World Series Baseball is a 1994 baseball game by Sega and BlueSky Software released for the Sega Mega Drive in the US. It is the first baseball game for the platform to have licenses from both the MLB and the MLBPA, so it has all of the teams as well as the players from the 1994 MLB season.
It was followed by World Series Baseball '95 for the Mega Drive and World Series Baseball Starring Deion Sanders for the 32X. A World Series Baseball game, most likely a port of this version, was also once planned for release on the Sega Mega-CD[4][5]. This version would have had a "3D field view" and was originally set for release in October 1993[6].
Gameplay
The game takes a more realistic, simulation-style approach compared to the more simplistic, arcade-style approach taken by other baseball games of the time. It uses a low angle from the perspective of the catcher for pitching and hitting. Players can choose from any of the 28 teams from the 1994 season. The game has all 700 players with their statistics and all 28 ballparks. Like its predecessor, Sports Talk Baseball, it has spoken commentary.
Furthermore, other than using the bog-standard control methods of earlier baseball games, World Series Baseball introduces three different levels of control for the batter and pitcher: Rookie (automatic targeting) and Veteran and All-Star (where instead of physically moving around you move a target around to show where to bat/pitch).
- Exhibition: A single game against a human or computer player. The player chooses the team and the batting line-up for computer players.
- League: Plays a season of games that culminate in the World Series. The player can choose the number of games (13, 26, 52, or a full 162 games) and the number of divisions (4 or 6). The game uses a battery backup to save the player's progress.
- Home Run Derby: Players have 10 attempts to hit as many home runs as possible. A missed attempt is a hit that is not a home run; there are no strike-outs. The player can choose the pitch speed (70-79, 80-89, or 90-99 mph). This mode can be played by up to 8 players taking turns.
- Batting Practice: The player practices batting. There are no outs in this mode. The player can select a left- or right-handed pitcher, a left- or right-handed batter, the type of pitch, and the speed of the pitch.
Before each game, players choose a team. Players set the batting order and can also change the defensive position of each player and make substitutions. Players choose the starting pitcher and can have two relief pitchers warm up in the bullpen. Starting pitchers have more stamina than relief pitchers, but relievers can warm up to their maximum stamina while in the bullpen.
In the game options, players can select the difficulty for pitching and batting separately (Rookie, Veteran, or All-Star) and toggle auto-fielding.
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Defense
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On each pitch, the player positions the pitch using the D-Pad and chooses the type of pitch to throw with , , or . Each pitcher has a repertoire of three pitches from eight different possible pitches (fastball, split-finger, slider, sinker, curveball, change-up, screwball, or knuckleball). The strike zone appears in brackets in the center of the screen.
After choosing the type of pitch and its position, the player chooses the speed of the throw: for slow, for medium, or for fast. The pitcher can also throw to base with the D-Pad ( for first, for second, or for third) to pick-off runners trying to steal a base or 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 or to thwart a squeeze play.
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 the player closest to the ball. If auto-fielding is enabled, the fielders automatically move toward any ball hit near them. The position of the ball is highlighted with a yellow circle when it is near the ground. The player can have the nearest fielder dive for the ball by pressing while holding a direction or jump by pressing while the fielder is standing still. Once the ball is in possession, it can be thrown to base by pressing while holding a direction corresponding to the base ( for first, for second, for third, or for home). If no direction is held, the ball is thrown to the cut-off man or to the pitcher.
The player can call a time-out with START to warm up relievers, substitute pitchers or fielders, play a replay, or check the scoreboard. There is also the ability to change the defensive strategy by changing the depth and shift of outfielders and infielders.
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Offense
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Before each pitch, the player chooses the type of swing: for contact, for normal, or for power. Contact is a light hit to put the ball into play; power is a hard hit to try to get a run. The strike zone appears in brackets in the center of the screen. Hitting comes down to aim and timing. The player moves a circular reticle at the ball with the D-Pad and swings with or bunts with . As in real baseball, pitchers throw a variety of pitches to try to confuse the batter. On Rookie difficulty, the player does not need to aim the hit and only needs to swing.
After selecting the type of swing, runners can be instructed to lead-off by holding while tapping a direction on the D-Pad corresponding to the base that the runner is currently on (( for first, for second, or for third, or for all baserunners). Runners can attempt to steal a base by holding while holding a direction on the D-Pad.
When running, the player can slide to base with . The player can control the runners on base by holding a direction on the D-Pad ( for first, for second, for third, or for all baserunners) with to run to the next base or to return to base.
The player can call a time-out with START to make substitutions, play a replay, or check the scoreboard.
