HardBall '95

n/a

HardBall '95
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Accolade
Developer: Cygnus Multimedia Productions
Licensor: Major League Baseball Players Association
Genre: Sports (baseball)
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1995-06 $69.9569.95 T-119176

HardBall '95 is a baseball game for the Sega Mega Drive and an update to HardBall '94. It was only released in North America.

Gameplay

The game is a baseball simulation. It has a Major League Baseball Players Association license, so it has all 700 players with their statistics and portraits, but it does not have a Major League Baseball license, so there are no real team names or logos. It is mostly the same as HardBall '94, but it adds a strike zone indicator, the ability to trade players before a game, and weather conditions, and it restores the play-by-play commentary by Al Michaels from HardBall III. It retains the battery backup so customizations and progress can be saved to the cartridge.

	Pre-Game
	After selecting a team, a screen appears summarizing the team and its star player. Selecting Roster opens a screen for viewing the roster and the player statistics, substituting players, changing the batting order, changing the fielding positions, setting the pitcher rotation, and trading any player with a player from another team. Infielders can set to normal, in, left, or right; outfielders can be set to normal, in, double play, guard lines, or hold runner; and both have custom settings where the player can manually position each fielder on an overhead view of the field. In season games, a pitcher only starts every five games. Traded players are saved to the cartridge. Selecting Edit opens an editor for renaming the team, naming the manager, rewriting the summary, choosing the star player, changing the uniform colors, changing the home field, and editing the team logo. Changes are saved to the cartridge when playing in the season mode (but not for exhibition games).
	Scoreboard
	The scoreboard and roster screen appears after choosing a team or during a game when a player calls a timeout by pressing  START . Selecting a team opens a screen for viewing the roster and the player statistics, substituting players, changing the batting order, changing the fielding positions, and warming up or substituting pitchers. Infielders can set to normal, in, left, or right; outfielders can be set to normal, in, double play, guard lines, or hold runner; and both have custom settings where the player can manually position each fielder on an overhead view of the field. Selecting Options allows players to assign control for each team (human or computer). The game in progress can be saved to the cartridge and continued later. It also contains a number of settings for adjusting the "Level of Play" for each team, including a manager-only mode where player only makes changes such as substituting players or deciding defensive strategy but does not control individual players (including pitchers and batters). The other settings toggle pitcher fatigue, pitching or batting stats (or whether all players behave the same), running speed, designated hitter, fielding errors, auto-fielding, base-stealing, pitch to center (whether the pitcher throws every pitch down the middle of the plate to make batting easier or in any area of the strike zone), the fielding marker (the marker that appears on the field to follow the movement of a fly ball), and the strike zone indicator. Finally, there are options for choosing the view (alternating between the pitcher/batter views or using one view for the entire game), changing the stadium, and changing the weather conditions. Wind can be set to None, Light, or Heavy and affects the flight path of the ball. Surface can be set to Dry, Damp, or Wet, with wetter conditions slowing down groundballs and fielders. Humidity can be set from 1-120% (higher humidity slows the movement of the ball), and Temperature can be set from 40-106° (higher temperatures wear out pitchers faster). Selecting Highlights during a game allows players to save up to four highlights (replays) after a play. They can be viewed before a game is started but not during a game in progress.
	Defense
	Pitchers have a set of four pitches from a total of eight pitches: Offspeed: A slow pitch. Curveball: A pitch that follows a curved trajectory away from the pitcher's throwing arm. Fastball: A fast pitch. Screwball: A curved pitch that breaks in the opposite direction of a curveball or a slider. Sinker: A fast pitch that drops toward the ground. Fastball!: A very fast pitch. Slider: A curved pitch that breaks more sharply than a curveball. Knuckleball: A rare pitch that is slow and follows an unpredictable trajectory. Strategy: Raises another menu with additional choices to play an instant replay, intentionally walk the batter to plate, or change the defensive strategy (IF to reposition the infielders or OF to reposition the outfielders). The type of pitch is selected by holding in the indicated direction (or no direction