ONM Remembered – #361
“Not your usual baseball sim”
from Total 64 volume 1 issue 12 (unknown date)
The Nintendo 64 really was a renaissance for not only chubby little men chasing balls around, but reuniting sports games with strangely-implement quest modes – in this case, baseball game Famistar 64. It’s a feature that’s been prevelant in Japanese sports games for a long time (and only rarely seen exported to English shores, sadly), perhaps most notably in Konami’s long-running Power Pro-kun baseball series, but was no exception to other sports like F1 racing, ice hockey, and, er, pinball.
You could argue that WWE 2K15 and other 2K Sports games ushered a revival of this feature with the MyCareer mode, presenting the rise and fall of your custom player over the course of multiple matches, feuds and interviews (or the course of a Spike Lee joint). It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but it’s not the same without a dinky little RPG overworld, y’know? I won’t rest until the next Madden game expands to include airships and accidentally bombing the Mist Village.