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Teams
League |
Division |
Team
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American
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Western
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California Angels
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Oakland Athletics
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Seattle Mariners
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Texas Rangers
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Central
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Chicago White Sox
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Cleveland Indians
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Kansas City Royals
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Milwaukee Brewers
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Minnesota Twins
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Eastern
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Baltimore Orioles
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Boston Red Sox
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Detroit Tigers
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New York Yankees
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Toronto Blue Jays
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National
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Western
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Colorado Rockies
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Los Angeles Dodgers
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San Diego Padres
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San Francisco Giants
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Central
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Chicago Cubs
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Cincinnati Reds
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Houston Astros
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Pittsburgh Pirates
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St. Louis Cardinals
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Eastern
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Atlanta Braves
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Florida Marlins
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Montreal Expos
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New York Mets
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Philadelphia Phillies
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Production credits
A Bluesky Production in Segavision
- Designers: Chuck Osieja, Dana Christianson
- Producers: Chris Smith, Jesse Taylor, Daniel Meade, Ken Balthaser Jr.
- Executive Producer: Wayne Townsend
- Project Manager: Mark Dobratz
- Programmers: David Dentt, Larry Clague, Steven Hostetler, Kevin Baca, Brian Belfield, Bonita Kane (Bo Kane), Richard Karpp
- Artists: Chuck Osieja, Scott Seidel, John Seidel, Matt McDonald, Drew Krevi, Amber Long, Mark Dobratz, Elizabeth Anderson-Hendricks (Liz Anderson), Robert Cuenca, Kevin McMahon
Speech System Development: Western Technologies
- Sportstalk: Alan Maynard (Allen Maynard), Joe Shands, Fletcher Beasley
- Speech Programmer: Alan Maynard
- Sound Effects, Speech Compression Technology, Electronic Speech Systems: Fletcher Beasley
Credits (cont.)
- Batting Grids and Pitching Charts: Baseball Analysis and Reporting System [BARS]
- Career Player Statistics: The Baseball Workshop
- Music: Sam Powell
- Lead Tester: Vincent Nason
- Testers: Todd Morgan, Stephen Bourdet, Jerry DeYoung, John Amirkhan, Michael Baldwin, Greg Becksted, Dusty Bedford, Michael Bench, Daniel Caraballo, Glen A. Cureton, Chris Cutliff, Daniel P. Dunn, Mark Fabela, Eric Fong, Richard Gangwish, Lawrence Gibson, Roman Greco, Rick Greer, Randall Hauser, Tracy Johnson, Darin Johnston, Dan Jung, Jeff Junio, Kevin Labounty, Jeffrey L. Loney, Michael Madden, Julio Martinez, Lancelot Nelson, Mike Palser, Christopher Pepper, Kevin Seiter, Timothy Spengler, Siegfried Stangenberg, Mark Subotnick, Terry Thomas, Conan Tigard, Matt Underwood, Gregg Vogt, Paul Walker, Greg Watkins (Gregg Watkins), Christine Watson, Richard Wong (Rich Wong)
- Marketing: Doug Rebert, Kelly Ryan
- Manual: Mike Yoffie
- Special Thanks to: Ronald Thompson, George Kiss, Jennifer Cleary (Jennifer Cleary-Haney), Trevor Bostelaar, Jason Weesner, Michael McMahon, Chris Gill, Jason Gill, W. T. Safooa, Joe Miller, Jeff Moses, Gary Gillette, Lori Niwa, Stephen Patterson, George Degolian, Norman Wood
Source: US manual[7]
Magazine articles
- Main article: World Series Baseball (Mega Drive)/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
Physical scans
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Division by zero.
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Based on 0 review
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World Series Baseball (Mega Drive)
Mega Drive, US
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Cover
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Mega Drive, BR
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Cover
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Technical information
ROM dump status
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1994-05-27
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1994-03-04
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1994-02-18
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1994-01-16
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1994-01-06
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1994-01-03
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1993-12-29
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1993-12-26
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1993-12-22
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1993-10-01
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Page
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References
- ↑ https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.video.sega/c/kaNJICPzYzk/m/qLH0LtDCjwYJ
- ↑ https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.video.sega/c/guufHlXPpUA/m/zyZIiiw8G1YJ
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 4 April 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 80
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "August 1993" (UK; 1993-06-30), page 11
- ↑ Sega Sports US catalogue (1993), page 3
- ↑ Sega Force, "1993 (July)" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 25
- ↑ File:World Series Baseball MD US Manual.pdf, page 31
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 342
- ↑ Electronic Games (1992-1995), "July 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 75
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "May 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 38
- ↑ GamePro, "May 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 108
- ↑ Game Informer, "May/June 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 36
- ↑ Sega Pro, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 74
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 297
- ↑ VideoGames, "May 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 73