time. Players also have a tendency to march down the field at a slow speed regardless of their ratings and throws from the outfield tend to be less powerful than similar throws done from the infield. The stats are followed throughout the entire year (for all the teams involved) and are adjusted after every play. Baseball players can be created from scratch, traded to other teams in favor of their pre-existing players, traded in for

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

s, and have their attributes altered in order to make the perfect ballplayer.

Reviews

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninte ...

'' gave the game scores of 66% for play control, 60% for gameplay challenge, and 50% for the game overall theme and fun factor. ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' gave the game a score of 25/40.

References

Web

Magazine

* Nintendo Power, Pak Watch - Super Nintendo Entertainment System Development Dispatch (listed as being shown at the 1991 Summer CES), Publication date: September 1991, Volume: 28, Pages: 97 * Nintendo Power, Now Playing Review - George and Rob, Publication date: January 1992, Volume: 32, Pages: 102 * Nintendo Power, Review, Publication date: January 1992, Volume: 32, Pages: 103

External links

''Nolan Ryan's Baseball'' soundtrack
at SNESmusic
''Super Stadium'' soundtrack
at SNESmusic {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Nolan Baseball 1991 video games Affect (company) games Baseball video games Cultural depictions of American people Cultural depictions of baseball players Multiplayer and single-player video games Romstar games SETA Corporation games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Super Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Video games based on real people Video games developed in Japan