World Series Baseball (Saturn)

n/a

NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
World Series Baseball
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Licensor: Major League Baseball Properties, Major League Baseball Players Association
Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA (1 track)
Genre: Sports
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1995-11-17 ¥5,8005,800 GS-9061 US 1995-10-02 $69.9969.99 81109 EU 1995-11-17 MK81109-50 DE 1995-11-17 MK81109-50 UK 1995-11-17 £39.9939.99 MK81109-50 PL 1996 AU 199x

World Series Baseball, known in Japan as Hideo Nomo World Series Baseball (野茂英雄ワールドシリーズベースボール), is a Sega Saturn baseball game developed and published by Sega. An entry in the titular World Series Baseball series of baseball titles, the game was first released in the United States in November 1995, with a worldwide release in the following months. In Japan, the game is sponsored by professional Japanese baseball player Hideo Nomo.

The game contains all of the players and teams from the 1995 MLB season.

Gameplay

The game follows the rules of MLB baseball. Players can choose from any of the 28 teams from the 1995 season. There are several modes:

• Exhibition Mode: An exhibition mode, for playing a single game against a human or computer player. The player can also watch two computer-controlled teams play. The player chooses the team and the batting line-up for computer players.
• Pennant Race: Plays a season of 13, 26, or a full 162 games, culminating in the World Series. The game uses the Saturn's internal memory or a backup cartridge to save the player's progress.
• Playoffs: A truncated season with only the play-offs. Up to four players can participate, with two players playing at a time.
• All-Star Game: An exhibition mode against a human or computer player but featuring teams consisting of the best players from the American and National Leagues.
• Home Run Derby: A competition where players can choose any player in the league and compete to get the most home runs. There are no balls, strikes, or outs and no baserunning or fielding. This mode can be played with up to four players taking turns (with the computer pitching for every player), with each player batting for 5, 10, 15, or 20 balls.
• Data Base: View the statistics for any of the 700 players in the game.

Before each game, players choose a team and a batting line-up. Players can choose from one of four stadiums (Fenway Park in Boston, the Astrodome in Houston, Wrigley Field in Chicago, or Yankee Stadium in New York), whether to play a daytime or nighttime game, and whether to play as the home or visiting team (home bats last).

In the game options, players can select the difficulty (affecting the skill level of computer-controlled teams), toggle errors (whether fielders occasionally drop fly balls or miss grounders), toggle wind (whether wind conditions affect the ball physics), toggle designated hitters (whether the pitcher bats or a designated hitter replaces him in the batting line-up), and choose the number of innings (determining the length of the game).

	Defense
	When pitching, position the pitcher on the mound with and and throw the ball with . While throwing, hold and for a breaking ball, for a change-up (slow pitch), or for a fastball. Faster pitches are harder for the batter to hit but more likely to travel farther or potentially result in a home run. The batter is eliminated when three strikes are thrown; the batter gets a free base if the pitcher throws four balls or hits the batter. An indicator in the corner of the screen shows the wind speed and direction, which can affect the trajectory of the pitch. Wind can be disabled in the options before starting the game. When fielding, the D-Pad controls all of the fielders simultaneously (with the camera focused on the one closest to the ball). The player can have the nearest fielder jump by pressing or dive by pressing while holding a direction. Once the ball is in possession, throw it to base by pressing while holding a direction corresponding to the base ( for first, for second, for third, or for home) or press by itself to throw to first base. The player can pause the game with  START  to substitute a relief pitcher or change the positions of fielders. This menu also has options for toggling the radar (which shows the speed of the pitch), toggling auto-fielding (allowing fielders to move into position automatically), and toggling the ball mark (a ring on the ground that indicates where the ball will land).
	Offense
	When hitting, the D-Pad positions the batter in the batter's box. Swing with or bunt with . The batter stops the swinging motion when the button is released. While holding a direction corresponding to the destination base ( for first, for second, for third, or for home), the player can instruct an individual baserunner to lead-off or steal a base with or return to his previous base with . The player can instruct all baserunners to lead-off or steal a base with or instruct them to return to their previous bases with . The player can pause the game with  START  to substitute a pinch hitter or swap out runners.

Teams

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

History

This Saturn version is unrelated to the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Game Gear games of the same name (or the later World Series Baseball arcade game). Rather, it is a brand new entry that takes advantage of the system's 3D graphics. The Japanese version is sponsored by Hideo Nomo, which can be a source of further confusion, as there is a Nomo Hideo no World Series Baseball for the Game Gear also.

During development, the game was known as Grand Slam Baseball.

