Baseball Blowout

     With opening day 2012 just about a week away, What better time to run down the library of games featuring my favorite sport, Baseball! The Mega Drive / Genesis certainty did not fall short with offerings, ranging from spectacular to "The Hell was that"? The biggest difference were games that were only released to certain regions. Some are understandable while why others didn't see a worldwide release is confusing. Obviously there are quite a few titles, so in the interest of keeping this post as tight as possible, some titles will not be gone into at any length at the discretion of the author. Let's play ball!

     One can either begin discussion of baseball games for the 16 bit Sega with really only one of two options. The best or the last. For the chronologically obsessed, I'll give you a moment of relief as I give some quick impressions of Tommy Lasorda Baseball, or as it was known in Japan and Europe, Super League.

     Super League was a 1987 arcade game developed by Sega that was ported to their 16 bit home console as a launch title in the United States in 1989. The perspective was almost the same as The Master System version of Reggie Jackson Baseball / American Baseball with the obvious visual and audio upgrades, yet still just still not up to snuff with it's arcade counterpart.

Super League 1987 arcade

Super League / Tommy Lasorda Baseball for MD / Genesis 1989

American Baseball / Reggie Jackson Baseball for the Master System 1988

     The gameplay mechanic went largely unchanged. Neither had official licenses so you were left with cities, or misspelled team names and a roster of imaginary players. The players did vary in attributes from your quick lead off slap hitting base stealers, to your middle of the line up sluggish sluggers. Today this seems bush league, but that's what you got back the very late 1980's.  Simple game play as any 8 bit system offered.  When pitching, pressing up on the D pad threw a change up, ( a.k.a. a slow ball ) or sometimes a sinker. Down on the D pad was a fast ball, and left to right threw respective curve balls.

     On defense you could move infielders and outfielders left or right, as well as back or forward depending on your needs before pitching the ball.  Once a batted ball was in play, the outfield view was switched to a directly overhead view. You tracked a fly ball via a shadow or tried your luck at lining up an infielder in a batted balls path. This aspect has mixed reactions depending on which review you may read. I don't care for it myself, but it's not broken by any means. It does what it's supposed to without issue. It's a matter of taste or simply acquaintance .

     When on offense, hitting was entirely time based. No nine tiered batting systems here. See the ball, hit the ball. There's something to be said for simplicity. You can hit and run, straight out steal, and even lay down a sacrifice bunt. The basics on both side of the ball are intact and make for an enjoyable experience. You can even play an entire season granted you don't mind writing down a lengthy password after each contest. Either that or you can just play on an emulator and utilize the save state.As for stat tracking,...well, it's non existent. Break out the notebook and keep your own scorecards.

    Options include how easy or difficult you want the computer team to play. If you wanted a game to be pitcher friendly or hitter friendly. Errors or no errors, and the wind from off to hard. You can also edit line ups before a game and pinch hit during.

     Visually it's moderate at best. Everything is clear and represents what it's supposed to well. Unfortunatley there's only one ballpark to play in. This is a drag as even the master system version had what I could remember was at least 3 palette swaps even if it was just for the outfield wall,....but the field? Seriously, a yellow field? Fire the grounds crew. They haven't learned how to water grass.

     Lastly, sound. It's there for better or worse. The voices are well done and don't sound scratchy. They range from standard "Strike" and "Out" calls, to the field position when a batted ball is hit. The music is generic. Nothing too annoying, but nothing you want stuck in your head even on a good day.

     As usual, Sports games are best played with a buddy due to the fact that once you've played half a dozen games against the computer, you'll likely never lose a game again. Thus taking any and all fun right out of it.

In an odd side note. The commercial for the game in The U.S., has Tommy Lasorda touting the game as he sat and played, and at one point he says he's "Gotta start Ozz,". This was a bit deceptive as to a consumer, it made it apparent he was talking about hall of fame short stop Ozzie Smith. This game has no actual players. It simply was to show that line ups could be adjusted.

     Segas' first shot at a baseball game for their home system certainly wasn't a home run, but it was a solid triple. If you have fond memories of it, it can be had very cheaply online. If you're curious, ( as I was ), You could spend five dollars in a lot worse ways.