Sega Genesis
Released in 1994 by Sega
Grade: C+
It’s the first baseball video game with a catcher’s eye view and a realistic pitching interface, significantly changing how video baseball is played. It’s as faithful a representation of baseball as you’ll find in 16 bits, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most fun.
Where it falls in the series
Sega released Tommy Lasorda Baseball in 1989 and Sports Talk Baseball in 1992, two arcade-style games. World Series Baseball is obviously a whole new ballgame. It was followed by World Series Baseball ‘95, World Series Baseball ‘96, and World Series Baseball 98, which were all criticized for being lazy roster updates. I haven’t played 95 or 96, but I’ve played World Series Baseball 98, and I much prefer the original.
Praises and gripes
While most earlier baseball games have you control the ball after releasing it, World Series Baseball makes you decide on a pitch beforehand. Choose a location, pitch type, and one of three speeds, and let it rip. Forget magically “steering” the ball and defying physics. You actually pitch in this game.
When batting, you’ll have to learn to read the pitch soon after it’s released. Understanding the count and knowing what to expect can help, but it’s mostly about read-and-react skills. Sound like real baseball? It is!
… Well, sort of. I doubt there’s any sophisticated under-the-hood logic rewarding me for my genuine pitching tactics. I don’t think the CPU is smart enough to catch onto patterns. The animations and ball movement are pretty choppy. The “slow” fastball is so slow it’s more like a change-up. The curveball looks like a slider, and the slider looks like no pitch ever seen in history. The view is inexplicably off-center. The strike zone is fishy, and you can never tell exactly where the ball passed by the plate.
On the bright side, the graphics during at-bats are pretty. The pitcher actually looks like he’s 60 feet out on a mound. It’s super satisfying to strike out a batter, and it’s reasonably easy to make contact when hitting. On the rookie setting, you just swing for timing. On pro and all-star, you need to move a circular icon into place, which is fairly intuitive. I like how you can adjust difficulty for pitching and hitting separately.
The action in the field is okay. Fielding is manageable, but you’ll probably switch to auto fielding to avoid careless mistakes. There are some nice animations, but also moments of confusion as to what happened. Runners sure get to first base in a hurry, but they’re tough to control after that.
The whole scene has an unusual washed out color to it, like the game is a living baseball card from the 70s. It may look “off” to some people, but I like it.
The sound is pretty staticky, but the play-by-play man has his moments. I like the jubilation screaming out from a home run, “He crushes it! It’s a home run!” and the suspense of a close foul ball, “It’s roped down the line! … and … foul.”
The game has a full MLB license, so it’s nice to see real team logos along with real player names. The stadium backdrops and field designs are done well, but they really wasted the license by not having more distinct team uniforms. Also we keep hearing the PA announcer introduce every batter, but only by number, not name.
And that brings me to the big bummer of this game. It takes too damn long! Before every batter, we stop to look at the scoreboard. After every play, you have to throw the ball back to the pitcher. Even the pitching interface goes too slow. All these lulls in the action add up, and it takes at least 45 minutes to play nine innings.
I want to love this game, but it comes up short. I appreciate World Series Baseball for its ambition and its influence on later games. I see it as a huge step toward the genuine simulations we got years later. I just wish it wasn’t such a grind to play.
Published May 25, 2017
Updated November 14, 2024