Tell me I'm not alone... Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball on SNES...

[Steven]

.... is the best 2D baseball I've ever played!

It's also the only game where I've played full 162 game seasons. It's fast (a game takes about 15 minutes) and fun. There's also a cool name editor where you can put in the names of real players (their real 1993 stats are already there!) Very devious that.

I love the Yankees in that game. Check out the guy on the bench with the bat of 3 and power of 10. I hit 80 homers in a season once with that guy!

The sequel sucked. The original IMHO was the best ever.

[SnappleMan]

Well, Baseball Stars 2 is far better, in my opinion, BUT, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball is indeed a fine baseball game.

[pookninja]

Well, Baseball Stars 2 is far better, in my opinion, BUT, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball is indeed a fine baseball game.i have to agree,i would rate baseball stars 2 for the neo-geo ahead of ken griffey,but i just dont think there is a better baseball game then baseball stars 2,in my opinion.but yeah,ken griffey jr.baseball for the snes is a fine game.

[Lone_Monster]

Is this the baseball game where the baseball players are all buff, and if they strike out, they get really pissed off, and break the bat, or something?

If so, yeah I loved this game too. My friend and I used to play it all the time, when I went to his house.

[Rogmeister]

Yes, they'll break their bat if they strike out or yell "Aw, c'mon!". One thing I noticed about the fake names they game...each team had a theme. One team used names of stars of horror movies, another had names of comic book artists, etc. I also agree that the first one was good but the second (Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run) was pretty bad...

[8-Bit Master]

Ken Griffey Jr.'s Major League Baseball is an excellent baseball game. I don't believe I've ever played Winning Run, but it doesn't sound like it is as good as the original anyway.

[joshnickerson]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Rare program Winning Run? If so, I wonder why you didn't have to collect a billion little trinkets on your way to first base? ;)

[boatofcar]

Yes, they'll break their bat if they strike out or yell "Aw, c'mon!"


My favorite is when you swing and they still argue :)

[Dr. Morbis]

I used to think SNES Griffey was great too until I realised that its distances are out of whack. For example: it's almost impossible to score a guy from second with a normal base hit, getting a triple can't be done (against the computer), homeruns account for like 90% of all scoring - and the other 10% is manufactured runs (sac bunt to second, sac bunt to third, pray for a base hit to bat him in), stealing second is either really hard or impossible; I forget which since it's been a loooooong time since I played this game. I stopped playing it for the above reasons. There are more flaws, but I forget them all.

[Steven]

I used to think SNES Griffey was great too until I realised that its distances are out of whack. For example: it's almost impossible to score a guy from second with a normal base hit, getting a triple can't be done (against the computer), homeruns account for like 90% of all scoring - and the other 10% is manufactured runs (sac bunt to second, sac bunt to third, pray for a base hit to bat him in), stealing second is either really hard or impossible; I forget which since it's been a loooooong time since I played this game. I stopped playing it for the above reasons. There are more flaws, but I forget them all.

No, it's not perfect, but it's still awesome. True, you can't score from 2nd off a single but most games from that time era you couldn't as well. I did manage to make it home from 2nd on a single, but you have to be aggressive in running the bases.

Stealing 2nd is hard but it does happen.

Heck, I'm currently playing a season with the Yankees right now. The guy who hit 80 homers for me, right now through 76 games, he has 92 RBI's and 34 homers. :D

[pixelsnpolygons]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Rare program Winning Run? If so, I wonder why you didn't have to collect a billion little trinkets on your way to first base?

Ha! LOL

[Biff_McFresh]

Tis' a great game, probably my favorite baseball game to date. Baseball Stars 2 ranks up there as well.

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[kainemaxwell]

I dont play sports game soften but this was one I always enjoyed playing for the great graphics, music and the gameplay. i didn't like the 2nd one as much, sure it looked more realistic but didn't have the same touch as the first one, that and wasn't Winning Run alot harder too?

[Rogmeister]

Yes, I found it very hard to even get any hits on Winning Run and the computer team seemed to score at will.

