Great Baseball
System: SMS
Release Date: March 1987
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Sports
Alright, we’ve got another sports game on the Sega Master System with Great Baseball. It looks like there are all the teams from 1986 in the proper leagues. I picked Detroit and was put up against New York. The first thing I noticed was that we had the same color jerseys. That’s weird.
I think the gimmick with this game was supposed to be the pitching system. As such, the view is from behind the pitcher, which is the incorrect view for a baseball game. You pitch with Button 2. Just pressing the button seems to throw the specialty pitch. According to the manual, if you hold up, you get a fast ball; left gets a left curve; right gets a right curve; down gets a change-up. I found anything other than a fast ball was an immediate home run for the computer.
If the computer hits it into the field, prepare to do nothing. Yup, fielding is automated by the computer… and it’s slooooow. I was absolutely unhappy by the third inning. You have to change your pitcher when you notice their speed and accuracy is waning. You choose from whatever specialty pitches and stamina levels are left. I’m sure there’s a best progression, but I won’t be playing this long enough to figure it out.
Batting is poor, because you have to hit from a behind the pitcher view. Good luck timing your swing. Working the pitch count isn’t a thing here. Just swing and hope for the best. Running the bases is fine, because you get the benefit of slow fielders, but ties go to the computer. I also don’t need to see the lineup between every batter.
A novelty this title has is the Home Run Derby. You’d think you can connect with most pitches. Nope! I’m done with this game.
Graphics: 1.5
I wanted this game to be well animated, but the colors are so dark and not detailed.
Sound: 1.0
Bad digitized speech. Light on music outside of between innings. Poor sound effects.
Gameplay: 1.0
Pitching is frustrating. Batting is frustrating. Fielding is frustrating and you don’t get to control it.
Difficulty: 1.0
I don’t know if some teams are better than others or what, but the bad gameplay doesn’t make for good difficulty.
Fun Factor: 1.0
I didn’t have fun with this game at all. It’s baseball and I guess it works, but don’t play it.
Overall Grade: 1.1
Great Baseball gets a D. Great Baseball? More like not so great baseball.