Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A playthrough of Broderbund's 1990 softball game for the NES, Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball.
This video shows two playthroughs of the game, each played with different characters. The first is a fast pitch game. The second, beginning at 1:17:47, is a slow pitch game. At 2:26:22, during the ending scene of the second run, I punched in a code to show a hidden, slightly glitched credits screen.
Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball is a game that has long enjoyed a small but dedicated fan base, but it never received the level of widespread recognition that I think it deserves. In terms of gameplay and the sheer fun it provides, this is an NES A-lister.
The game is a reskin of Softball Tengoku (ソフトボール天国, lit. "Softball Heaven"), a 1989 Famicom release that was created by Tose (who made the Bases Loaded games) for Tonkin House. When Broderbund picked up the rights to release the game in North America, they replaced most of the animal and monster characters with goofy humans, several of whom are thinly veiled caricatures of celebrities. Satan, the witch, and the vampires made the cut, though, so props to the localization team for that!
Does anyone know who Dusty Diamond is? The story given in the manual sheds no light on the mystery, and it's not addressed in the game, so I'm clueless. Maybe someone at Broderbund was a Screech Powers fan.
Because this is a softball game, some of the rules and strategies in play are different from what you see in baseball games, but the sports are similar enough to make for an easy transition. Two teams of ten players (nine on-field w/a reserve player in a fast game, ten on-field w/o a bench warmer in a slow game) play seven-inning games, and if one team gains a ten-run lead, they're automatically declared the winner at the end of the current inning.
Instead of making you play as one of a handful of pre-made teams, Dusty Diamond has build your own from a roster of sixty unique players. Everyone differs in terms of speed, power, fielding ability, pitching style, and batting skill. Some have special powers (like fielders being able to fly, or pitchers becoming tornadoes during the wind-up), some are better suited to certain field types (like being able to swim, run through high grass, or climb rocks), some perform much better at night or in front of a stadium crowd, and a couple of have hidden skills (like the ability to switch hit, steal home unopposed, or tackle players while running the bases). The freedom to customize your team gives the game a huge amount of depth and replayability. The more familiar you get with the quirks of each player, the more you'll want to experiment with who works best together and how to balance your team to play effectively under different conditions.
If obsessing over the minutiae isn't your style, there's still plenty of fun to be had in picking whoever you think looks cool and jumping straight in, especially if you're playing casually against a friend. Just be warned that doing so in a single-player game will put you at a huge disadvantage against the Amazon team in the final game.
The innings pass by at a speedy clip, the controls are intuitively mapped out, and the strange character designs ooze old-school Nintendo charm. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball is a comfy game that's a blast to play, and I give it a firm thumbs up.
(And to think, Bases Loaded walked so Dusty Diamond could run!)
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
A playthrough of Broderbund's 1990 softball game for the NES, Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball.
This video shows two playthroughs of the game, each played with different characters. The first is a fast pitch game. The second, beginning at 1:17:47, is a slow pitch game. At 2:26:22, during the ending scene of the second run, I punched in a code to show a hidden, slightly glitched credits screen.
Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball is a game that has long enjoyed a small but dedicated fan base, but it never received the level of widespread recognition that I think it deserves. In terms of gameplay and the sheer fun it provides, this is an NES A-lister.
The game is a reskin of Softball Tengoku (ソフトボール天国, lit. "Softball Heaven"), a 1989 Famicom release that was created by Tose (who made the Bases Loaded games) for Tonkin House. When Broderbund picked up the rights to release the game in North America, they replaced most of the animal and monster characters with goofy humans, several of whom are thinly veiled caricatures of celebrities. Satan, the witch, and the vampires made the cut, though, so props to the localization team for that!
Does anyone know who Dusty Diamond is? The story given in the manual sheds no light on the mystery, and it's not addressed in the game, so I'm clueless. Maybe someone at Broderbund was a Screech Powers fan.
Because this is a softball game, some of the rules and strategies in play are different from what you see in baseball games, but the sports are similar enough to make for an easy transition. Two teams of ten players (nine on-field w/a reserve player in a fast game, ten on-field w/o a bench warmer in a slow game) play seven-inning games, and if one team gains a ten-run lead, they're automatically declared the winner at the end of the current inning.
Instead of making you play as one of a handful of pre-made teams, Dusty Diamond has build your own from a roster of sixty unique players. Everyone differs in terms of speed, power, fielding ability, pitching style, and batting skill. Some have special powers (like fielders being able to fly, or pitchers becoming tornadoes during the wind-up), some are better suited to certain field types (like being able to swim, run through high grass, or climb rocks), some perform much better at night or in front of a stadium crowd, and a couple of have hidden skills (like the ability to switch hit, steal home unopposed, or tackle players while running the bases). The freedom to customize your team gives the game a huge amount of depth and replayability. The more familiar you get with the quirks of each player, the more you'll want to experiment with who works best together and how to balance your team to play effectively under different conditions.
If obsessing over the minutiae isn't your style, there's still plenty of fun to be had in picking whoever you think looks cool and jumping straight in, especially if you're playing casually against a friend. Just be warned that doing so in a single-player game will put you at a huge disadvantage against the Amazon team in the final game.
The innings pass by at a speedy clip, the controls are intuitively mapped out, and the strange character designs ooze old-school Nintendo charm. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball is a comfy game that's a blast to play, and I give it a firm thumbs up.
(And to think, Bases Loaded walked so Dusty Diamond could run!)
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
![Shining Force III (Saturn) Playthrough [2 of 3]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lxAoyO-gOoI/mqdefault.jpg "Shining Force III (Saturn) Playthrough [2 of 3]
A playthrough of Segas 1998 strategy-RPG for the Sega Saturn, Shining Force III.
This is the second part of a three-part playthrough, showing chapters four and five.
0:00 Chapter 4, Revolt in the Republic of Aspinia
3:52:45 Chapter 5, Tower Ruins of Lookover
Links to the other parts:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/XnPdZvZJIrg
Part 3: https://youtu.be/QXOo3_eBfxw
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!")
![Pokémon: Blue Version (Game Boy) Playthrough [2 of 2]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/n3r6_kMDOV8/mqdefault.jpg "Pokémon: Blue Version (Game Boy) Playthrough [2 of 2]
A playthrough of Nintendos 1998 JRPG for the Nintendo Game Boy, Pokémon Blue Version.
Played on the Super Game Boy.
This is the second part of a two-part playthrough, showing from the Pokémon Tower to the end. After the credits finish (9:32:45), I head over to the post-game dungeon to capture Mewtwo.
You can find part one at https://youtu.be/C0VP4JUkYQg
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!")
