Rom Rom Stadium

Rom Rom Stadium

JP Title	ロムロムスタジアム
Release Date	Japan: December 22 1989
Platforms	PC Engine CD
Developer	Dual Corporation
Publisher	Masaya
Team Names	Parody NPB teams
Player Names	Parody NPB players

Rom Rom Stadium is a baseball game for the PC Engine CD (called TurboGrafx-CD in the U.S.), developed by Masaya Games. It’s the only baseball game developed by Masaya, better known for the Langrisser strategy RPG series and the infamously weird shooter Cho Aniki.

Description

This is an arcade-style baseball game. The gameplay is similar to the popular Family Stadium series, the first entry of which came to the U.S. as R.B.I. Baseball. The controls are identical and the cartoony proportions of the players are more than a little similar.

Like Family Stadium, the game is very contact-heavy compared to real baseball, even real ’80s baseball. It’s not uncommon for either a human or computer player to swing and ground out on three straight pitches to complete an inning. Walks are almost non-existent, and offense in general seems hard to come by. Infield arms are too weak, however, and groundballs to third and short are likely to become singles.

The computer is tough to hit against, but is error-prone. Like in R.B.I. Baseball or Family Stadium, a hard groundball up the middle will often roll to the wall, because all defenders move as one unit, and when the second baseman or shortstop goes one way to try and get a groundball, that moves the center fielder way out of position. The computer tends to throw the ball away on groundballs to first, as the computer will throw to the base before the second baseman is there to catch it. The computer also prioritizes the lead runner too heavily, so if there is a runner on third but the bases aren’t loaded, you’re incentivized to bunt. The computer will throw home, but you can keep the runner safely on third while the batter strolls to first.

There are only two gameplay modes, Open (Exhibition) and Pennant (Season). There is a team edit mode where you can create your own team, setting the team name, uniform color, and player names, but you cannot edit the existing teams to add real player names.

Rom Rom Stadium gets its name from the CD-ROM², pronounced CD-ROM-ROM, an add-on for the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine 16-bit game console that allows the console to play disc media instead of cartridges. There are a handful of CD audio music tracks, as part of the short intro cinematic and a short jingle that plays after home runs, and a digitized voice talks you through the main menu. But most music and sound comes from the regular old sound chip.

The game will cut away occasionally to show short scenes of a girl watching your baseball game on TV and cheering on her team. She is sometimes dressed as a character from the Shockman game series, also published by Masaya.

Roster

The game is meant to represent the NPB, but it’s unlicensed, so the names of the players and teams are changed slightly. For example, Kenji Tomashino of the Yakult Swallows is given the name “Tomachino” in Rom Rom Stadium. On the same team, Lance Parrish is simply named “Rish” (with a four character limit on Japanese names, most non-Japanese names would have to be truncated anyway). Even the players’ listed batting average and home runs are minimally changed: For example, Carlos Ponce’s 1988 batting average was .292 in real life, while “Honce’s” batting average in the game is listed as .291.

These are the parody team names in the game:

• Chunichi Dragons -> Drugs
• Yomiuri Giants -> Germans
• Hiroshima Toyo Carp -> Carpet
• Yakult Swallows -> Scrolls
• Yokohama Taiyo Whales -> Weeks
• Hanshin Tigers -> Tacos
• Seibu Lions -> Lighters
• Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes -> Buffers
• Nippon Ham Fighters -> Fractals
• Orix Braves -> Brakes
• Fukuoka Daiei Hawks -> Homes
• Lotte Orions -> Orient

Past and Future MLB Players in the Game

• Warren Cromartie (Giants)
• Lance Parrish (Swallows)
• Rod Allen (Carp)
• George Hinshaw (Dragons)
• Cecil Fielder (Tigers)
• Jim Paciorek (Whales)
• Carlos Ponce (Whales)
• Greg Wells (Braves)
• Guy Hoffman (Braves)
• Tony Brewer (Fighters)
• German Rivera (Buffaloes)
• Ralph Bryant (Buffaloes)
• Masato Yoshii (Buffaloes)
• Tony Bernazard (Hawks)
• Willie Upshaw (Hawks)

Little Details

• There are two secret fields unlocked by pressing certain button combinations with two controllers on the stadium select screen:
  • Future Field – Hold Down + Right + II on the 2P controller and press I on the 1P controller.
  • Old Field – Hold Up + Left + I on the 2P controller and press I on the 1P controller.

• The stadiums each come with their own unique music during gameplay, a welcome change given that the four regular parks all share a single music loop.

• You can see a graphic showing player attributes by pressing Run to call a timeout during a game, then holding Up + Right then pressing Select. The music will stop, and then you can press I or II to pick which team to view attributes for. Surprisingly, this attribute viewing screen comes with its own CD audio music track.

• You can see a short secret “brawl” cutscene by holding Up + I + II + Select just after a hit by pitch.