MLBPA Baseball

n/a

Mega Drive Game Gear
MLBPA Baseball
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: High Score Productions Beam Software
Supporting companies: E.J. Sarraille Design Group (package design), STATS (statistics)
Licensor: Major League Baseball Players Association
Peripherals supported: 4 Way Play
Genre: Sports (baseball)
Number of players: 1-4
Release Date RRP Code US 1994-06 $59.9559.95 717401 AU 199x US 1995 T-50058
Non-Sega versions

MLBPA Baseball is a baseball game for the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Game Gear. It should not be confused with Sega's earlier Sports Talk Baseball, another MLBPA game. It was initially only released in North America, though a small run of the Mega Drive version found its way to Australia.

Gameplay

Mega Drive version

The game is a Major League Baseball game. Because of its MLBPA license, it includes all of the players and statistics from the 1993 MLB season. However, it could not use the team names because of the lack of an MLB license, so teams are identified by their city instead and the American League, National League, and World Series have been renamed to the "A League," "N League," and "The Series" respectively. There is one stadium with two field types. Up to four players can play simultaneously using the 4 Way Play peripheral.

Pitching and hitting use a view from behind the catcher, and fielding and running use an overhead view. In the pitching and hitting view, the infield is shown in an inset diagram with the positions of runners. In the fielding and running view, the entire field is shown in an inset diagram with the positions of all fielders and runners. Players are given different colors depending on the human player that is controlling them (yellow for player one, blue for player two, red for player three, orange for player four, and grey for the computer).

	Roster
	The Roster and User Control Roster screens appear before the start of a game, and they can be brought up during gameplay by pressing  START  when the ball is not in play. The Roster screen lets the player check the stats of every player, change the batting order, and make a substitution to any position. The batting order can only be changed before the game starts. Once a player has been substituted, he is out for the rest of the game. The User Control Roster screen lets players assign control of any position to any player (up to four players can play simultaneously) or to the computer.
	Defense
	On defense, a colored star appears under players that are under the control of a human player to indicate who is controlling that player (yellow for player one, blue for player two, red for player three, and orange for player four). When pitching, the pitcher can move on the pitcher's mound with or . The pitcher throws a regular speed pitch by pressing . Or the pitcher can throw a fastball by pressing +, a sinker by pressing +, or a curveball by pressing + or +. The pitcher's endurance starts to wane after about four innings and should be substituted. The pitcher can pickoff a runner attempting a steal by pressing while holding a direction on the D-Pad corresponding to the base ( for first, for second, or for third). When fielding, a white circle marker appears on the ground and in the inset field diagram to indicate where the ball will land. The fielder under control can move in any direction using the D-Pad. Pressing takes control of the fielder closest to the ball (if not already under the control of another human player). The fielder can make a jumping catch by pressing or a diving catch by pressing while holding the D-Pad in any direction. After catching the ball, the fielder can throw the ball to a base by pressing while holding a direction on the D-Pad corresponding to the base ( for first, for second, for third, or for home). Or an infielder can run the ball to a base for a tagout by pressing while holding a direction on the D-Pad corresponding to the base. The player can call a timeout by pressing  START  when the ball is not in play, then make substitutions by selecting Roster, watch a replay of the last play by selecting Instant Replay, or change the defensive positions by selecting Defensive Positioning.
	Offense
	When batting, the batter can move around the batter's box using the D-Pad. The batter can do a check swing by pressing or a full swing by holding through the whole motion. Or the batter can hold a bunt by pressing . Batters who make contact automatically run to first base. A runner can take an extra base by pressing while holding a direction on the D-Pad corresponding to the destination base ( for first, for second, for third). Or a runner can return to the base by holding with a direction on the D-Pad corresponding to the destination base. The player can call a timeout by pressing  START  when the ball is not in play, then make substitutions by selecting Roster or watch a replay of the last play by selecting Instant Replay.
	Instant Replay
	An Instant Replay of the last play can be viewed by pressing  START  when the ball is not in play. Pressing rewinds, plays at normal speed, fast forwards, and rewind or advance by a single frame, and  START  exits the replay and returns to the game.

