Great Baseball

Overview

This game was released in 1985 in Japan for their Mark III system. The game was released in a Sega card format. The Japan version was very much like Nintendo's Baseball game released in 1983. The graphics were a little improved but not much. The game play was very similar as well. You can select your team and you have an added bonus of selecting to play in a home run contest were the biggest improvements. Sega felt the 'Great Baseball' wasn't good enough to bring it over to North America at this time; this version became a Japan only release.

In 1987, Sega looked at the North America baseball games and decided to update their existing Great Baseball instead of creating a new game from the ground up. They added a behind the pitcher camera for the pitches as well as voice to the umpires. They also updated the scoreboard and added animation video to the jumbotron. Instead of the game looking like Nintendo's Baseball game it now plays and looks like Nintendo's Bases Loaded game. In Japan because they already had a 'Great Baseball' game they retitled this version to "The Pro Yakyuu: Pennant Race". The Japan version of this game was slightly different in that once the ball is hit, the camera is more of a bird's eye view instead of a slightly angled top down view.

Team Selection

1985 JPN version

Much like Nintendo's Baseball game, the team selection is pretty basic and there is nothing different between the teams other then the colors. Only the team initials are known

Teams are C, D, G, T, W, and S

1987 US version

Complete list of baseball teams with two leagues (A and N) . This game didn't include actual MLB team names, instead the team name includes just the city. We can also assume the "A" league stood for American League and "N" stood for National League. During the selection process a detailed (for it's time) map of the United States was displayed with dots that represented each team's location. This helped bring a little geo education to the gamer. Because the map was only of the United States, the Canada cities of Toronto and Montreal were displayed near the great lakes. Not really 100% accurate but good enough.

1987 JPN version

The teams are based on Japan's Baseball League at the time. Unlike the US version there is no map showing the location of the teams. Only the team initials are known as well. The teams are separated by 2 different leagues, 'C' League and 'P' League. The leagues are laid out as follows

C League: C, D, G, T, W, D, and S

P League: L, Bu, Br, O, F, and H

Game Modes

Based on the 1987 US version the different levels, provide more control of the fielders. Level 1 the fielding is done by the CPU and Level 2 the fielding is controlled by the player.

1985 JPN version

• 1 player level 1
• 1 player level 2
• 1 player level 3
• 2 player level 1
• 2 player level 2
• Home Run Contest 1 (player)
• Home Run Contest 2 (player)

1987 US version

• 1 player level 1
• 1 player level 2
• 2 player level 1
• 2 player level 2
• Home Run Contest 1 (player)
• Home Run Contest 2 (player)

1987 JPN version

• 1 player level 1
• 1 player level 2
• 2 player level 1
• 2 player level 2
• All-Star Game 1 (player)
• All-Star Game 2 (player)
• Home Run Contest 1 (player)
• Home Run Contest 2 (player)