when marked with ●) and pressing or . The pitcher's weakest pitch is assigned to , medium pitches to and , and strongest pitch to . After choosing a pitch, the pitcher can throw the ball by holding or while holding the D-Pad in any direction to aim the pitch. The wind-up of the pitch is longer when the button is held for longer, which determines how far inside or outside or high or low (depending on the directions held) the pitch will be. A strike zone indicator appears with a crosshair showing the aim of the pitch. When the pitching menu is not open, the pitcher can pick-off a runner trying to steal a base by holding a direction corresponding to a base (which changes depending on the view, with first being in the pitcher's view and in the batter's view) and pressing . When the ball is hit, the fielder under control is marked by a circle around him and can be moved in any direction using the D-Pad. For fly balls, a marker moves over the ground and shows the position of the ball as it flies through the air. The fielder automatically catches the ball if below the ball when it falls close enough or over the ball when it is on the ground. The fielder jumps or dives for the ball by pressing , or the player can take control of the fielder closest to the ball by pressing or if the ball moves closer to someone else. Once the ball is caught, the fielder can throw the ball by holding a direction corresponding to a base and pressing or . An infielder with the ball can run to a baserunner for a tagout by holding a direction corresponding to a base and pressing or . Substitutions can be made from the scoreboard and roster screen by pressing  START . Bullpen Status shows the pitchers and Sub Players shows the other defensive positions. The status of the pitcher on the mound is shown as Ok, Tiring, Fatigued, or Exhausted. A pitcher can be warmed up in the bullpen and needs to warm up for an inning before being brought into the game or his performance will be affected. Once a player has been substituted, he is removed for the rest of the game and not allowed to return. The pitcher's "baseball card," showing his statistics and status, is shown upon taking the mound, but it can be shown again by pressing before a pitch (and pressing again shows the back side with his season statistics).
	Offense
	Batters can choose from four types of hits: Power: Swings for the fences and hits the ball forcefully. Contact: A normal swing. Bunt: Squares up a bunt to knock the ball into the infield. Strategy: Raises another menu with additional choices to play an instant replay, to go back to the swing selection, or to choose a special play to control the behavior of baserunners (after which the player is shown the menu for the type of hit again). This menu is shown automatically when there are runners on base. The type of hit is selected by holding in the indicated direction (or no direction when marked with ●) and pressing or . The following special plays are available if the player chooses Strategy: Hit and Run: Requires at least one baserunner. Steal: Requires at least one baseruner. Double Steal: Requires runners on first and second or on second and third. Squeeze: Requires a runner on third base and less than two outs. Then the batter steps into the batting box, and the pitcher throws the ball. To help with hitting, a strike zone indicator briefly appears with a crosshair depicting where the ball will move. When the pitch comes near, the batter can swing at it with or while holding the D-Pad in any direction to aim the hit. For a left-handed hitter, holding hits the pitch on the outside and holding hits it on the inside. For a right-handed hitter, holding hits the pitch on the inside and holding hits it on the outside. Holding raises the bat up to counter a high pitch or holding lowers the bat to counter a low pitch; otherwise, the batter holds the bat in the middle. Hitting at the same level as the pitch usually results in a line drive or a fly ball, hitting one level lower than the pitch usually results in a pop-up (infield) or fly ball (outfield), and hitting one level higher than the pitch usually results in a groundball. Hitting two levels higher or lower than the pitch is a miss and a strike. When the batting menu is not open, a runner can lead-off in preparation for a steal by pressing a direction corresponding to the next base (which changes depending on the view, with second being in the batter's view and in the pitcher's view) or steal by pressing while holding a direction corresponding to the next base. Multiple baserunners can steal at the same time (by pressing multiple directions). Or a runner can retreat to the previous base by pressing while holding a direction corresponding to the previous base. Substitutions can be made from the scoreboard and roster screen by pressing  START . The batter's "baseball card," showing his statistics, is shown upon taking the plate, but it can be shown again by pressing before a pitch (and pressing again shows the back side with his season statistics).