Modes

Season schedule

The game has the following modes:

• One Game: A single game between any two teams. Players can toggle designated hitter (whether the pitcher must bat or a designated hitter takes his place in the batting lineup) and the field type (grass or turf).
• League Playoff: Skips the regular season and goes straight to a best-of-seven league playoff series between any two teams in either the A League or N League. The winners of the league pennants graduate to "The Series."
• The Series: Skips the regular season and the playoffs and goes straight to a best-of-seven championship series between any A League team and any N League team.
• Full Season: Plays a full season, which ends with a best-of-seven playoff series between the division winners and a best-of-seven championship series between the league winners. Rather than choosing a team, the player is presented with the entire schedule of games for every team from April to October and can choose any game to play or simulate games up to a certain point to generate the outcomes without playing them.

Each mode can be played by one to four players. Before a game starts, any player can assign control to either team. If no human players are assigned control, a demo game is played between two computer teams. After deciding the roster, control of each position on the team can be assigned to any player or the computer.

The season and series modes save the player's progress to a battery backup after each game is completed.

Teams

Team select

Since the game lacks a Major League Baseball license, teams are identified by their home city rather than their names and the American League and National League are named the "A League" and "N League" respectively. The teams that are named after states in MLB are named after the cities in which they are based here (so California, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, and Texas are called Anaheim, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, and Arlington respectively). The two markets with two ball clubs, New York and Chicago, have "A" and "N" teams corresponding to the league to which they belong.

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

Production credits

Mega Drive version

• Game Design: Michael Kosaka, Happy Keller
• Programming: Duncan Meech, Paul Halmshaw, Jim Sproul
• Executive Producer: Scott Orr
• Associate Producer: Kevin Hogan
• Assistant Producer: Ken Rogers
• Graphics: Cynthia Hamilton, Terry Falls, Kendra Lammas
• Sound and/or Music: Dave Whittaker, Rob Hubbard
• Umpire Voice: James Bailey
• Technical Director: Evan Robinson
• Product Manager: Chip Lange
• Package Design: E.J. Sarraille Design Group
• Package Art Direction: Nancy Waisanen
• Documentation: Bill Scheppler
• Documentation Layout: Tom Peters
• Testing Manager: Al Roireau
• Product Testing: Greg Kawamura, Ted Fitzgerald, Steve Imes, Brian Reed, Michael Caldwell
• Quality Assurance: Stewart Putney, Dan Gossett, Paul Armatta
• Special Thanks To: Mike Schechter, James Bailey, Kyra Woody, Michael Humes

Source:

US manual

Game Gear version

• Executive Producer: Scott Orr
• Producer: Randy Delucchi
• Associate Producer: John Boerio
• Assistant Producer: Greg Kawamura
• Project Manager: Adam Lancman
• Technical Manager: Simon Dyer
• Programmers: Iain Cartwright, Mike Trinh, Peter Litwiniuk
• Artists: John Tsiglis, Joe Rimmer, Jeremy Kupsch
• Sound: Marshall Parker
• Lead Programmer: John Carney
• Quality Assurance: Cameron Brown, Aaron Smith, Gary Ireland
• Testing: Joanna Pataki, Michael Hensley, Matt McKnight
• Writer: Bill Scheppler
• Technical Director: David Bunch
• Player Statistics: STATS Inc.
• Product Manager: Chip Lange
• Special Thanks: Kyra Pehrson

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: MLBPA Baseball/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in EGM² (US) #1: "July 1994" (1994-07-19)

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 30 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 67 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 77 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 78 GamesMaster (UK) NTSC-U 81 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 81 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 65 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 70

	69
Based on 8 reviews

MLBPA Baseball

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Game Gear version

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: MLBPA Baseball/Technical information.