Al Michaels Announces HardBall III

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Al Michaels Announces HardBall III
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Accolade
Developer: MindSpan
Distributor: Hent Gruppen (SE rental)
Genre: Sports (baseball)
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1993 $59.9959.99 ACLD012 EU 1993 ACLD012 DE 1993-06 ACLD012 UK 1993-05 £39.9939.99 ACLD012 SE (Rental) 199x AU 199x FHAR02GMC

HardBall III is a baseball game for the Sega Mega Drive. It is the second HardBall game to be released for the console, following HardBall!, and a sequel (or update) to HardBall II, which skipped the console. It features digitized voice samples by veteran sportscaster Al Michaels.

It is thought that the Mega Drive version was not originally officially licensed by Sega but that it received a license during production following the Sega v. Accolade court case.

A rental version for the Nordic consumers was released, suggesting the game was probably released in Europe in small numbers.

Gameplay

The game is a baseball simulation. It is an expansive upgrade over HardBall!, adding play-by-play commentary (similar to Sports Talk Baseball), a full season mode, new viewing angles, a player and team editor, extensive toggles for modifying gameplay, instant replays, and a battery backup for saving season progress and customizations. All 28 MLB teams are present, albeit minus licensing but with their stadiums recreated for the game (except for the two expansion teams, Colorado and Florida). Player names and portraits are fabricated. The high level of customizability allows players to recreate MLB teams and fine-tune gameplay between arcade-style or simulation-style. The view from behind the pitcher's mound has been augmented with a view from behind the catcher (with the former used for pitching and the latter used for batting for player one, but there is an option to only use one view for the whole game). There are two fixed angles used for fielding depending on where the ball is hit, and the game switches to a close-up view for events such as a runner sliding into base.

Buttons , , and  START  behave interchangeably throughout the game.