Another SNES game I liked was Super Baseball 2020. I liked the whole idea of robots and girls playing baseball...which you hardly see anymore :D

[greedostick]

i did use to like that game alot back in my snes days, but now that i have baseball stars 2 on neo geo i will never play it again. the only other baseball game i will play besides BB stars 2 is bad news baseball for nes, and mayby base wars or baseball simulator 1000.

baseball stars 2 and bad news baseball are the best baseball games ever!

[prairieg8]

This game rocks. I play this game with a couple friends, we keep every stat imaginable. At bats, hits, runs, homers, rbis, stolen bases, average, wins, losses, era, saves. It's great.

Best average for a season (162 games) was Frank Thomas (.448)
Highest Batting Average in April - Greg Jeffries (.615)
Homers - Kevin Maas (88) - this is that yanks guy you're talking about
RBIs - Kevin maas (210)
Doubles - Frank Thomas (77)
Triples - Ron Karkovice (13) - LOL @ this one
Longest Hitting Streak - Frank Thomas (41)
Best record - 140-22 w/White Sox
Although we were definately gonna break that with the cardinals but the season reset and we were 84-4 with them at the time.

[Steven]

Wow, didn't expect to see this bumped. I posted it originally in 2004!

Kevin Maas, I'm pretty sure that's him. Told cha he was sick! 88 homers? Nice, I got 80 with him. I hate how they erase the HR total of your highest guy after the All-Star break. That was a glitch...

I kept some stats from way back in the day -- Barry Bonds finished a 162 game season hitting .492!!!!!! We almost got him to .500, but I think my bro had a couple 1-3 games that really hurt us.

Game is simply the best quick-fun arcadey baseball title ever IMO

[badinsults]

I remember having a lot of fun with this at my uncle's place. If I have a cart of this, I may just have to fire it up tomorrow.

[riffraff]

Griffey is definitely one of the best baseball games done. Like others have pointed out, the timing/distances make it a little unrealistic for fans of the game (a man on 2nd should be able to score most of the time on a base hit to the outfield)

Baseball Stars 2 (neo geo) is an excellent game also. It suffers a bit by the action being too close to the field. It's difficult sometimes figuring out which guy you are going to control and how far fly balls are hit. If they would have zoomed back for such scenes this would have made the game play a lot better.

The best baseball game hands down is Konami's Powerful Power Baseball, version 9 I think I played last for the PS2. This franchise baseball game only came out in Japan so it may be unfamilliar to many of you. They probably have some newer versions by now but that series is king for gameplay and capturing baseball flawlessly in a baseball game. Too difficult for many, but hey.. hitting a round ball with a round bat was never meant to be easy :hail:

Next best baseball game is the World Stadium by Namco, again japaneese only. (no idea what number they're up to now). The N64 one was just so-so, the PS1 games were awesome. They changed the pitching controls over different versions so depending on which one suits you the best, you will have a favorite version based on that.

The USA-released baseball games on the leading edge consoles dissappoint year after year. Too interested in capturing close up angles and rendering player's faces to look like the real players, they haven't had anything that plays well in a VERY long time. Most people who buy these games don't seem to mind or notice I guess. They're just happy with the latest rosters and top notch graphics and don't understand that the gameplay sucks.

Looks like I'll have to get a japaneese playstation 3 to keep up with Konami's series. That and Hot Shots Golf 5, which doesn't look to ever be released in the states either. It's the price one has to pay for good gameplay these days.

[DigitalSpace]

This is the only traditional baseball game I own on any system. It seems like a nice game, but since I'm not really into baseball, I can't get into it and haven't played it much.

[sirhansirhan]

Yeah, KGJPMLB is my favorite baseball game of all time, and one of my ten favorite games of all time. I also recommend Baseball Advance on the GBA--their respective playing mechanics are very similar. After that I'd probably go with Baseball Stars for the NES.

[VG_Maniac]

I've definitley gotten more fun over the years out of Griffey the any other baseball game to date. I'm not necessarily saying it's the best, but its provided me more fun then any other baseball game I can think of. Just to bad it didn't have the rights to the actual players' names...although that doesn't matter now.

[Oobgarm]

I can't believe I missed this thread the first time around.

