Shumplations recently published a translation of a 2011 interview with a former manager at Jaleco who went by Y-san. I was not too familiar with Jaleco before reading the interview, but it is a former Japanese video game company known for its Bases Loaded series of baseball games. The interview touched on the first entry in the Bases Loaded series for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Y-san referenced what was the game’s most well-known glitch:
You could hit a home run by bunting though.
That does not sound quite right. The interviewer took the opportunity to learn if Jaleco had added bunt home runs on purpose. Y-san confirmed that it was a glitch:
No, I’m sure that wasn’t done on purpose. It was probably a bug. Incidentally, Jaleco has a mobile contest website called Jaleco Gyaresso, and there’s an app you can download called ‘Moreo!! Bunt Home Run!’
Glitches in otherwise good games can take on a life of their own. See, for example, my tangential discussion of glitches in the original Pokémon games in my posts on urban legends and imagination in Pokémon Red and Blue. The Shumplations article includes a YouTube video of a bunt home run. It is as entertaining as it sounds.
I recommend reading the whole interview with A-san for other fun Jaleco notes and stories. Shumplations is also worth adding to your reading list if you have any interest in video games or game history. Its translated interviews have featured in several previous New Leaf Journal articles: Card Hero and games on limited hardware; Zero Gravity Foreshadowing in Super Mario Sunshine; Chibi-fying Street Fighter Characters; On the Game Boy Renaissance; Video Game Stories and Standing the Test of Time; 1999 Yuji Naka Interview on Chu Chu Rocket.