World Series Baseball 98 (Saturn)

For the Sega Mega Drive game, see World Series Baseball 98 (Mega Drive).

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World Series Baseball 98
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Sega, Kama Entertainment (KR)
Developer: Sega
Licensor: Major League Baseball Properties, Major League Baseball Players Association
Genre: Sports
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1997-07-16 $49.9949.99 81127 KR 1997 MK-81127-08

World Series Baseball 98 is a Sega Saturn baseball game developed and published by Sega. First released in the United States in July 1997, the game is a sequel to the developer's previous World Series Baseball II. It is a localized version of Pro Yakyuu Greatest Nine 97.

Gameplay

The game has been drastically redesigned from its predecessor. The most significant visual change is the transition from 2D sprites to 3D polygonal players, which allows for more camera angles and animations (including player-specific mannerisms). The game also makes use of the Saturn's high-resolution video mode for its title screen and menus. Gameplay has been overhauled to use a quadrant system for batter/pitcher battles.

The 28 teams from the 1997 MLB season are present and playable with their full rosters and their ballparks. The 1998 expansion teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, are also present. They have been assigned leagues and have had their stadiums recreated for the game, but as neither would play a game until the 1998 season, they have not been assigned divisions and have fictional rosters. Players can also choose to play as the American League All-Stars or the National League All-Stars, teams consisting of the best players from each respective league, which were restricted to a separate mode in the previous games.

The game has the following play modes:

• 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 full 162 game season, 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.
• 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 two players taking turns (with the computer pitching for every player), with each player batting for 20 balls.

Before each game, players choose a team and a batting line-up. Players can choose from any of the 30 major league ballparks, choose a day or a night game, 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). Players can also decide whether to use automated fielding or baserunning and impact markers (which show where a fly ball will land). When playing against a computer-controlled opponent, the player also sets the difficulty level (Rookie, Veteran, or All-Star).

	Defense
	Each pitcher has his own repertoire of pitches that can be thrown, which are shown as arrows in the bottom-right corner of the screen (and also when selecting a pitcher). Pitches are thrown with while holding the D-Pad in the direction of the desired pitch: for a fastball, for a change-up, for a slider, for a curve, for a fork or split, for a sinker, for a screwball, and for a palm or knuckle. Left and right are reversed for left-handed pitchers. If no special pitch is chosen, the pitcher throws a fastball. A rectangle the center of the screen shows the strike zone. When the ball is thrown, the target of the pitch is shown as a circle over it and the location of the batter's hit is shown as a crosshair. Holding for longer results in a faster pitch. The player can continue to use the D-Pad to affect the trajectory of the pitch after it is thrown. An indicator in the corner of the screen shows the wind speed and direction, which can also affect the ball travel. Wind can be disabled in the options before starting the game. The pitcher can throw to first with , to second with , and to third with to pick off a runner who is trying to steal a base. The pitcher can also throw a pitchout (a pitch deliberately thrown outside of the strike zone to make it easier to catch) with to prevent baserunners from stealing a base. The player can optionally choose a special formation for the fielders (bunt, deep, or shallow) with . When fielding, the D-Pad moves the fielder nearest to the ball. The player can change to a different fielder with and . The fielder can jump to try to catch the ball with or dive with while holding a direction. Once the fielder has possession of the ball, he can run to the nearest base for a tag-out with or he can throw it to first with , to second with , to third with , or to home with . Between pitches, the player can call for a time-out with  START  to substitute a relief pitcher or change the fielders. Pitchers become tired as they throw more pitches, but they can be given a small energy boost with .
	Offense
	The player tries to predict the location of the pitch in four quadrants: sets the bat to the bottom left, for the bottom right, for the top left, and for the top right. Once the pitch is thrown, the player can move the batting marker, indicating the location of the hit, using the D-Pad. The location of the incoming pitch appears as a circle while the batting marker is shown as a crosshair. When the two intersect, the batting marker locks on to the ball and the player can swing at it with . If the player correctly guesses the quadrant of the pitch before it is thrown, the batting marker is locked on to it already without needing to use the D-Pad. The player can also bunt the ball by holding with or to move the bat up or down and or to change the angle of the bat. After a hit, the player can press repeatedly to speed up the batter running to first base. The player can instruct baserunners to lead off with or return to base with , which can be paired with a direction on the D-Pad to specify a base ( for first, for second, for third, or for home). The player can instruct a baserunner to advance by holding while holding a direction or to return to base by holding while holding a direction. The player can have all runners advance with or all runners retreat with . If two runners are caught between two bases, the player can send the first runner forward and the other runner back with . Between pitches, the player can call for a time-out with  START  to substitute a pinch hitter or swap out runners.