I will be so bold as to claim that it is the best mainstream console baseball game, ever.

I also enjoyed Super Bases Loaded and Super Baseball Simulator. Never did get into the Baseball Stars series, though.

[Nate Nanjo]

This is one of my favorite baseball games of all time. I really haven't played many others though. I also enjoyed the first one on the N64, kind of felt like the 3D version of the game.

[bangtango]

I always though the World Series Baseball games on the Genesis were the best 2D games. While it was really an arcade-based game pretending to be a sim, it did a good job of keeping track of all sorts of useless stats. That and I liked the pitcher/batter view a lot better. Most 2D baseball games used the same type of view and the same pitching format as the RBI Baseball games which I always thought was cheesy and had very little strategy involved.

[agbulls]

I always though the World Series Baseball games on the Genesis were the best 2D games. While it was really an arcade-based game pretending to be a sim, it did a good job of keeping track of all sorts of useless stats. That and I liked the pitcher/batter view a lot better. Most 2D baseball games used the same type of view and the same pitching format as the RBI Baseball games which I always thought was cheesy and had very little strategy involved.

Absolutely agreed. WSB 98 on the genesis is awesome. Speaking of which...

Anyone have a copy they want to sell me? :)

[gamegirl79]

Griffey is definitely my favorite 2D baseball game. I spent more time with that than I did NBA Jam which is my favorite basketball game (NBA street a close second).

SNES Griffey would be a great Virtual Console addition.

[roushimsx]

Looks like I'll have to get a japaneese playstation 3 to keep up with Konami's series. That and Hot Shots Golf 5, which doesn't look to ever be released in the states either. It's the price one has to pay for good gameplay these days.

You can get a US PS3 and play 'em just fine since they don't region code PS3 games (woot woot).

My favorite baseball games were, in no particular order, Hardball III (PC), Earl Weaver Baseball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Weaver_Baseball) (PC) and Baseball Stars (NES). I haven't played any other baseball games nearly as much as those three (with the possible exception of RBI Baseball) and I downright loved the hell out of 'em.

...'specially Earl Weaver. Knocking one over the green monster for the first time was just AWESOME.

[agbulls]

What's the name of Konami's current baseball series on the PS3? And, for those in the know, what does it play like?

[DragonMaster Sam]

Haven't played a full season of Ken Griffey Baseball in awhile, but last time I did, I made the playoffs with the Orioles. Only thing that I didn't like was a glitch where my stats were kinda erased around mid-season, and the horrible autofielding. Nothing's worse than having a lead, bases loaded w/1 out, the opponent hitting a grounder to your shortstop, and him not converting the double play, instead throwing to home.

Another good baseball game for SNES that I like is Tecmo Super Baseball. I played a ROM of that years ago, and went 127-35 with the Orioles. Rafael Palmeiro hit 70 homers for me that year.

[bangtango]

Haven't played a full season of Ken Griffey Baseball in awhile, but last time I did, I made the playoffs with the Orioles. Only thing that I didn't like was a glitch where my stats were kinda erased around mid-season, and the horrible autofielding. Nothing's worse than having a lead, bases loaded w/1 out, the opponent hitting a grounder to your shortstop, and him not converting the double play, instead throwing to home.

A lot of 16-bit sports games had that problem, as if the makers didn't think someone could accumulate huge stats. One of the World Series Baseball installments on Genesis would reset your home runs and stolen bases if you piled up too many. Guys like Jose Canseco or Frank Thomas could sometimes hit 1-2 homers per game and could easily clear 100 in a virtual season. Someone like Kenny Lofton was able to steal two to three times per game and the computer could never throw him out, so he might clear 160-170 steals. Once upon a time, I remembered what the magic number was before those two stats got reset to zero. So once I got near the number, I would usually have to bench my "power" and "speed" guys for the remainder of the season just so they would still lead the league in those categories and not get reset to zero. No big deal, though. It just meant I was able to pile up stats for my reserves :)

Unless I was playing the wrong games, there were two constants among 8-bit and 16-bit baseball games. It was really hard to pile up strikeouts in most of them, due to the arcade nature (RBI Baseball and Bases Loaded being a couple of exceptions). That and I always had trouble pitching a shutout in any baseball game on the older platforms. Yeah, I might win by 7-12 runs but the computer would always get 1-4 runs.

