Video game baseball seasons

[bangtango]

Something I've always wondered......

Since the 8-bit/16-bit days, there have been baseball games which offer a full 162 game season via Season Play or a Franchise Mode. The majority of these games offer the gamer an option to customize this season, playing anywhere from 12 games, 24 games, 40 games, 80 games or the full 162. Generally these type of releases also allow the user to "sim" any games they don't wish to play (i.e. a large chunk of the season).

I'm just wondering how many people here have actually sat down with a single game and played a full 162-game baseball season with their selected team (on any title or system), without simming any games their team has scheduled.

Myself, I've done two full 162 game seasons without simming a single game.

Both times it was for the original World Series Baseball on the Genesis. Once I was using the Atlanta Braves and on the other occasion I used the Toronto Blue Jays. Both teams were stacked to the gills with talent, back when the first WSB came out, since this was the heyday for both franchises. Sometimes I'd play 2-3 games a night and it took a long time. I thought it was funny that middle infielders like Jeff Blauser (Braves) or Dick Schofield (Jays) could hit 75 home runs in a 162-game schedule but overall I had fun.

So who else has actually done the above and what game(s) did you do it in?

I know this seems like a dumb question, since lots of sports games have season & franchise modes. However, you are aware there are far fewer games in a football, basketball or hockey season. 162 games is pretty darn steep, considering even the briskest of games might take 20-30 minutes to play and lots of baseball games (especially recent ones) can take a full hour.

[TEND]

I got through about 2 and a half seasons of a Red Sox franchise in MLB 2K7 before I got 2K8 which I the gameplay for so much I've never attempted. It's great fun, seeing the players day to day and I would love to do it again, I just hope 2K9 has better gameplay with less loading I might bust out another couple seasons for the Sox.

[theking21083]

My dad played through all of the games for the original World Series Baseball on the Genesis when I was a kid. He would play that game all day long.

[DragonMaster Sam]

I've done it two times, and that was with Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB a couple years ago. Went something like 88-74 with the Orioles, winning the wild card spot. The other time was during the summer of '01, playing Tecmo Super Baseball (SNES) on an emulator, going 127-35 with the Orioles and defeating Montreal in the World Series.

[MachineGex]

I played a full season in Baseball Stars for NES. I named my team the Twins and changed all the players(around 1991-92) to their correct names. It was fun trying to max out my favorite players.

[Nick]

I've done it with World Series Baseball II and World Series Baseball '98 on the Saturn (a few times) as the Atlanta Braves. I still own WSB '98...one of my all time favorite baseball games. :) I played them on the next to highest difficulty...it was all about Chipper and Klesko. If I remember right they both hit for over .500.

[coreys429]

I've done a complete season with the Seattle Mariners with Ken Griffey Jr Presents Major League Baseball for SNES. I think the complete season I did with them was 140 wins or so. No joke. I had my closers and lead off men down to perfection. I do have a question like the baseball one but with racing does anyone do a full 500 lap race for NASCAR?

[shoes23]

Almost finished an entire season for MLB 08: The Show with the Minnesota Twins. Generally I make a couple of months into the season and sim the rest to get to the offseason to draft and trade players, but I think I only have a couple of weeks left to finish out this season though. It's great fun, but man I've been playing that game for months now. You figure the average game takes about 45 minutes x 162 games = 121 hours. And that doesn't include the time I spend looking through the endless pages of stats, awards, and business management screens of newer baseball games.

[eugenek]

For once I beat all of you in the "who has no life" competition; I've played 2 full 162 game seasons in MVP Baseball 2004, 2 in MVP Baseball 2005, 4 in MLB 07: The Show, and 4 in MLB 08: The Show. The last 8 might not fully count though, they were in Road to the Show mode, so I didn't have to pitch.

[Rogmeister]

I've done it many times using various titles...among the more recent are the MLB Power Pros games and many seasons of MVP Baseball.

[DKTheArcadeRat]

I did this in MVP 2005 I believe(it was either that or 2004), I played it to near perfection, Philadelphia Phillies 158W-4L. Pat Burrell had 60 something Home Runs, multiple players in triple RBI's. I raped in that game, fair and square.

[bangtango]

You figure the average game takes about 45 minutes x 162 games = 121 hours. And that doesn't include the time I spend looking through the endless pages of stats, awards, and business management screens of newer baseball games.

This is exactly why more people don't do this. A video game baseball season of 162 games, if played to its conclusion, would typically run 100 hours or more. Unless of course you are playing something like Sports Talk Baseball (Genesis), in which there are a lot of 15-20 minute games, but that is the exception and not the rule. But this information you provide is the very reason I started this thread.

In contrast, somebody can play through a whole season of Madden in 20 hours or less.

Everybody I know (locally) plays shorter seasons or "sims" half of a 162-game baseball season. It sounds juvenile but I prefer putting up all of my own stats, so I loathe the idea of "simming" any of my team's games in a sports game. This means I am in the middle of at least 5-6 baseball seasons but obviously progress is really slow in each one, since I have so many other games to keep up with. This doesn't include baseball games I essentially "quit" on when I got rid of those respective games (like some of the Triple Play/MVP games or the later editions of WSB Genesis).

[snes_collector]

I do have a question like the baseball one but with racing does anyone do a full 500 lap race for NASCAR?

Done it quite a few times in NASCAR Thunder 2003 for GC, especially on short tracks like Martinsville. Probably my favorite Gamecube game, I'm sure I've put 100s of hours into it over the years.

[wfnjstallion]

I have done a full 162 game schedule w/out simming 3 times. 2 on ASB and 1 for MVP. As long as those seasons can be NOTHING is ever going to be as bad as playing Bases Loaded on the NES. The games take a minimum of 45-60 minutes thankfully once you reach 100 something wins the game declares that you have won the pennant and the players celebrate. As for NASCAR when I do play NASCAR 99 I ALWAYS run it on 3% of the actual laps. Anyone who would do a full 500 laps is mich more dedicated than I could ever be to a game.

[Bloodreign]

Did it with Tecmo Super Baseball SNES, going 162-0, sweeping my way through the playoffs during my second and third time going through a season (with the Atlanta Braves nonetheless), has 10 losses my first season.