The Plethora of Baseball Video Games in 1994 (Or help Timmy spend his hard-earned allowance money)
Spring, 1994
The burbs, USA
Timmy has been mowing the lawn and taking Rufus on walks even more than usual this spring and his parents aren’t sure why. It’s not because he’s trying to be more helpful to his parents because he still refuses to clean up the dog poop in the yard. It’s not because he wants to increase his chances of running into his crush two houses down because he’s actually been walking Rufus up the street to avoiding a potential run-in. It is because he’s desperately trying to earn some more allowance money. You see, baseball season is right around the corner and Timmy is jazzed. He thinks the Expos are a dark horse to win the Series and he even thinks Matt Williams has a shot at 60 homers.
But reading the Suburbia Gazette box scores every morning and watching SportsCenter doesn’t cost money, at least not for Timmy. He’s saving up his allowance money because this season he’s going to take his fandom and baseball saturation to the next level by buying a baseball video game!
If he keeps up his current Rufus walking, dish cleaning, laundry folding, crush avoiding, lawn mowing pace he figures to have enough money saved up in three weeks. Just in time for the real life baseball season to start and just enough time to get informed and hyped about which game he will choose to buy.
Deciding which game to buy is no easy choice because this is 1994, after all. Baseball video games rained down from the sky every spring in the late 80’s and 90’s and 1994 was the peak of this downpour. 10 baseball video games came out in 1994. 10 freaking games.
How is Timmy supposed to handle this kind of decision? Things are never simple for 11 year olds.
Ahh, but that’s where we come in. We are here to simulate all of the information gathering, consciously or subconsciously, that Timmy will be going through over the next three weeks. We’ll break down all the components for each game that might catch Timmy’s eye and help him on this life changing decision.
Things like:
The Name of the Game - More important than people often think. Does this game sound cool?
The Cover Design - Is it eye-popping enough to make Timmy want to pick it up for a further look?
The Back of the Box Claim - How does all the nonsense, information and pictures make the game sound?
Advertisements/Promos/Taglines - How much do these ads get the imagination spinning on what it’s like to have the product.
While often convincing, these things don’t always give Timmy the truth about a product. That’s where word of mouth can help. Thankfully Timmy has always been pals with the playground’s information gatekeeper, Clark. Clark oozes video game knowledge. He spends recess on the swing set --not actually swinging-- but hunched over the latest edition of EGM, Game Informer or Nintendo Power. Clark and his insights are the final piece of valuable information for Timmy to use in his decision.
Let’s get to the games!
Game #1: R.B.I. Baseball ‘94
Platform: Sega Genesis
Publisher: Tengen Inc.
Developer: Tengen Inc.
The TITLE:
RBI is a baseball video game stalwart and every kid knows they are a good thing in real baseball too. In fact, Timmy had 27 of them as the Barracuda’s cleanup hitter last season! It makes for a great title for a baseball game. It’s simple, easy to say and easily recognizable as a baseball term.
The Cover:
With no MLB license they can’t show any team logo and, even though they have the Player’s License, they don’t have an official cover athlete either. It hurts the final product as the generic illustrated pitcher in front of a blue sky is just bland, but you could say that about the RBI cover most years.
Back of the Box Claim:
“Game play that is twice as fast as RBI ‘93”
Timmy still has a bedtime, unlike most of his friends so he’s okay with a fast game. I do wonder if Commissioner Manfred has thought about making baseball twice as fast, though. It’s genius.
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
Much of RBI’s material is trying to push how “real” the game is. They are able to back that claim a bit by saying they have real stats, real schedules and even the new division alignments. Timmy is a big fan of baseball cards, they might even fund his retirement someday, so he’s loving the cards along the bottom.
Clark’s Insight:
You know RBI. It’s got real players and this year they even have cards for each player with a picture that almost looks like the player and their real stats from last season. You’d think they would show a player’s RBI total, but no. Apparently Jack Buck does the announcing but he barely says anything, except for in the HR Derby Mode which I’ll totally kick your butt at.
