The last two games in my meager Microvision collection, Baseball & Sea Duel have very little in common beyond the system they are found on. One is an overly simplistic version of America’s pastime and the other is significantly more complex turn based strategy title with one of the more detailed game manuals for the system’s library.
Baseball can be played as either a one or two player game that focuses only on the pitcher-batter duel aspect. You don’t need to run the bases after getting a hit. You won’t be playing defense either. You quickly figure out that defense is automatic by the fact that the infielders and outfielders are represented in the game by the static location of red dots on the game’s cartridge overlay. Essentially, a ball hit in the “zone” of the defensive player’s dot means you’re out. Thankfully, you can hit home runs in Microvision Baseball but the pitch count and score can only been seen by pressing the buttons on the cartridge, which acts as a de facto pause button. This is simplistic handheld Baseball at its best.
Sea Duel is a turn based strategy game, also for either one or two players (the Microvision excelled at offering both), where you play as either a submarine or a ship, with the goal of connecting more hits on your opponent’s seal vessel. The submarine and ship are different sizes which requires slightly different strategies to employ depending on which you choose to use. During your turn, you make selections to move around the screen as an evasive move while also selecting which directions you will fire as your offensive move. You’re essentially guessing where your opponent will be moving their boat on their turn and anticipating their strategy. The computer or a second player will perform the same actions on their turn and then you can see your moves played and how many points each player scores on their turn. The highest score at the end of the round wins. Sea Duel is a neat concept executed quite well for the Microvision.
Currently in my collection:
Baseball – game only B
Sea Duel – game, manual, box A-
Cartridge Corner 