- Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball
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Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball" is aSuper NES baseball game that was released in1994 . The game has aMajor League Baseball license but not aMajor League Baseball Players Association license, meaning that the game has realstadium s and real teams, but not real players. The imaginary players have the same statistics as their real-world counterparts, and the game comes with a name-changing feature allows players to change the athletes' names.Nintendo released a portable version of the game in 1997 for theGame Boy with real players and stats from the 1996 season. The gameplay is similar to its predecessor's, though it is sometimes sluggish due tohardware restrictions.Features
"Imaginary" players in the game are themed with their teammates. Some of the themes include:
* The
Atlanta Braves are famous dance DJs, such asSasha & Digweed . A pitcher for the team is named G. Park, presumably in reference to Atlanta's famed Grant Park. In addition, D. Crime and D. Neon likely refer to Fred "the Crime Dog" McGriff and "Neon" Deion Sanders, respectively.
* TheBaltimore Orioles pay tribute to Baltimore native John Waters with B. Divine, P. Flamingo, (Mike Mussina ) M. Trasho, and H. Spray, as well as Waters himself standing in forCal Ripken Jr.
* TheBoston Red Sox contain members from the showCheers . Cliff Claven, Norm Peterson, and Sam Malone are all present. Also included areBoston landmarks (B. Common, M. Harvard) and figures from early American history (J. Adams, J. Hancock, A. Hamilton).
* The California Angels have famous actors on their team (F. Astaire, H. Bogart, J. Wayne).
* TheChicago White Sox are former basketball players from St. John's University (M. Sealy, C. Mullin, M. Jackson).
* TheCincinnati Reds are writers (B. Stoker, P. Dick, E. Queen).
* TheCleveland Indians have famous actresses and glamor girls on their team. (A. Margret, A. Hepburn, M. Monroe, G. Garbo).
* TheColorado Rockies contain famous names from horror movies (including G. Romero, B. Lugosi, and T. Savini) .
* TheDetroit Tigers are famousMotown singers, (A. Franklin, G. Knight and R. Smokey).
* TheHouston Astros are cartoonists (G. Larson, W. Eisner, S. Lee).
* TheKansas City Royals are based on U.S. presidents (the third batter is D. Ike, whose real-life counterpart is DH Hall of famer George Brett).
* TheLos Angeles Dodgers are based onpunk rock pioneers fromLos Angeles and other areas aroundCalifornia including (Exene Cervenka , John Doe andDJ Bonebrake of X, Poison Ivy andLux Interior ofThe Cramps ,Jello Biafra andKlaus Flouride of theDead Kennedys , andLee Ving of Fear).
* TheMilwaukee Brewers have a pitching staff consisting of superhero "secret identities" (P. Parker, K. Kent, B. Wayne), while their position players are fictional secret agents and detectives (J. Rockford, J. Bond).
* TheMontreal Expos are people from the 1980s music scene inManchester ,England , including members ofNew Order ,The Smiths , andIan Brown ofThe Stone Roses .
* TheNew York Mets are based onpunk rock pioneers from New York including (Johnny Thunders ,Joey Ramone ,Tom Verlaine ,Jerry Nolan ).
* TheOakland Athletics apparently hired more authors with H. Ernest (he replacesMark McGwire ), L. Byron, M. Twain, and L.Tolstoy.
* ThePhiladelphia Phillies feature aRocky homage in R. Balboa (Darren Daulton ) and A. Creed (Dave Hollins ). They also have a Philadelphia landmark (L. Bell) and some of the musicians produced byPhil Spector (D. Love, B. Medley), as well as Spector, himself (John Kruk ).
* TheSan Francisco Giants are members of Software Creations, the team that developed the game.
* TheSan Diego Padres are based onpunk rock pioneers fromEngland including (Billy Idol , the members ofThe Damned ,Johnny Rotten , andSid Vicious ).
* TheSeattle Mariners haveNintendo of America employees on their team, except Ken Griffey, Jr.
* TheSt. Louis Cardinals arecomedian s (H. Moe is actuallyBob Tewksbury , O. Hardy is famous shortstopOzzie Smith ).
* The Texas Rangers, appropriately, have a Western theme (their best pitcher, T. Mix, "fills in" for Kevin Brown).