Game #2: ESPN Baseball Tonight
Platform: Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo
Publisher: Sony Imagesoft
Developer: Stormfront Studios
The TITLE:
Pulling from ESPN’s uber popular baseball highlight show seems pretty smart from a branding perspective but the title almost makes you wonder whether this is even a video game. It’s the exact name of the TV show and nothing more.
The cover:
Speaking of wondering whether it’s even a game. The cover doesn’t help much here. It’s just Berman in the studio and even the images behind him are real pictures, not shots from the video game. The cover really drives home the fact that Berman is the selling point in this game and it looks like he is excited to talk some ball.
Back of the box Claim:
“Smooth Animations - For the most realistic player movement”
I’m not sure who’s idea it was to showcase this feature by using a series of still shots, but that person probably deserves a pay decrease. As if seeing a windup broken up into 8 images is going to convince us of its buttery animations. Show that off in a video or not at all.
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
Little Caesars ran a mega promotion with this game that included advertising in 4,500 Little Caesars’ restaurants as well as in-game advertisements on the outfield wall. In an interview about the deal with Little Caesars, Sony’s director of Marketing, Peter Dille clearly thought highly of the promotions, “You can do something like this if you are enhancing the realism of the environment.”
Translation: the walls in real stadiums look stupid so now the walls in our game can look stupid too! It’s crazy looking back on a time when it was a big deal to have a product in a video game. Looking at you, NBA 2K. Timmy and his pizza pal Ben usually scrounge up some money for a ‘Hot-N-Ready’ at least once a month so this will just boost their cravings.
Little Caesars Wall Ad in ESPN Baseball Tonight
Clark’s Insight:
Too bad this game isn’t as good as the TV show. I’ve heard it’s pretty crappy but it does have an awesome Home Run Derby mode where Chris Berman says “Back Back Back” a bunch. Berman is basically the only real person in the game though, because this doesn’t have the Player’s Association license.
Game #3: La Russa Baseball ‘95
Platform: Sega Genesis
Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: High Score Entertainment
The Title:
With a highly successful coach like Tony La Russa endorsing a game you might think this is bound for success but these player/coach endorsements games were hardly the sure thing that the Madden series might have you believe. By 1994 many of the endorsement baseball games, like Cal Ripken, Earl Weaver, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan, Bo Jackson and Tommy Lasorda had already gone extinct. This series was obviously still alive but in 1994 no kid was going to crack their piggy big just because a game had a coach on the cover.
My main issue with this title is them calling it "‘95” even though it came out in ‘94. You don’t usually see that in baseball games because the baseball season takes place in one calendar year, unlike basketball or football. Also, this was the first La Russa game to use a year in the title and the first to drop “Tony” from the title. In 1995 they would revert back and call the game Tony La Russa Baseball 3, even though it was the 5th game in the series. Yes, Timmy is confused too and shockingly the series didn’t survive the decade.
The Cover:
The cover is actually pretty strong with an intense photo of La Russa yelling at an Umpire and a fairly clean design for the time. He’s even pointing right at Timmy! “Come buy THIS game!”
Back of the Box Claim:
This box is full of nonsense and and well worth a full read. I love that five of the eleven photos are simply showing off some silly new animation that players can do, like “spitin’” or “steppin’ out.”
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
La Russa Baseball ‘95 ran a bizarre reverse psychology print ad that features an “anonymous utility infielder” bemoaning the fact that this game makes kids feel like all-stars even though they’ve never struggled through the minors. It shows off their Player’s Association rights by name dropping a bunch of good players that are in the game. Not the most clever ad and the serial killer font makes it hard to read.
Clark’s Insight:
This one has special scouting reports before each game directly from Tony La Russa, himself. And it actually has the real player’s names so Tony tells you to “watch out for Ricky’s speed” and stuff. Not that you didn’t know to do that, but still.
