Review by: Matso Limtiaco

Yeah, I know...it's way after WSB2, so who cares, right? Which is why this will be a short, short review.

Bottom of the 9th looks pretty much like the PSX version, with polygon-based players instead of sprites. There are no real stadiums, just eight phony ones with differing dimensions (includes two domes). Players are from late 1995 rosters, so not much accuracy there. There is a trading feature and you can swap anyone for anyone else (not 3B for 3B only, for example).

The primary claim to fame for BOT9 is its batting cursor. More or less like Genesis WSB, it can be turned on or off, and its size depends on the batter's ability to make contact based on his '95 stats. However, the "power swing" cursor is the same size for all players, regardless of their actual ability. It's not easy to hit with the cursor on, but not impossible.

Graphically, it's very vanilla when showing the whole field in action. Not much detail, although the polygon players move okay. The batting/pitching screen is SO busy with stuff that it's hard to concentrate on swinging the bat. A few players actually have their batting stances intact, but most are pretty generic.

Pitchers have their actual pitches here - for example, Randy Johnson can throw a slider, change, or fastball. If you try to select a pitch that he can't throw he'll shake you off...nice touch. The controls will let you select one of seven possible pitches, so some guys will have more (Maddux, etc.) than three. Fatigue is a factor over the course of a game.

Controls are, at best, convoluted. Swinging the bat is A, bunting is B. Advancing one runner is D-pad plus X, advancing all runners is D-pad plus Y, advancing one runner is A, more is B, throwing to 1st base is B, to second is Y...you get the idea. Not particularly intuitive...but I don't think the gameplay suffers if you're used to it.

Gameplay is decent enough. It's hard to get hits if you're learning the cursor. There's no ball marker as in WSB2, so judging fly balls is a real pain - although you can select auto- or semi-auto defense if you want. In fact, you can adjust the difficulty levels for almost everything for each player, so you can even the odds dramatically aginst a less-skilled opponent. It's much harder to strike out the CPU batters unless you have a strikeout pitcher on the mound, which is WAY better than WSB2.

I didn't try to play a season with the game, but it's supposed to track season stats for you. BOT9 does have fairly complete "training mode" where you can practice fielding, baserunning, pitching, batting, etc. It's a good way to get used to the play mechanics.

Overall, it's not bad and would have given Big Hurt Baseball some competition early in the summer when we were all clamoring for baseball titles. But now, after WSB2, it's an afterthought. Maybe a rental, just to see if you like it...