World Series Baseball II (ワールドシリーズベースボールⅡ) is a Sega Saturn baseball game developed and published by Sega. An entry in the World Series Baseball series of baseball titles, it is a version of Greatest Nine '96 with Major League Baseball players, teams, and ballparks. The game was first released in the United States in August 1996, and was later brought to Japan, Europe, and Australia in the following months.
The game is a sequel to the 1995 Sega Saturn baseball title World Series Baseball, and it was followed by World Series Baseball 98 in 1997.
Gameplay
The game plays identically to its predecessor but with several additions. Players can choose from any of the 28 teams from the 1996 MLB season. All 28 team stadiums have been recreated for the game. The 1998 expansion teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, are also present. However, since they had not yet played a game at the time of the release, they have not been assigned divisions or rosters and do not have ballparks. Instead, for each expansion team, the player must create a custom roster and replace an existing team in a division (adopting that team's ballpark). The game also adds new music, sound effects, and commentary, more player animations, and additional camera angles (including angles from the point of view of the outfielders). The angle for the pitching and batting view is now slightly off-center (pivoting depending on whether the batter is left- or right-handed).
The game retains the modes from its predecessor:
- Exhibition Mode: An exhibition mode, for playing a single game against a human or computer player. The player can also watch two computer-controlled teams play. The player chooses the team and the batting line-up for computer players.
- Pennant Race: Plays a season of 13, 26, or a full 162 games, culminating in the World Series. The game uses the Saturn's internal memory or a backup cartridge to save the player's progress.
- Playoffs: A truncated season with only the play-offs. Up to four players can participate, with two players playing at a time.
- All-Star Game: An exhibition mode against a human or computer player but featuring teams consisting of the best players from the American and National Leagues.
- Home Run Derby: A competition where players can choose any player in the league and compete to get the most home runs. There are no balls, strikes, or outs and no baserunning or fielding. This mode can be played with up to four players taking turns (with the computer pitching for every player), with each player batting for 5, 10, 15, or 20 balls.
- Data Base: View the statistics for any of the 700 players in the game.
Before each game, players choose a team and a batting line-up. Players can choose from any of the 28 major league ballparks, set the number of innings, toggle designated hitters (whether the pitcher bats or a designated hitter replaces him in the batting line-up), toggle errors (whether fielders occasionally drop fly balls or miss grounders), and toggle wind and weather (whether wind conditions affect the ball physics). When playing against a computer-controlled opponent, the player also sets the difficulty level (Rookie, Veteran, All-Star, or Legend).
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Defense
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When pitching, position the pitcher on the mound with and and throw the ball with . While throwing, hold and for a breaking ball, for a change-up (slow pitch), or for a fastball. Faster pitches are harder for the batter to hit but more likely to travel farther or potentially result in a home run. The batter is eliminated when three strikes are thrown; the batter gets a free base if the pitcher throws four balls or hits the batter.
An indicator in the corner of the screen shows the wind speed and direction, which can affect the trajectory of the pitch. Wind can be disabled in the options before starting the game.
When fielding, the D-Pad controls all of the fielders simultaneously (with the camera focused on the one closest to the ball). The player can move the fielders while pitching by holding while moving the D-Pad. The player can have the nearest fielder jump by pressing or dive by pressing while holding a direction. Once the ball is in possession, throw it to base by pressing while holding a direction corresponding to the base ( for first, for second, for third, or for home) or press by itself to throw to first base.
The player can pause the game with START to substitute a relief pitcher or change the positions of fielders. This menu also has options for toggling the radar (which shows the speed of the pitch), toggling auto-fielding (allowing fielders to move into position automatically), and toggling the ball mark (a ring on the ground that indicates where the ball will land).
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Offense
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When hitting, the D-Pad positions the batter in the batter's box. Swing with or bunt with . The batter stops the swinging motion when the button is released.
The player can instruct all baserunners to lead-off with or have them return to base with . While holding a direction corresponding to the destination base ( for first, for second, for third, or for home), the player can instruct an individual baserunner to steal a base with or return to his previous base with . The player can instruct all baserunners to steal a base with or instruct them to return to their previous bases with .
The player can pause the game with START to substitute a pinch hitter or swap out runners.
