I had no idea that the Japanese loved American baseball so much, but this is the third Japan-exclusive game on the N64. This one has a more “realistic” art style, but the lack of faces make the players look absolutely horrific.

Control is similar to the previous baseball games, except this time the batter has no aiming reticule, so you have no idea how close you were to hitting. When fielding, you also need to move your players more, although throwing to the bases is a nightmare as it never goes to the person you want it to go to.

I did learn something about baseball from this game: seemingly a big part of the game is the pitcher deliberately throwing an “out” ball, as if the batter swings, it doesn’t count as out. The CPU in this game loves doing difficult shots as it knows about the lack of depth perception in a video game, and the minute screen space between in and out.

If you do manage to hit the ball, the CPU fielders will catch it most of the time, so it doesn’t really matter much, while the CPU will manage to fill the bases and then get a home run. It’s a miserable experience.

There is a mode that I thought could help practicing batting. It’s a home run competition where you try batting 10 times to get as many home runs as possible – except that this is completely unlike batting in the real game as it’s easy to hit the ball and you seem to get a home run every time you hit it.

Poor

When it’s all said and done, baseball is plainly just rounders played by men in tights who spit a lot and skid around on the floor. Power League adds nothing and is outclassed by both its rivals. Avoid it with the enthusiasm you would a contagious disease.

James Ashton, N64 Magazine #7. Review Score: 42%

Remake or remaster?

It’s a bad sports game, so doesn’t really need anything.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Power League 64