[Kevincal]

Bases Loaded 2 and RBI Baseball 3 are fun 2d baseball games too...imo. :)

[DefaultGen]

.....

[dougman999]

DefaultGen: if you don't have it already, look for RBI 3 for NES. Every year when the baseball season starts, I restart a season on RBI 3 (I do Tecmo Super Bowl when the football season starts).

It's one of the few games for NES that has real players. No save function though :-( ...if it did, more people would be playing this / hyping it up than the Baseball Stars series.

[nildem]

I honestly couldn't choose between Griffey Baseball, RBI 3 or the Baseball Stars games. They're all great.

I just noticed that Software Creations, the developer of the first Griffey Baseball, also made the two Gameboy sequels, as well as the GBA version of All-Star Baseball 2003. Has anybody tried these? Are they worth checking out?

[DragonMaster Sam]

I also have Super Bases Loaded for SNES. Found that at a flea market last summer. Don't like it that well, since there aren't really any real teams or players.

Anybody here have MLBPA Baseball, or am I the only one?

[kainemaxwell]

Was and still is one my favorite sports games to play (I don't play many sports games).

[Anthony1]

Obviously, we are talking about Arcade type baseball games, and if we are talking about Arcade type baseball, then I would have to agree with many here that Baseball Stars 2 for the Neo-Geo is the absolute shiznit.


But, I think there is a game that alot of people are sleeping on, when it comes to Arcade baseball, and it's only natural why people are sleeping on it, because they never got to play it because NEC didn't bring it to the USA. It's Power League 3 for the PC Engine. That game is freaking pimp to the 5th degree. One of the really cool things about it, is that with a TurboTap, you can actually play with 5 players. YEP, 5 Players at one time!!!! Talk about sweet. If anybody out there has a slight interest in Baseball and has a region modded TG-16, then you gotta check out Power League 3. It also has really cool music.

Baseball Stars 2 for the Neo-Geo is still the best though. Oh, 2020 Super Baseball for Neo-Geo is really good too.

[agbulls]

My personal quick rundown of my favorite arcade baseball games in no particular order:

RBI Baseball NES
Baseball Stars NES
Baseball Stars 2 Neo Geo
Bases Loaded NES
Super Bases Loaded SNES
World Series Baseball 98 Genesis
World Series Baseball II Saturn (the last baseball game to use sprites ever I believe on a console)
World Series Baseball Arcade (has the little flipper to swing, has anyone else mentioned this game yet? It's phenomenal)
Ken Griffey Jr SNES

It also looks like Gametrailers has posted video for Konami's Pro Baseball Spirits 4 on PS3. Looks great...too bad I don't speak a lick of Japanese.

[Cinder6]

Hmm, I never realized it's any good. I generally hate sports games, so I don't usually give them a try (a few do stand out, though).

Since I own the game, maybe I should actually play it one of these days :) (I got it for free.)

[boatofcar]

No love for Little League Baseball? I prefer both that one and Bad News Baseball to KGJr.

[GhostDog]

No love for Little League Baseball? I prefer both that one and Bad News Baseball to KGJr.

Bad News Baseball I think is pretty good. The cutscenes are a nice touch. Little League Baseball kind of sucks when compared to Baseball Stars.

I also think Sports Talk Baseball for Genesis and Super Baseball 2020 are good baseball titles. Super Baseball 2020 for SNES is a bit different from the Genesis version. The graphics of the SNES version are closer to the Neo Geo version but there's slowdown and it's just not as fast paced as the Genesis version.

The RBI baseball titles for NES and Genesis were also really good. KG Winning Run would have been a good game if only hitting homeruns wasn't so damn hard. KGJr is an awesome game and all of this talk about it makes me want to whip out my copy and give it a go on my SNES mini!

I have two Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyu titles for Saturn but they're all in Japanese so I can't get the best out of them. I hope to try World Series '98 for Saturn, or I'll just get the Japanese version which is called Greatest Nine '98 and has all Japanese baseball teams.