Game #4: Tecmo Super Baseball
Platform: Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo
Publisher: Tecmo Inc.
Developer: Sculptured Software, Inc.
The Title:
Tecmo was a prominent Japanese video game developer. They already had success with “Tecmo” in the title for their hugely popular football game, Tecmo Bowl, so they built off of that branding for the baseball series as well and this was the second Baseball game they made. The first on this generation of hardware. Kids in the early 90’s knew the name Tecmo.
The Cover:
Pretty boring cover but I got to give them some points for coming up with their own Tecmo jersey for their generic cover athlete. And the word REAL is on the cover three different times. That word is becoming quite the buzzword for this genre of game.
Back of the Box Claim:
One of the bullets on the back is simply, “Digitized Speech.” That’s a new one to me and quite a weird thing to point out since voices in games weren’t at all new in 1994 and any speech obviously had to be digitized.
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
I really like the look of this ad. It stands out and isn’t inundated with copy like many video game ads of the era. Because Tecmo hadn’t made a baseball game in 5 years it really gives them room to build up anticipation for something big and different from a name that video game fans already know and trust.
Clark’s Insight:
You’ll like this one a lot since it’s full of stats, nerd! It keeps track of walks, steals and even triples. You can sim games, do defensive shifts and even custom draft an All-Star game, wait, no, SUPER Star Team. They don’t have the rights to say “All-Star.” But still, that sounds aweso--- I CALL MATT WILLIAMS!!
Game #5: Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball
Platform: Super Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo of America Inc.
Developer: Software Creations Ltd.
The Title:
Who doesn’t love the Kid? Fresh off his backwards hat wearing 1993 HR Derby victory you couldn’t ask for a better player to license for your game. Other than his name making it awesome, this title is a bit clunky and I bet most people in 2019 that played this game in 1994 probably couldn’t give you the accurate title. Not a big deal though because the important part is Griffey.
The Cover:
It’s a crowded cover but the big smiling Griffey gets the message across well. The fact that the only place on the cover that actually says his name is in the form of his nearly impossible-to-read autograph is probably a mistake. Timmy never quite grasped cursive, so thankfully he knows him by his face. I also absolutely love how terrible the warped text on the baseball looks.
Back of the Box Claim:
“Do you have what it takes to play ball with “The Kid”?”
You know that line will get a kid’s imagination going and wanting to play the game right away.
Other than that the back is full of flowery baseball jargon to make the game seem more basebally. “Jump over the hard slide of the lead runner.”
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
There was a lot of marketing money behind this game and the commercial quality and quantity shows. The one with Griffey’s actual dad is a classic and I especially love the accidental line where they say Griffey wants to play “Hardball” which is the name of an actual baseball game that we’ll cover further down. “Ken Griffey Jr. has never been happy playing any old game, he wants to play hardball!”
A lot of games seem to press how “realistic” they are but it’s clear in the marketing for Griffey Presents that they are trying to present the unrealisticness as a feature that makes this game more fun than the competition. Phrases like, “wall-to-wall action,” and “could this game be any more fun?” put the focus on the main point of video games, having fun.
If you want to see a pretty hilarious promotional video that was made by Nintendo and sent to retailers to entice them to stock the game check out this video that talks about Griffey’s “coolness” rating among 11-17 year olds(100% by the way). It also mentions a $4 million ad budget.
Clark’s Insight:
It’s dumb that Griffey is the only real player in the game but I heard you can actually change all the player’s names in the game, by hand, if you want to waste a whole weekend doing that. Otherwise this game looks like a blast. I’m pretty familiar with it because it’s on the latest cover of Nintendo Power. There are cool animations, the players get peeved-off and break their bat, and graphics really show how strong the players are. Gameplay seems a bit unrealistic compared to other games coming out though.
Game #6: World Series Baseball
Platform: Sega Genesis
Publisher: Sega of America Inc.
Developer: BlueSky Software Inc.
