Baseball Stars 2

Baseball Stars 2 is a 2-player baseball arcade game released by SNK in 1992 for the Neo Geo console. A less cartoony console version was released for the NES by Romstar the same year. The Neo Geo version was re-released as part of SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1.

Arcade Version
You can select from one of 18 teams across two leagues - Exciting League (beginner) & Fighting League (expert): Exciting League:


 * New York Monsters
 * Tokyo Ninjas
 * Napoli Angels
 * Taipei Hawks
 * Seoul Ivories
 * Sydney Griffons
 * Oaxaca Rockets
 * Barcelona Flames
 * London Lifeguards

Fighting League


 * USA Bisons
 * Japanese Samurais
 * Korean Dragoon
 * Italian Waves
 * Taiwan Dragons
 * Aussie Thunders
 * Mexican Typhoons
 * Spanish Galleons
 * British Knights

NES Version
Changes made from the original Baseball Stars, released by SNK in 1989, include:


 * Ability for the player to assign situational defensive shifts while in-game
 * Improved pitch control.
 * Easier bunting controls. (Hold Down+A to bunt activate standard bunt. This can be directed left or right as well.)
 * Ability to see the players on the base paths while in pitcher/batter view, rather than an icon representation overlay as in the original.
 * 6 pitchers and 4 bench players instead of 5 each.
 * New music and home run animations. These include the "Power connect" graphic for a two-run home run, an animated graphic of the batter rounding the bases and pumping his fist for a 3-run home run or grand slam, and a similar (yet very rare) graphic including a West Highland terrier following the batter for a come-from-behind (usually game-ending) home run in a dramatic situation.

Teams include:


 * Tempe Matadors
 * Texas Towers
 * Los Angeles Superstars
 * Chicago Fireballs
 * Oakland Knights
 * Toronto Captains (a suspiciously similar logo was used by Chinese Taipei in the 2006 World Baseball Classic)
 * Houston Eagles
 * San Diego Samurai
 * Boston Apaches
 * Denver Dragons
 * Nebraska Jets
 * Miami Pirates

User-created teams include:

Players could still create leagues of up to 125 games (6 teams playing each other 25 times) and view statistics such as League Standings, Average, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, Earned Run Average, Wins and Saves. Players could still fire players and upgrade them using the same 15-point system introduced in the original Baseball Stars. Players could also trade players among user-created teams. The game also contained a glitch that would keep the last pitcher listed on a team's roster from appearing in any of the league standings.
 * Milwaukee Rockets
 * Memphis Bluesox
 * New York Comets
 * Torrance Tigers
 * Detroit Arrows
 * Vancouver Cobras

Critical Reception
RePlay reported Baseball Stars 2 to be the sixteenth most-popular arcade game at the time. In Japan, Game Machine listed Baseball Stars 2 on their June 1, 1992 issue as being the eighth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

The Neo Geo version was critically acclaimed. The first issue of GameFan reviewed the Neo Geo version, with its two reviewers scoring it 99% and 97%; the former said it "is far and away the best sports game I have ever played" and the latter said the "graphics are incredibly well detailed" and "the gameplay is unparalleled". They concluded that it "has the best graphics, sound, and game play this side of ESPN".

The NES version was less popular than the original Baseball Stars was on the NES. Reasons for this included the inability to change the name of a gamer-created team or names of the players on a gamer-created team, and unimproved graphics over the original. A Nintendo Power review wrote that "Baseball Stars 2 is such a complete rehash that if you already own the original, it is not worth your money to get this game".

Re-releases
The game was included in the SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 compilation by SNK Playmore for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii, released on 2008.

The Neo Geo version was re-released for Wii by D4 Enterprise via the Virtual Console in Japan on October 30, 2007, in PAL regions on November 30, and in North America on December 10.

SNK Playmore released ports for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable developed by M2 on August 25, 2011, on PlayStation Network via NEOGEO Station in Japan and North America on July 19, and in PAL regions on August 24.

A port for Linux, OS X, and Windows developed by DotEmu was released by SNK Playmore as part of the Humble NEOGEO 25th Anniversary Bundle on December 8, 2015. It was released on Steam on April 27, 2016, and on GOG.com on May 30, 2017.

Hamster Corporation re-released the game as part of their ACA Neo Geo series for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 21, 2019.

Series

 * 1. Baseball Stars (1989)
 * 2. Baseball Stars Professional (1990)
 * 3. Baseball Stars 2 (1992)