''Virtual League Baseball'' is a 1995

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 A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed and published by

Kemco , from Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd., is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1984. It is headquartered in Kure, Hiroshima. Its best known franchises are the '' Kid Klown'' and ''Top Gear'' series, the ...

for the

Virtual Boy The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop portable video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo and released in 1995. Promoted as the first system capable of rendering stereoscopic 3D graphics, it featured a red monochrome display viewe ...

. A sequel, ''Virtual League Baseball 2'', was planned, but later canceled.

Gameplay

There are three modes of play in ''Virtual League Baseball'': Player 1 vs. computer, all-star game, and pennant race. In player 1 vs. computer, one single match is played between the player and the computer. In the all-star game, the player plays against the computer using a team of all-stars from America, Asia, or Europe. In the pennant race, the player plays a series of games against the computer, using passwords to resume play after turning off the console, instead of saving. It is a

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...

game. Players can receive and enter passwords to skip levels of the game. The game's teams are international.

Development

''Virtual League Baseball'' was developed by

and released in October 1995 for the Virtual Boy. A playable version of the game was displayed at

Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo) was an annual Trade fair, trade event for the video game industry organized and presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was held principally in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2019, wit ...

1995. At the time, the coding was so broken that it was impossible for the player to hit the ball. Promotion for the game was further hurt by its infamous "chili dog farts" print advertisement which was centered on a photo of two obese men exposing their

butt crack The intergluteal cleft or just gluteal cleft, also known by a number of synonyms, including natal cleft and cluneal cleft, is the groove between the buttocks that runs from just below the sacrum to the perineum, so named because it forms the vis ...

s. Like all other Virtual Boy games, ''Virtual League Baseball'' uses a red-and-black color scheme and uses

stereoscopy Stereoscopy, also called stereoscopics or stereo imaging, is a technique for creating or enhancing the depth perception, illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any ster ...

, an optical trick that is used to simulate a 3D effect. A sequel, ''Virtual League Baseball 2'', was in development, but was never released, despite receiving an

ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Softw ...

rating.

Reception

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 ...

'' praised the game's graphics and "realistic baseball experience", but wrote that it was hard to defend near the fence. One of the magazine's six reviewers recommended the game. ''

GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...

'' panned it in a brief review, stating, "VLB's impressive 3D graphics seem promising at first. But after a while the shallow gameplay and awful sounds sent it foul. The archaic controls only add to the agony." Scott Alan Marriott of

AllGame RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...

found the game reminiscent of ''

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 ...

'' for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

, noting "plinky sound effects, only one stadium, all fielders moving in unison with the control pad (including the infield and outfield!), a batting and pitching interface that relies on one button, and base runners who move at the speed of light. Are these features you want in a 1995 release? Certainly not, especially on a system that's supposed to deliver a 'virtual' experience."

Notes

References

External links