Sega Genesis
Released in 1997 by Sega
Grade: C-
World Series Baseball 98 is a disappointing end to Sega’s 16-bit baseball efforts. While it retains the realistic take on baseball from the original World Series Baseball, it doesn’t improve on it at all.
Where it falls in the series
Sega started its run with two old-school arcade-style games, Tommy Lasorda Baseball and Sports Talk Baseball in 1989 and 1992. Then there was the groundbreaking World Series Baseball in 1994, and three shamelessly identical follow-ups, World Series Baseball ’95, World Series Baseball ’96, and this.
Praises and gripes
Like its predecessors, this game allows pitchers to pick from three pitch types and three pitch speeds, then pick a location, and fire away. Despite choppy animation and exaggerated curves on each pitch, this was quite ambitious for the Genesis days.
When batting, you choose between contact, normal, and power. On the first of three difficulty settings, hitting comes down to timing. One level up, and you need move a long rectangular box toward the ball while swinging. The original used a circle, and this minor change to a rectangle certainly isn’t better.
One other minor change: umpires in this version have a slightly smaller strike zone. In theory, this makes batting easier, but the strike zone overlay on screen is still the same size, and the game doesn’t do a good job showing you exactly where the ball crossed over the plate.
The action in the field is on par with most other games of its era, although slowed to a realistic speed, and I like that the camera gives a wide view of the action. The diagram in the corner makes outfield plays manageable, but you’ll probably want to switch to automatic fielding, which makes players run to the ball, and you just throw. Unfortunately, as in the original, the animations are sometimes lacking, making it hard to tell exactly what happened. Not only that, but the controls are actually worse than the original. They feel mushy and can cause slight delays in your throws.
The graphics are slightly better, with more balanced colors, but the audio is far worse. It sounds awfully drab and staticky, and the announcer mumbles meekly compared to the original.
And the biggest issue from the original wasn’t addressed: the slow pace from pitch to pitch and from batter to batter. It takes at least 45 minutes to get through a game. You keep seeing the scoreboard, you have to throw the ball back to the pitcher, and the pitching and hitting interfaces take an annoying extra moment to appear on screen.
People still talk fondly of the World Series Baseball games. It’s a minor crime that Sega never put in the effort to improve them over four installments.
Published December 10, 2017
Updated November 14, 2024