Difference between revisions of "Batter Up (accessory)"
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| − | {{stub}}The '''''Batter Up''''' controller is a special [[Sega Mega Drive]] peripheral designed with baseball games in mind. It was only released in North America and Brazil. | + | {{stub}}The '''''Batter Up''''' controller is a special [[Sega Mega Drive]] peripheral designed with baseball games in mind. It was only released in North America and Brazil. A similar peripheral was also released for the [[Super NES]]. |
| − | The Batter Up controller is shaped as a 24-inch bat surrounded by blue rubber foam. It responds to the user's movements, similar to the much later [[Wii]] remote | + | ==Hardware== |
| + | The Batter Up controller is shaped as a 24-inch bat surrounded by blue rubber foam. It responds to the user's movements, similar to the much later [[Wii]] remote (though the Batter Up is permanently wired to the Mega Drive system via a 12-foot lead. | ||
| − | + | From a technical standpoint, the Batter Up controller is a glorified [[Control Pad (Mega Drive)|Control Pad]], and so is in theory compatible with the vast majority of Mega Drive games. All standard Mega Drive face buttons exist on the side of the controller, although the placement of these buttons and the lack of true D-Pad will make many games challenging to play. | |
| − | == | + | No Mega Drive games, baseball or otherwise, were specifically engineered with the Batter Up in mind - Sports Sciences approach was to retro-fit Batter Up support by including four dip-switches on the controller, which re-map the D-Pad, {{A}}, {{B}}, {{C}} and how these buttons are meant to be pressed, to the action of swinging the bat. As most baseball games of the era play similarly, most baseball games experience some level of playability when controlled by a Batter Up. |
| − | The | + | |
| + | The effectiveness of the bat depends on how the game was programmed. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==List of compatible games== | ||
| + | The following is a list of games Sports Sciences claimed to be compatible. It is likely that many more baseball games (e.g. ''[[World Series Baseball '96]]'', released after this accessory) work just as well, but this was never officially confirmed. | ||
{{multicol| | {{multicol| | ||
*''[[Cal Ripken Jr. Baseball]]'' | *''[[Cal Ripken Jr. Baseball]]'' | ||
*''[[ESPN Baseball Tonight]]'' | *''[[ESPN Baseball Tonight]]'' | ||
| − | *''[[ | + | *''[[HardBall '94]]'' |
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*''[[MLBPA Baseball]]'' | *''[[MLBPA Baseball]]'' | ||
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*''[[R.B.I. Baseball '93]]'' | *''[[R.B.I. Baseball '93]]'' | ||
*''[[R.B.I. Baseball '94]]'' | *''[[R.B.I. Baseball '94]]'' | ||
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*''[[Sports Talk Baseball]]'' | *''[[Sports Talk Baseball]]'' | ||
*''[[Super Baseball 2020]]'' | *''[[Super Baseball 2020]]'' | ||
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*''[[Tony La Russa Baseball]]'' | *''[[Tony La Russa Baseball]]'' | ||
*''[[World Series Baseball (Mega Drive)|World Series Baseball]]'' | *''[[World Series Baseball (Mega Drive)|World Series Baseball]]'' | ||
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}} | }} | ||
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==Promotional material== | ==Promotional material== | ||
Revision as of 13:07, 30 July 2018
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| Batter Up | |||||||||||||||
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| Made for: Sega Mega Drive | |||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer: Sports Sciences | |||||||||||||||
| Type: Miscellaneous | |||||||||||||||
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This short article is in need of work. You can help Sega Retro by adding to it.
The Batter Up controller is a special Sega Mega Drive peripheral designed with baseball games in mind. It was only released in North America and Brazil. A similar peripheral was also released for the Super NES.
Hardware
The Batter Up controller is shaped as a 24-inch bat surrounded by blue rubber foam. It responds to the user's movements, similar to the much later Wii remote (though the Batter Up is permanently wired to the Mega Drive system via a 12-foot lead.
From a technical standpoint, the Batter Up controller is a glorified Control Pad, and so is in theory compatible with the vast majority of Mega Drive games. All standard Mega Drive face buttons exist on the side of the controller, although the placement of these buttons and the lack of true D-Pad will make many games challenging to play.
No Mega Drive games, baseball or otherwise, were specifically engineered with the Batter Up in mind - Sports Sciences approach was to retro-fit Batter Up support by including four dip-switches on the controller, which re-map the D-Pad, 
, 
, 
and how these buttons are meant to be pressed, to the action of swinging the bat. As most baseball games of the era play similarly, most baseball games experience some level of playability when controlled by a Batter Up.
The effectiveness of the bat depends on how the game was programmed.
List of compatible games
The following is a list of games Sports Sciences claimed to be compatible. It is likely that many more baseball games (e.g. World Series Baseball '96, released after this accessory) work just as well, but this was never officially confirmed.
Promotional material
also published in:
- EGM² (US) #5: "November 1994" (1994-1x-xx)[1]
- Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #65: "December 1994" (1994-xx-xx)[2]
- GamePro (US) #66: "January 1995" (199x-xx-xx)[3]
- Game Players (US) #0802: "Vol. 8 No. 2 February 1995" (1995-0x-xx)[4]
also published in:
- Game Players (US) #0807: "Vol. 8 No. 7 July 1995" (1995-0x-xx)[5]
Physical scans
| Mega Drive, US |
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   Cover
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| Mega Drive, BR |
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References
- ↑ EGM², "November 1994" (US; 1994-1x-xx), page 177
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "December 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 257
- ↑ GamePro, "January 1995" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 141
- ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 8 No. 2 February 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 71
- ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 8 No. 7 July 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 77
| Third-party controllers for the Sega Mega Drive | |
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