	Pre-Game
	After selecting a team, a screen appears summarizing the team and its star player. Selecting Roster opens a screen for viewing the roster and the player statistics, substituting players, changing the batting order, changing the fielding positions, and setting the pitcher rotation. Infielders can set to normal, in, left, or right; outfielders can be set to normal, in, double play, guard lines, or hold runner; and both have custom settings where the player can manually position each fielder on an overhead view of the field. In season games, a pitcher only starts every five games. Selecting Edit opens an editor for renaming the team, naming the manager, rewriting the summary, choosing the star player, changing the uniform colors, changing the home field, and editing the team logo. Changes are saved to the cartridge when playing in the season mode (but not for exhibition games).
	Scoreboard
	The scoreboard and roster screen appears after choosing a team or during a game when a player calls a timeout by pressing . Selecting a team opens a screen for viewing the roster and the player statistics, substituting players, changing the batting order, changing the fielding positions, and warming up or substituting pitchers. Infielders can set to normal, in, left, or right; outfielders can be set to normal, in, double play, guard lines, or hold runner; and both have custom settings where the player can manually position each fielder on an overhead view of the field. Selecting Options allows players to assign control for each team (human or computer). The game in progress can be saved to the cartridge and continued later. It also contains a number of settings for adjusting the "Level of Play" for each team, including a manager-only mode where player only makes changes such as substituting players or deciding defensive strategy but does not control individual players (including pitchers and batters). The other settings toggle pitcher fatigue, pitching or batting stats (or whether all players behave the same), running speed, designated hitter, fielding errors, auto-fielding, base-stealing, pitch to center (whether the pitcher throws every pitch down the middle of the plate to make batting easier or in any area of the strike zone), and the fielding marker (the marker that appears on the field to follow the movement of a fly ball). Finally, there are options for choosing the view (alternating between the pitcher/batter views or using one view for the entire game) and changing the stadium. Selecting Highlights during a game allows players to save up to four highlights (replays) after a play. They can be viewed before a game is started but not during a game in progress.
	Defense
	Pitchers have a set of four pitches from a total of eight pitches: Offspeed: A slow pitch. Curveball: A pitch that follows a curved trajectory away from the pitcher's throwing arm. Fastball: A fast pitch. Screwball: A curved pitch that breaks in the opposite direction of a curveball or a slider. Sinker: A fast pitch that drops toward the ground. Fastball!: A very fast pitch. Slider: A curved pitch that breaks more sharply than a curveball. Knuckleball: A rare pitch that is slow and follows an unpredictable trajectory. Strategy: Raises another menu with additional choices to play an instant replay, intentionally walk the batter to plate, or change the defensive strategy (IF to reposition the infielders or OF to reposition the outfielders). The type of pitch is selected by holding in the indicated direction (or no direction when marked with ●) and pressing . The pitcher's weakest pitch is assigned to , medium pitches to and , and strongest pitch to . After choosing a pitch, the pitcher can throw the ball by holding while holding the D-Pad in any direction to aim the pitch. The wind-up of the pitch is longer when the button is held for longer, which determines how far inside or outside or high or low (depending on the directions held) the pitch will be. When the pitching menu is not open, the pitcher can pick-off a runner trying to steal a base by holding a direction corresponding to a base (which changes depending on the view, with first being in the pitcher's view and in the batter's view) and pressing . When the ball is hit, the fielder under control is marked by a circle around him and can be moved in any direction using the D-Pad. For fly balls, a marker moves over the ground and shows the position of the ball as it flies through the air. The fielder automatically catches the ball if below the ball when it falls close enough or over the ball when it is on the ground. The fielder jumps or dives for the ball by pressing , or the player can take control of the fielder closest to the ball by pressing if the ball moves closer to someone else. Once the ball is caught, the fielder can throw the ball by holding a direction corresponding to a base and pressing . An infielder with the ball can run to a baserunner for a tagout by holding a direction corresponding to a base and pressing . Substitutions can be made from the scoreboard and roster screen by pressing . Bullpen Status shows the pitchers and Sub Players shows the other defensive positions. The status of the pitcher on the mound is shown as Ok, Tiring, Fatigued, or Exhausted. A pitcher can be warmed up in the bullpen and needs to warm up for an inning before being brought into the game or his performance will be affected. Once a player has been substituted, he is removed for the rest of the game and not allowed to return.
	Offense
	Batters can choose from four types of hits: Power: Swings for the fences and hits the ball forcefully. Contact: A normal swing. Bunt: Squares up a bunt to knock the ball into the infield. Strategy: Raises another menu with additional choices to play an instant replay, to go back to the swing selection, or to choose a special play to control the behavior of baserunners (after which the player is shown the menu for the type of hit again). This menu is shown automatically when there are runners on base. The type of hit is selected by holding in the indicated direction (or no direction when marked with ●) and pressing . The following special plays are available if the player chooses Strategy: Hit and Run: Requires at least one baserunner. Steal: Requires at least one baseruner. Double Steal: Requires runners on first and second or on second and third. Squeeze: Requires a runner on third base and fewer than two outs. Then the batter steps into the batting box, and the pitcher throws the ball. When the pitch comes near, the batter can swing at it with while holding the D-Pad in any direction to aim the hit. For a left-handed hitter, holding hits the pitch on the outside and holding hits it on the inside. For a right-handed hitter, holding hits the pitch on the inside and holding hits it on the outside. Holding raises the bat up to counter a high pitch or holding lowers the bat to counter a low pitch; otherwise, the batter holds the bat in the middle. Hitting at the same level as the pitch usually results in a line drive or a fly ball, hitting one level lower than the pitch usually results in a pop-up (infield) or fly ball (outfield), and hitting one level higher than the pitch usually results in a groundball. Hitting two levels higher or lower than the pitch is a miss and a strike. When the batting menu is not open, a runner can lead-off in preparation for a steal by pressing a direction corresponding to the next base (which changes depending on the view, with second being in the batter's view and in the pitcher's view) or steal by holding a direction corresponding to the next base. Multiple baserunners can steal at the same time (by pressing multiple directions). Or a runner can retreat to the previous base by pressing while holding a direction corresponding to the previous base. Substitutions can be made from the scoreboard and roster screen by pressing .

