World Class Baseball Review - Screenshot 1 of 2

This game began life known as Power League on the Japanese PC Engine and spawned many sequels due to the popularity of Baseball in Japan.

The game offers a comprehensive range of options to fine tune your game. For instance you can switch the players in your roster and play a quick game or play in pennant mode. It’s really as comprehensive as you would hope a game like this to be.

In batting mode the controls feel nice and intuitive. You can position your player before the pitch and use the D-pad to vary the style of swing. With a bit of practice you can minimise the risks of getting caught out or hitting fly balls. The timing of your swing is really the most crucial thing. Sometimes it is easy to make a careless error of judgement when faced with a tricky curve ball.

World Class Baseball Review - Screenshot 2 of 2

Fielding works well too. Your control the player who is nearest to the ball, it can sometimes be a pain when the control flips to another player as the ball becomes nearer to them but pretty much every Baseball game I have played shares this characteristic. It all clicks into place after a few minutes play. It’s a simple direction press on the D-pad and the action button to throw to the specific base you want to target to try and get your opponent out.

Visually there are no complaints here. The graphics are functional and do the job nicely. The cheerful and catchy music can get a bit repetitive after a while but that is par for the course for a sports game from this era.

Conclusion

If you want a retro Baseball fix on the Virtual Console then this might be the one for you. It certainly hits Baseball on the NES for a home run into next week!