* TheToronto Blue Jays are players from theWigan Warriors Rugby league team (E. Hanley, M. Offiah, D. Betts).The only actual baseball player is (obviously)
Ken Griffey, Jr. , although theNew York Yankees have several player names that are references to past Yankee superstars.At the end of every game, the game provides box scores and scoring summaries in newspaper format, providing a humorous
newspaper headline on other goings-on in the world of Major League Baseball.The game has many other features, including a
home run derby in which players practice their power hitting against either Ken Griffey, Jr. or against three fictitious power batters.Gameplay
The game had many features for its time. Each team having its own venue- sometimes complete with unique features. For example, Dodger Stadium's "slants" by the outfield crowd (the outfield "roof"), Shea Stadium's minuscule center field crowd, and the large scoreboard in the right field of Comiskey Park are all present. Due to limitations from cartridge space, some stadiums could not be added- instead, the developers added a generic stadium with green or blue walls. Some of the stadiums were particularly realistic-
Fenway Park 's trademarkGreen Monster is in the game, as is Joe Robbie Stadium's teal wall andOriole Park at Camden Yards ' trademark Warehouse in right field. The game featured statistics from the real-life 1993 season, and also kept statistics for the team controlled by the user throughout a season, though all of the statistics of CPU controlled teams remained unchanged.Each team has its own best and worst player- the best players are dependable and can help to win games; the worst can botch simple plays. Pitching is one of the simplest elements in this game. The best starting pitchers are
Jose Rijo of theCincinnati Reds ,Roger Clemens of theBoston Red Sox , four of the starting pitchers from theAtlanta Braves -John Smoltz ,Tom Glavine ,Steve Avery , andGreg Maddux - and Juan Guzmán of the then world championToronto Blue Jays .There is also a battery-backed season mode, where players can select a team to play for 26, 78, or all 162 games. Players who finish first in their division earn a playoff
berth and a chance to be in the 1993World Series . Unique to the game was the ability to choose playing a season using a system of either 4 or 6 divisions, as the game was released after the 6 division system was proposed, but before an actual season was played using six divisions.Against the CPU, strikeouts are hard to come by, so capable defense is paramount. Like most baseball games, especially of that era, players can exploit omissions in the AI to trick the computer. On certain long hits to the outfield, an outfielder can stand next to the ball, and in some cases merely hold on, and the CPU baserunner will attempt to take another base even though the human-controlled player can easily throw out the runner. Similarly, if the player has runners on first and third, often it is possible to do a double-steal before the pitch is even thrown. First, the runner on first base should start running (hit the X button four times), at which point the pitcher, thinking it's merely a long lead, will throw to first. The first baseman will then throw to second, at which point the runner on third should take off for home. The shortstop will catch the ball, move towards the approaching runner for a moment, and then throw home, by which point the runner should have arrived. The other runner will then reach second base without a problem.
The double steal can also usually be used more simply. When the end of a play results in runners on 1st and 3rd, have the runner at 1st begin running before the play ends. The AI will throw the ball to 2nd, and as soon as the ball is thrown the runner at 3rd should head for home. For some reason, the 2nd baseman will hold on to the ball for an extra second before attempting to throw home. Any player with decent speed should be safe at home.
Errors
The developers have a few players with their races for instance,
Glenallen Hill andLenny Webster are accidentally Caucasian, when they are actuallyAfrican-American .Ben McDonald of theBaltimore Orioles is depicted as African-American, when he is actually Caucasian.Some statistics, such as batters' batting averages and pitchers' ERAs are off as well (usually by a digit). Due to unknown reasons, during a full season some home run totals for players reset to zero.
Game Boy version
The game was released in
1997 for the Game Boy, withSuper Game Boy capabilities. Due to cartridge space, there is only one stadium. Unlike its predecessor, the Game Boy port's players have stats from the 1996 season, but they play in the 1997 season. It also has both aMajor League Baseball and aMajor League Baseball Players Association license- a first for a Ken Griffey, Jr. game on a Nintendo console. The home run derby in this version is also free of the six player limit- gamers can select any non-pitcher MLB player. 1997 Rookies of the YearScott Rolen andNomar Garciaparra debut in this game, along withDeivi Cruz .The game was watered down due to game limitations. The gameplay may be a bit choppy due to the Game Boy's limitations. For example, when the ball is carrying, or when the screen shifts to follow the baseball. Unlike its brother, which was made by Software Creations, this was solely made by Nintendo.
Trivia
The SNES version came with a promotional Ken Griffey, Jr. collector's card packed inside. [" [http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588416/6004 Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball (SNES) FAQ] ," GameFAQs".]
References
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