Teams

League	Division	Team	Stadium
American	Western	Anaheim Angels	Anaheim Stadium
		Oakland Athletics	Oakland Coliseum
		Seattle Mariners	Kingdome
		Texas Rangers	The Ballpark
	Central	Chicago White Sox	Comiskey Park
		Cleveland Indians	Jacobs Field
		Kansas City Royals	Kauffman Stadium
		Milwaukee Brewers	County Stadium
		Minnesota Twins	Metrodome
	Eastern	Baltimore Orioles	Camden Yards
		Boston Red Sox	Fenway Park
		Detroit Tigers	Tiger Stadium
		New York Yankees	Yankee Stadium
		Toronto Blue Jays	SkyDome
	Unassigned	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	Tropicana Field
National	Western	Colorado Rockies	Coors Field
		Los Angeles Dodgers	Dodger Stadium
		San Diego Padres	Jack Murphy Stadium
		San Francisco Giants	3Com Park
	Central	Chicago Cubs	Wrigley Field
		Cincinnati Reds	Cinergy Field
		Houston Astros	Astrodome
		Pittsburgh Pirates	Three Rivers Stadium
		St. Louis Cardinals	Busch Stadium
	Eastern	Atlanta Braves	Turner Field
		Florida Marlins	Pro Player Stadium
		Montreal Expos	Olympic Stadium
		New York Mets	Shea Stadium
		Philadelphia Phillies	Veterans Stadium
	Unassigned	Arizona Diamondbacks	Bank One Ballpark

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	World Series Baseball 98	World Series Baseball 98
Korean	월드시리즈베이스볼98	World Series Baseball 98

Production credits

• Executive Producer: Scott Rohde
• Producer: David Perkinson
• Brand Manager: Brad Hogan
• Voice Over: Alan Bruce
• Database: Matt Underwood
• Lead Tester: David Paniagua
• Assistant Leads: Mark Paniagua, Lorne Ascuncion
• Testers: Jason Batholomew, Tony Borba, Steve Bourdet, Donald Carmichael, Joe Damon, Roger Deforest, Al Dutton, Jeff Junio, Abe Navarro, Tim Spengler, Matt Underwood, Fernando Valderrama, Peter Young
• Special Thanks: Roy Cooler and Mike & Susan Schechter (Schechter & Assoc.), Steve Copses, Sam Gibson and Jim Allen (Atlanta Braves), John J. Curran (Lescher & Mahoney), Geraldine Dessimoz, Jef Feltman, Takahiro Fukada, Mark Lindstrom, Lydia Gable, Anne Moellering, Judie Nybo, Dina Panto (Phoenix Comm.), Rich Pilling (MLB Photos), David Platshon & Kent Russell (Fat Box), Brad Schlachter and Carolann Dunn (MLB), Bernie Stolar, Mark Subotnick, Shuji Utsumi
• Team Sega Sports: Dave Dempsey, Tracy Johnson, Marcus Matthews, Mike Wallis

Source:

US manual

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Magazine articles

Main article: World Series Baseball 98 (Saturn)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

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Saturn KR print advert

File:WSB98 Korean Print Ad.jpg

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #96: "July 1997" (1997-0x-xx)

Print advert in GamePro (US) #107: "August 1997" (1997-xx-xx)

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #99: "October 1997" (1997-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score GamePro (US) NTSC-U 83 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 100 Ultra Game Players (US) NTSC-U 94

	92
Based on 3 reviews

World Series Baseball 98 (Saturn)

Saturn, US
Cover
Manual

Saturn, KR
Cover

Technical information

Main article: World Series Baseball 98 (Saturn)/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	430,225,488		CD-ROM (US)	81127 V1.006

External links

• Sega of America webpage: Saturn