Modes

Season schedule

Batting Practice options

There are three modes:

• Exhibition Game: A single game between any two teams. It can be played by one or two players. The games are played by one player against the computer using the default settings.
• League Play: A full season (162 games), half season (81 games), or short season (13 games). It can be played by one or two players. Games are chosen from a schedule, and each game can be simulated or played out in full. The games are played by two computers against other using the default settings. Players can "buy" up to two teams (which does not cost anything), and the game saves any modifications made to a team that the player owns to the cartridge. Changes are lost if the player sells a team. A "Stars" game between the best players in both leagues is played halfway through the season in the full or half seasons or before the postseason in the short season. After the season is over, there are two rounds of playoff games between the division leaders (preceded by a tie-breaking game if two teams are tied in the division), followed by a best of seven League Championship and a best of seven World Championship.
• Batting Practice: A practice mode for batting. It can be played by one player. The options allow setting the teams, the pitch types and location, and the view and stadium. The batter receives pitches for as long as the player wants to practice, but there is also a "Home Run Derby" setting where the batter receives 20 pitches and gets awarded points for the distance of each hit.

Teams

Team select

The game contains all 28 teams, without their proper names or logos, and follows the 1994 division realignment. The names of the leagues, all-stars game, playoffs, and championships and the league logos can be changed in the "Setup" menu.

League	Division	Team	Based on
American	West	Oakland	Oakland Athletics
		California	California Angels
		Seattle	Seattle Mariners
		Texas	Texas Rangers
	Central	Chicago	Chicago White Sox
		Cleveland	Cleveland Indians
		Kansas City	Kansas City Royals
		Milwaukee	Milwaukee Brewers
		Minnesota	Minnesota Twins
	East	Baltimore	Baltimore Orioles
		Boston	Boston Red Sox
		Detroit	Detroit Tigers
		New York	New York Yankees
		Toronto	Toronto Blue Jays
National	West	San Francisco	San Francisco Giants
		Colorado	Colorado Rockies
		Los Angeles	Los Angeles Dodgers
		San Diego	San Diego Padres
	Central	Chicago	Chicago Cubs
		Cincinnati	Cincinnati Reds
		Houston	Houston Astros
		Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh Pirates
		St. Louis	St. Louis Cardinals
	East	Atlanta	Atlanta Braves
		Florida	Florida Marlins
		Montreal	Montreal Expos
		New York	New York Mets
		Philadelphia	Philadelphia Phillies

Production credits

• Developer: Cygnus Multimedia Productions, Inc.
• Programming: Ken Moore and Dan Hilton
• Original: MindSpan Technologies Corp.
• Artists: Alan Taylor, Tyler Lybbert, Ryan Wood, Lee Phung, Dallin Haws, Eric Stubbs, Eric Nunamaker, Dean Cranney, Cindi Adamson
• Music and Sound: Eric Nunamaker
• Director: Hal Rushton
• Executive Producer: Pam Levins
• Asst. Producer: Michael Person
• Testers: Tomi McNaughton, Randy Hauser, Rich Gangwish, Scott Barnes
• Manual Editor: Shirley Sellers
• Product Mktg. Mgr.: Daniel Jeung

Source:

US manual

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• Programming: Ken Moore, Dan Hilton
• Art: Tyler Lybbert, Ryan Wood, Alan Taylor, Dallin Haws, Lee Phung
• Executive Producer: Pam Levins
• Original by: MindSpan
• Developed by: Cygnus Multimedia Productions

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: HardBall '95/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #70: "May 1995" (1995-0x-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 85 GamePro (DE) 73 Gamers (DE) 73 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 70

	72
Based on 5 reviews

HardBall '95

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: HardBall '95/Technical information.