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Teams
League |
Division |
Team |
Stadium
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American
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Western
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California Angels |
Anaheim Stadium
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Oakland Athletics |
Oakland Coliseum
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Seattle Mariners |
Kingdome
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Texas Rangers |
The Ballpark
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Central
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Chicago White Sox |
Comiskey Park
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Cleveland Indians |
Jacobs Field
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Kansas City Royals |
Kauffman Stadium
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Milwaukee Brewers |
County Stadium
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Minnesota Twins |
Metrodome
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Eastern
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Baltimore Orioles |
Camden Yards
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Boston Red Sox |
Fenway Park
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Detroit Tigers |
Tiger Stadium
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New York Yankees |
Yankee Stadium
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Toronto Blue Jays |
SkyDome
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National
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Western
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Colorado Rockies |
Coors Field
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Los Angeles Dodgers |
Dodger Stadium
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San Diego Padres |
Jack Murphy Stadium
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San Francisco Giants |
3Com Park
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Central
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Chicago Cubs |
Wrigley Field
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Cincinnati Reds |
Riverfront Stadium
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Houston Astros |
Astrodome
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Pittsburgh Pirates |
Three Rivers Stadium
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St. Louis Cardinals |
Busch Stadium
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Eastern
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Atlanta Braves |
Fulton County Stadium
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Florida Marlins |
Joe Robbie Stadium
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Montreal Expos |
Olympic Stadium
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New York Mets |
Shea Stadium
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Philadelphia Phillies |
Veterans Stadium
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Expansion
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Unassigned
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Arizona Diamondbacks |
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Tampa Bay Devil Rays |
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Production credits
- Producer: David Perkinson
- Product Manager: Brad Hogan
- Sega Sports Special Teams: Christine Bertoglio, Gerald J. DeYoung, Rosie Freeman, John Gillin, Tracy Johnson, Scott Rohde, Chris Smith
- Voice Over: Alan Bruce
- Lead Testers: Lorne Ascuncion, Mark Paniagua
- Manual: Marc Sherrod
- Special Thanks: Mark Subvtnick, Dave Albert, John Carlucci, Chris Cutliff, Rich Pilling, Brad Schlachter, Carolann Dunn, Roy Cooler, Brad Radke, Angela Edwards, John Leonhardt, Phoenix Communications, Gordon Lyon, Kristin Mallory, Jenny Martin, Bryan Reilly, Adam Sevillia, Russell Athletic, Flying Rhino Prod., Merle Kesslet, Spencer Nilsen, Ryoichi Hasegawa, Makoto Nishino, Michikazu Tamamura, Toyoji Kurose, Hideaki Mochida
- Cyber Soundlogo mark (©Sega Enterprises, Ltd., 1996)
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[8]
- Producer: Hirotsugu Kobayashi
- Director: Tetsuo Shinyu
- Technical Director: Honkang Lee
- Sound Director: Tatsuya Kouzaki
- Graphic Designers: Takaya Segawa, Katsuhiko Sato, Kazuyuki Iwasawa, Yoshihiro Otani, Mina Tateiwa, Tetsunari Iwasaki, Hideki Kawabata, Sanae Tatsuo
- Programmers: Manabu Ishihara, Hiromasa Kaneko, Kazuyuki Mukaida, Ichiro Kasai, Yuichi Morosawa
- Game Designer: Tomoko Hasegawa
- Sound Creators: Katsuyoshi Nitta, Teruhiko Nakagawa, Seiroh Okamoto
- Sound Programmer: Atsumu Miyazawa
- Special Thanks: Dave Albert, John Carlucci, Chris Cutliff, John Gillin, Gordon Lyon, Kristin Mallory, Jenny Martin, Bryan Reilly, Adam Sevillia, Russell Athletic, Flying Rhino Prod., Merle Kessler, Spencer Nilsen, Ryoichi Hasegawa, Makoto Nishino, Michikazu Tamamura, Toyoji Kurose, Hideaki Mochida
- Cybersound
- (C)Sega Enterprises, Ltd. 1995, 1996
Source: In-game credits(JP)
Magazine articles
- Main article: World Series Baseball II/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
UK newspaper print advert
Physical scans
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Division by zero.
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Based on 0 review
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Saturn, JP
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  Cover
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 Spinecard  Disc
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Saturn, EU
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 Cover
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Saturn, AU
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 Cover
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Technical information
ROM dump status
System |
Hash |
Size |
Build Date |
Source |
Comments |
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?
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247,411,584
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CD-ROM (EU)
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MK81113-50 V1.003
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✔
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247,383,360
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1996-09-19
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CD-ROM (JP)
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GS-9120 V1.008
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✔
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307,502,832
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CD-ROM (US)
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81113 V1.001
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External links
- Sega of America webpage: Saturn
References
- ↑ File:WSBII Saturn JP Box Back.jpg
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/segasaturn/software.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-03-30 22:53)
- ↑ http://www.sega-saturn.com/saturn/other/august-n.htm (Wayback Machine: 2016-05-12 16:03)
- ↑ Press release: 1996-05-16: ALL-STAR LINE-UP OF SEGA SPORTS VIDEOGAMES EXPANDS THE PROVEN TOP-SELLING FRANCHISE
- ↑ File:DailyMirror UK 1996-10-10 45.png
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Computer & Video Games, "December 1996" (UK; 1996-11-xx), page 90
- ↑ Sega Magazin, "November 1996" (DE; 1996-10-09), page 71
- ↑ File:Wsbii sat us manual.pdf, page 44
- ↑ Next Generation, "October 1996" (US; 1996-09-17), page 115
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "October 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 167
- ↑ CD Consoles, "Janvier 1997" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 116
- ↑ Famitsu, "1996-11-01" (JP; 1996-10-18), page 1
- ↑ Fun Generation, "12/96" (DE; 1996-11-13), page 99
- ↑ GamePro, "November 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 145
- ↑ MAN!AC, "11/96" (DE; 1996-10-09), page 85
- ↑ Mega Force, "Novembre/Décembre 1996" (FR; 1996-1x-xx), page 70
- ↑ Mega Fun, "10/96" (DE; 1996-09-18), page 66
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "November 1996" (UK; 1996-10-04), page 72
- ↑ Player One, "Décembre 1996" (FR; 1996-xx-xx), page 136
- ↑ Saturn Fan, "1996 No. 22" (JP; 1996-10-18), page 192
- ↑ Saturn Fan, "1996 No. 25" (JP; 1996-11-29), page 70
- ↑ Saturn+, "Issue 4" (UK; 1996-10-24), page 31
- ↑ Sega Power, "December 1996" (UK; 1996-10-24), page 58
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "November 1996" (UK; 1996-10-17), page 68
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "1996-18 (1996-10-25)" (JP; 1996-10-11), page 225
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "Readers rating final data" (JP; 2000-03), page 12
- ↑ Total Saturn, "Volume One Issue Two" (UK; 1996-09-30), page 60
- ↑ Total Saturn, "Volume One Issue Four" (UK; 1996-12-29), page 67
- ↑ Ultra Game Players, "November 1996" (US; 1996-10-08), page 129