Modes

Season schedule

Batting Practice options

There are three modes:

• Exhibition Game: A single game between any two teams. It can be played by one or two players. The games are played by one player against the computer using the default settings.
• League Play: A full season (162 games), half season (81 games), or short season (13 games). It can be played by one or two players. Games are chosen from a schedule, and each game can be simulated or played out in full. The games are played by two computers against other using the default settings. Players can "buy" up to two teams (which does not cost anything), and the game saves any modifications made to a team that the player owns to the cartridge. Changes are lost if the player sells a team. A "Stars" game between the best players in both leagues is played halfway through the season in the full or half seasons or before the postseason in the short season. After the season is over, there are two rounds of playoff games between the division leaders (preceded by a tie-breaking game if two teams are tied in the division), followed by a best of seven League Championship and a best of seven World Championship.
• Batting Practice: A practice mode for batting. It can be played by one player. The options allow setting the teams, the pitch types and location, and the view and stadium. The batter receives pitches for as long as the player wants to practice, but there is also a "Home Run Derby" setting where the batter receives 20 pitches and gets awarded points for the distance of each hit.

Teams

Team select

Teams are organized into the "Accolade" and "Mindspan" leagues (mimicking the American and National leagues respectively). The game does not carry a league or players association license, but nonetheless, it contains all 28 teams, without their proper names or logos, including the 1993 expansion teams, the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins. The names of the leagues, all-stars game, playoffs, and championships and the league logos can be changed in the "Setup" menu.

League	Division	Team	Based on
Accolade	West	Minnesota	Minnesota Twins
		Kansas City	Kansas City Royals
		Oakland	Oakland Athletics
		Seattle	Seattle Mariners
		Chicago	Chicago White Sox
		Texas	Texas Rangers
		California	California Angels
	East	Detroit	Detroit Tigers
		Milwaukee	Milwaukee Brewers
		Toronto	Toronto Blue Jays
		New York	New York Yankees
		Boston	Boston Red Sox
		Baltimore	Baltimore Orioles
		Cleveland	Cleveland Indians
Mindspan	West	San Francisco	San Francisco Giants
		Cincinnati	Cincinnati Reds
		Houston	Houston Astros
		Los Angeles	Los Angeles Dodgers
		San Diego	San Diego Padres
		Atlanta	Atlanta Braves
		Colorado	Colorado Rockies
	East	St. Louis	St. Louis Cardinals
		New York	New York Mets
		Montreal	Montreal Expos
		Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh Pirates
		Philadelphia	Philadelphia Phillies
		Chicago	Chicago Cubs
		Florida	Florida Marlins

Production credits

• Programming: Mike Benna, Jeff Sember
• Art: John Boechler
• Music: Alistair Hirst
• Producer: Pam Levins
• Developed by: MindSpan

Source:

In-game credits

---

• Design and Programming: Jeff Sembler, Mike Benna, MindSpan Technologies Corp.
• Graphics: John Boechler
• Music: Alistair Hirst
• Sound: Mike Benna
• Producer: Pam Levins
• Game Announcer: Al Michaels
• Testers: Joel Dinolt, Tomi Quintana, Don Felice
• Creative Services: Shirley Sellers
• Manual: Carol Ann Hanshaw, Richard Moran
• Hardware/Tools: Luis Rivas, Russell Shiffer
• Product Mktg Mgr: Daniel Jeung

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Al Michaels Announces HardBall III/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #44: "March 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #45: "April 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
• Sega Visions (US) #16: "December/January 1993/1994" (1993-xx-xx)
• Sega Visions (US) #17: "February/March 1994" (199x-xx-xx)

Print advert in GamePro (US) #46: "May 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 72 Consoles + (FR) PAL 86 Computer & Video Games (UK) PAL 87 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 45 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 83 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 83 GamesMaster (UK) PAL 60 Joypad (FR) PAL 81 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 89 Mega (UK) PAL 60 Mega Action (UK) PAL 89 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 74 MegaTech (UK) PAL 69 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 84 Sega Power (UK) PAL 74 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 86 Sega Zone (UK) PAL 82 Sega Force (UK) PAL 63

	75
Based on 19 reviews

Al Michaels Announces HardBall III

Mega Drive, US (1st Release)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US/EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, SE Rental (Hent Orange)
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, AU (US Import)
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Al Michaels Announces HardBall III/Technical information.