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Strike three! You're out! It's thrillin', it's chillin', it's 2020 Baseball and it's brill! That's right folks, the year is 2020 and the game has moved to great new heights. Now human teams can take on robot opponents, and there are big, big bucks for the winners. Select your best pitchers and hitters and set them against the ultimate your opponent can offer - steal those bases and go for those big Home Runs. There's cash by the bucketload for the winner, while nobody's got the time of day for sad shambling teams who can't grind their opponents into the ground! Go get 'em, champ!

2020 Baseball features loads of opportunities to make some serious cash. A particularly impressive play will be rewarded with spot cash prizes ('cos the spectators are a generous lot) and you can use the cash to upgrade the strength and talent of your players!

At any time you can call a Time Out and use the cash you've accumulated to buy a veritable goody bag of improvements for the sad shamblers on your team. Lash out ten grand on your best hitter and watch him swat the ball to the back of the stadium!

2020 Baseball features two play modes - One Player League and Two Player. In One Player mode you have to take on the computer, and he's one hot boyo when it comes to strutting his stuff on the field!

The computer knows all the tricks of the trade, and his ace in the whole is an uncanny knack of knowing just when to steal bases so his runner gets there just in time. Sometimes he'll get it wrong, and it's great fun to watch his runner scramble back to safety having made a bad call!

As if you haven't got enough to worry about, 2020 Baseball has one ace up its sleeve you won't find anywhere on today's play field - mines!

That's right folks, as the game progresses the computer plonks more and more mines on the field - and if any player touches them it's goodnight sweet prince!

Most Baseball computer games feature super-thickie fielders who couldn't catch a cold, let alone the ball! Not so with 2020 - 'cos these boys really know what they're doing! If the hitter slams the ball high, they'll try and position themselves underneath it to catch him out.

Once in position, they'll raise their hands to let you know they've got the sucker, but occasionally they can't quite make it - and it's up to you to waggle that joystick to make sure they get there in time!

Some people say Baseball is the best game ever. Others say it's the crappiest sport ever invented. Actually we reckon it's the tops, and here's a quick lowdown of the CVG crew's least favourite games:

Tim Boone: "Beach Volley is skid central for me 'cos I haven't got a crew cut, a sun tan or silly skimpy trunks to ponce about and show off in."

Frank O'Connor: "I think cricket is crap because I'm a bit of a thickie and don't understand the rules. The ball's bloody hard 'n all..."

Jon Billington: "Curling is top of the craps for me because you have to run in front of the puck with that stupid brush and it reminds me of housework."

Paul Rand: "I can't stand badminton, 'cos girls often play it better than blokes do and a stupid little racquet isn't worth a light."

Baseball has become a tad too boring for the twisted sports audiences of the future. What's required is a more violent version of the sport - and 2020 Baseball is just that! Baseball itself is great fun and this version adds to the glory.

The addition of violence, land mines and superb graphics enhance the theme no end. Even for the mighty Neo Geo, the presentation is absorbing. The animation is slick, the music is brilliant and sampled voices scream and shout throughout. Gameplay-wise, Super Baseball is a laugh - the batting is a lot easier than in other games of this type and it all hangs together brilliantly.

As a one player game, it'll be months before you play in the final, but the real fun is in two player mode. Against a friend, things get really frantic and massively addictive. Easily the best sports game available on the Neo Geo and, if you've got one, it's an essential purchase!

So why are Baseball games so brilliant on the Neo? I thought Baseball Stars was the best, and here's another which actually tops it in many respects! Super-slick gameplay combines with superb graphics and sound to plonk you slap bang in the centre of some of the toughest baseball around - and the computer sure as hell takes no prisoners!

The well designed and finely tweaked action ensures there's always plenty going on, and when you become bored with playing one team you can always switch for another to put a completely different perspective on the game! I never really found baseball too much fun as a spectator sport, but it's perfect for computer gaming - especially in two player mode where tempers can really fray!

This cart comes highly recommended to sports freaks and friction fans everywhere...