The Title:
Strong name! Just the fact that the World Series is a licensed term tells you that this game went all out on licenses. Every kid knows the World Series and it’s the setting for all of Timmy’s daydreams.
The Cover:
Simple and pretty. The cover has the actual World Series logo from 1993 for its title and an actual photo of a baseball stadium. Sadly, no human could possibly tell what stadium it actually is because all stadiums looked alike in 1994. Don’t tell Timmy, but stadiums are about to get a lot cooler!
Back of the Box Claim:
“In the Batter’s Box view!”
A strange phrase to represent the “catcher’s view” that is basically the industry standard batting viewpoint in games today. Of course back in 1994 this was a novel idea and it’s cool to see where it got started.
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
A hot chick, a nut shot and a guy screaming SEGA. Doesn’t get much more 90’s. Notice that it also highlights the hitting viewpoint. They sure love that feature. I actually really like the casual monotone voice-over in the ad. It actually feels strangely modern.
Print ad for World Series Baseball in Electronic Gaming Monthly(EGM)
Clark’s Insight:
Dude! So this one is sweet because it actually has the MLB License AND the Player’s Association License. No game has ever had both before! So you actually get to be Maddux in a Braves jersey. The graphics look pretty awesome, but mostly just while you are hitting. You can really see the details of each stadium in the background.
Game #7: MLBPA Baseball
Platform: Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo
Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc.
Developer: Visual Concepts Entertainment Inc.
The Title:
Wow, that is some name. It doesn’t get much more boring than naming a game after the union that represents the players of the sport. Like most kids, Timmy thinks the PA stands for Public Address so he’s excited to hear how the stadium announcers sound in this one. Obviously this game has the MLBPA(Player’s Association, Timmy) license so it has all the player’s names and stats. What is weird is how many other games in 1994 had that license as well. There is nothing unique about having that license.
The Cover:
After the horrendous title there is only room for improvement with the cover. The action shot is pretty cool but it’s two dudes that nobody recognizes wearing blank uniforms. I’m pretty sure that is Brent Gates and Billy Hatcher gracing the cover with a whopping 6.8 combined career Wins Above Replacement.
Back of the Box Claim:
When I originally conceived of this project, this is what I hoped all the back of the boxes would look like. MLBPA really delivers.
“Realistic Scoreboard animations make it feel like you’re watchin’ the big screen at the park”
“Authentic stadium music -- even The Chop!” So continues the wild, racist and pervasive ride of the Tomahawk Chop forcing its way into America’s living rooms.
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
“your personality is determined by 1993 player stats.”
This is starting to sound like an RPG and that has Timmy scared because this is a pre-Pokemon world and Timmy is afraid of RPGs.
CLark’s Insight
Uhh, I’ve never even heard of this one…
Game #8: SPorts Illustrated: Championship Football & Baseball
Platform: Super Nintendo
Publisher: Malibu Games
Developer: Malibu Interactive
The Title:
What a journey that title is. You think you’re reading a sports magazine and then you realize it’s a football game made by the sports magazine? And then all of a sudden...baseball too!?
The Cover:
I love the iconic Sports Illustrated logo. The cover is reminiscent of their typical magazine covers too, with the photos covering part of the logo. That’s about the best of it though as the all lowercase “2 great sports games in one!” couldn’t possibly look more tacked-on.
Back of the Box Claim:
“Thrill to the nonstop action”
Another back of the box, another phrase that’s never been said before.
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
”You call the play. You throw the pitch.”
Boring and bland. I can’t imagine a kid is going to grasp onto this commercial unless they are really intrigued by the two sport combo. They don’t mention a single feature or perk of either game. Every line in the copy is just about how the game includes baseball and football. Timmy likes football just fine but by the time Madden comes out in the fall he’ll have a whole new slew of money saved up.
Clark’s Insight:
I don’t really like football so maybe ask Ben abo--- oh, cool! Two games in one! I’m worried that they had to go light on both games to get it on one cartridge. [Pulls out latest copy of Nintendo Power from back pocket] Oh boy, yea those graphics look like crud.
