There’s a riot at the bat rack
When you get down to it, this is a website about preserving art. And art isn’t just pretty pictures and harmonious tunes. Art can be dirty, trashy, and loud.
For the next week on the 30-30 Club YouTube, we’re adding daily MLB Slugfest content. Slugfest is Midway’s 2002-2006 baseball equivalent to NFL Blitz (or NBA Jam to a lesser extent). It’s noisy, goofy, and a perfect cultural encapsulation of baseball’s steroid era.
I’ve linked the music video and official theme song for MLB Slugfest 20-03 (tragically that is the official styling of the 2003 edition of the game, I guess so you don’t pronounce the year “two thousand and three” like a total loser) above: “Riot at the Bat Rack” by Dry Kill Logic. It is a nu metal version of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. What a beautiful, and horrible, thing.
Keep an eye on our YouTube and this site for more Slugfest content over the next week, with all the tactical beanballs, commentator comedy skits, and Dave Lang that that entails.
Some sweet new Famimaga 64 scans
Gaming history preservation fiend Gaming Alexandria uploaded two new magazine scans relevant to our site this past week from Japanese N64 games magazine Famimaga 64. Baseball video games feature on both covers, one with Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 4 (game’s feature is on page 18 of the PDF) and the other showcasing Choukuukan Nighter Pro Yakyuu King (feature on page 50 of the PDF).
These two titles are the best Japanese N64 baseball games (sorry Famista 64) and I’ve played both for the YouTube before. Check out these magazine scans if you want some high quality scans of that awesome Pawapuro-kun render, and to realize that these games cost freaking 9800 and 9980 yen respectively at release, my God.
YouTube Viewing Guide
- It’s maybe the most unwatchable thing I’ve put on my YouTube since City League Softball, but by all means, go ahead and watch me try to play the semi-rare Konami Wii motion control game The Cages: Pro Style Batting Practice.
- Popeye Baseball (Browser) Gameplay
- MLB Power Pros (Wii) Gameplay
- And I managed to source a pretty clean recording of the commercial where Justin Verlander first met Kate Upton (seriously): Major League Baseball 2K12