Nintendo 64

Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr

Overall, Major League Baseball '99 Featuring Ken Griffey, Jr. is a sound baseball game and a good one. But if simulation-style baseball is your bag, you'd be better off with Acclaim's All Star Baseball '99.

While it fails to live up to the legacy of its SNES predecessors, MLB Featuring Ken Griffey does adopt a similar easy-to-play, arcade style. The controls are simple and games progress at a brisk pace. You still need to aim a "batter cursor" to hit the ball, but it's not especially hard to make contact. At least you don't have to wait for the catcher to toss the ball back to the pitcher.

All in all, gamers are left with a mediocre product. Not good, not bad, just average. Unfortunately, average generally doesn't cut it in the video gaming world, especially when games like All-Star Baseball '99 show up and blow the doors off this game. So, if you're looking for the best baseball game for the N64, don't get this game. Only if you are one of those people who must own everything baseball that has ever existed, should you consider this game. Even then, rent it first.

A couple years back, Electronic Arts upset its fans by canceling the release of an impending football title, I think for the Playstation (Ed. note: Madden '96). EA explained that the game simply wasn't up to snuff, and they were going back to the drawing board. Nintendo should have shown a little integrity by doing the same thing with Griffey Baseball. Instead, Nintendo decided to rip off its loyal customer base, knowing full well that many people would buy this mediocre crap because of the Griffey name, the success of the two Griffey titles for the SNES and, especially, the fact that they would be the first to release a baseball title for the N64.