Game #9: SUper Bases Loaded 2
Platform: Super Nintendo
Publisher: Jaleco USA Inc.
Developer: Jaleco Ltd.
The Title:
Classic Nintendo name and it just sounds like this is going to be a fun one. A sequel is also somewhat telling that the game isn’t total garbage.
The Cover:
Top notch baseball font on the cover and the simplicity of the black background actually makes this game stand out. I don’t care for the Animorphs style images of the player swinging though, and the final shot of him leaving the box is just bizarre looking.
Back of the Box Claim:
The back of the box is really poor. Huge block of text and no blurbs under the images. You think Timmy is going to hang around to read all of this? That’s Clark’s job. If he did read it he’d find some great bragging like, “after every crack of the bat, you actually follow the ball with an amazing 3-D “camera” perspective.”
I think we’re going to have to see that fancy “camera” for ourselves.
That’s actually fairly cool and more unique than I expected, but it doesn’t do it on flyballs at all, and it can make fielding hard because it zooms in so much, you miss your players.
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
I couldn’t find a Super Bases Loaded 2 ad of any kind so here is a screenshot that looks like football players warming up.
Football player or Baseball player?
- Super Bases Loaded 2
Great selection of fake teams in Super Bases Loaded 2
Clark’s Insight:
The best part about this one, or actually the worst, is the team names because they don’t have the MLB license. You can’t be the Giants but you can be the Amoebas! Or the Cyclops! Or the...Doves? It doesn’t even have real player names either so it might as well be your little league team, but the gameplay is supposed to be good.
Game #10: Hardball ‘94
Platform: Sega Genesis
Publisher: Sports Accolade
Developer: MindSpan
The Title:
This is such a great name that it will be stolen for a baseball movie in a few years. Sadly the game franchise will be long dead by then. Like many games of the era the year/number sequencing seems to change with the wind. Here are the names, in order of the four Hardball games released on Sega Genesis:
Hardball!
Hardball 3
Hardball ‘94
Hardball ‘95
Original Hardball! Genesis cover
Hardball 3
The Cover:
Hardball has had some legendary covers. This is far from one of them. Plain white cover with a boring square picture. The free high school t-shirt font isn’t making this any better. It’s kind of mind blowing how badly this cover was phoned-in compared to even the one that came out the year before.
Back of the Box Claim:
“Hardball ‘94 is as close as you can get to The Show without a multi-year contract.”
Aside from that claim not really making sense. It’s funny to think of a developer using it nowadays when the industry standard baseball game is actually called The Show. EA Baseball 2020 is as close as you can get to The Show without a PlayStation.
Ads/Taglines/Promotions:
“Any baseball fan can tell we are ahead just by reading the box score”
This slogan does a good job of creatively telling you about one of its key features(stat tracking) by connecting it to something that Timmy likes doing(reading the box score). The rest of the print ad is fairly generic and does the typical mid-90’s sports culture routine of making fun of geeks, “appropriate for anybody...except GEEKS” and saying its features in an overly casual way “Guess what system this game is for? DUHH!”.
Another line that shows up in print ads and video trailers is, “The most successful series of baseball titles ever published.” That’s a pretty impressive claim and highlights the longevity and brand power of the Hardball name.
Clark’s Insight:
Ricky Butler says his dad still plays the original Hardball! on computer. It’s supposed to be great for stat dorks because you can track and save your season stats. Also you can see each player’s face in the game on a baseball card thing.
Rufus has been walked. The money has been saved. And now finally, the information has been gathered. It’s in Timmy’s hands now. Although, I was able to make a time machine and you can send Timmy your vote on what you think he should get. Your response will be sent to him as a kindly worded letter. He thanks you.
Much of the research for this project came with the help of mobygames.com and segaretro.org. They are great sites, go there and lose hours. Thanks for reading.