Gaming

History of Baseball Video Games Vol. 2: Games With Personality


Not to be outdone, 1991’s Base Wars from Konami offshoot Ultra Games took concepts from way out of left field to create a completely unique baseball experience on NES. Players were replaced with robots shaped like tanks, unicycles, hovercrafts and more. Pitchers fired toward the plate Mega Man-style from an arm cannon. More than just a strangely-skinned baseball experience, close plays in Base Wars were decided by fast-paced, close quarters brawls with guns and health meters. It was wild.

Base Wars never returned, but Super Baseball 2020 kept the spirit of futuristic-styled baseball alive for Sega Genesis and SNES in 1993. Robots and humans, both men and women, utilized jet packs and other crazy equipment. Power-ups were available. Many of the rules were altered, such as homers only counting in a small section of the outfield. Oh, and land mines called crackers would pop up all over the field between innings (except on violence-averse SNES). You know, just how baseball looks like in 2020.

The beloved Backyard Baseball series went in the other direction to stand out, creating a kid-friendly, inclusive and charming baseball experience. The series from Humongous Entertainment published 10 separate releases between 1997 and 2010 for computers, console and handheld. The first sequel in 2001 added real MLB players, as kid versions of themselves, as well as power-ups to the sandlot action. It was easy to pick up and play, just as MLB sims were beginning to become more complex in their controls.

Going opposite field from Backyard Baseball, NBA Jam and NFL Blitz publisher Midway Games introduced its on-brand MLB Slugfest series in 2003. It’s run was isolated to the PlayStation 2/Xbox/GameCube era. Very on-brand for Midway arcade-style sports titles, baserunners and fielders could punch one another on the basepaths while iconic announcer Tim Kitzrow sprinkled in off-the-wall commentary. MLB Slugfest Loaded, the third of four releases through 2006, even earned a T rating from the ESRB. Quite a feat for a baseball game. It’s almost stunning MLB licensed such a game to begin with.



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