Legacy

This Saturn version of World Series Baseball was followed by World Series Baseball II in 1996.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	World Series Baseball	World Series Baseball
Japanese	野茂英雄ワールドシリーズベースボール	Hideo Nomo World Series Baseball

Production credits

US version

Sega of America Team

• Producer: Chris Cutliff
• Assistant Producers: Lorne Asuncion, Mark Paniagua
• SEGA SPORTS: Tom Abramson, Matt Cook, Gerald DeYoung, Rosie Freeman, John Gillin, Brad Hogan, Mike Meischeid, Anne Moellering, Scott Rohde, Chris Smith
• Sports Testers: Aron Drayer, Tracy Johnson, Todd Morgan, Dave Perkinson, Terry Thomas, Matt Underwood
• Lead Tester: Tim Spengler
• Core Testers: John Amirkhan, Mike Borg, Steve Bourdet, Ben Briones, Ernie Deakyne, Rich Krinock, Chris Lucich, Dylan Manger, Eric Molina, Jose Ochoa, Steve Perez, Aaron Reif, George Sandoval, Scott Snyder, Steve Thompson
• Special Thanks: Dave Albert, Barry Blum, Alan Bruce, John Carlucci, John Leonhardt, Kristin Mallory, Jenny Martin, Mark Miller, MLB, MLBPA, MLB Photos, Spencer Nilsen, Susannah Nukes, The Phoenix Group, Bryan Reilly, Yukimi Shimura, Osamu Shibayama

Sega of Japan Team

• Producers: Yoji Ishii, Mokoto Oshitoni, Hirotsugu Kobayashi
• Executive Producer: Mamoru Shigeta
• Graphic Designers: Takaya Segawa, Hideake Moriya, Koki Mogi, Makiko Suzuki, Yumiko Miyabe, Yasufumi Soejima
• Programmers: Manabu Ishihara, Kenichi Yamaguchi, Ichiro Kasai, Yuichi Morosawa, Yoichi Nakasato
• Game Designers: Yoshiaki Kitagawa, Tomoko Hasegawa
• Sound Director: Tomonori Sawada, Katsuyoshi Nitta, Miki Obata
• Director: Tetsuo Sinyu
• Technical Director: Honkang Lee
• Art Producer: Ko Tanaka
• Manual: Marc Sherrod
• Special Thanks: Jyunichi Shimizu, Yukifumi Makino, Ikuo Ishizaka, Luigi Rimentani, Toshiki Maruyama, Fumitaka Shibata, James Spahn, Henry Giesen

Source:

US manual

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Japanese version

Sega of Japan Credits

• Executive Producer: Mamoru Shigeta
• Producers: Yoji Ishii, Makoto Oshitani, Hirotsugu Kobayashi
• Art Producer: Ko Tanaka
• Director: Tetsuo Shinyu
• Technical Director: Honkang Lee
• Sound Director: Tomonori Sawada
• Graphic Designers: Takaya Segawa, Hideaki Moriya, Koki Mogi, Makiko Suzuki, Yoshihiro Otani, Yumiko Miyabe, Yasufumi Soejima
• Programmers: Manabu Ishihara, Kenichi Yamaguchi, Ichiro Kasai, Yuichi Morosawa, Yoichi Nakazato
• Game Designers: Yoshiaki Kitagawa, Tomoko Hasegawa
• Sound Staff: Katsuyoshi Nitta, Miki Obata

Sega of America Credits

• Producers: Chris Cutliff, Chris Smith
• Sega Sports: Tom Abramson, Gerald De Young, Rosie Freeman, John Gillin, Mike Meischeid, Scott Rohde
• Sports Testers: Lorne Asuncion, Aron Drayer, Tracy Johnson, Todd Morgan, Mark Paniagua, Dave Perkinson, Terry Thomas, Matt Underwood
• Lead Tester: Tim Spengler
• Special Thanks: Takayuki Kawagoe, Tomoaki Ogawa, Junichi Shimizu, Ikuo Ishizaka, Toshiaki Maruyama, Fumitaka Shibata, James Spahn, Yosuke Okunari, Dave Albert, John Carlucci, Jenny Martin, Mark Miller, Mlb Photos, Susannah Nukes, The Phoenix Group, Spencer Nilsen

• Sega Sound Library by: InVision Interactive Inc.

(C)1994 Sega / CRI

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: World Series Baseball (Saturn)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1995-11: "November 1995" (1995-10-07)

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1995-12: "December 1995" (1995-11-08)

Print advert in GamePro (US) #79: "February 1996" (199x-xx-xx)
also published in:

• GamePro (US) #tce: "The Cutting Edge: Spring 1996" (1996-xx-xx)

Print advert in Strana Igr (RU) #3: "Aprel 1996" (1996-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Strana Igr (RU) #4: "May/Iyun 1996" (1996-xx-xx)

Artwork

• 

  US prototype box art

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score CD Consoles (FR) 100 Digitiser (UK) 78 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 73 Fusion (US) NTSC-U 50 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 97 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 80 GamesMaster (UK) PAL 70 Hobby Consolas (ES) PAL 79 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 85 Maximum (UK) 50 Mega Force (FR) PAL 87 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 71 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 87 Player One (FR) 92 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 69 Saturn+ (UK) PAL 84 Sega Magazin (DE) PAL 81 Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) 81 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 70 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 75 Video Games (DE) NTSC-U 72 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 90

	78
Based on 22 reviews

World Series Baseball (Saturn)

Saturn, JP
Cover
Disc

Saturn, US
Cover
Disc Manual

Saturn, EU
Cover
Disc

Saturn, DE
Cover
Disc

Saturn, AU
Cover
Disc

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	103,876,080		CD-ROM (EU)	MK81109-50 V1.005
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	103,586,784	1995-09-21	CD-ROM (JP)	GS-9061 V1.010
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	103,878,432		CD-ROM (US)	81109 V1.003

External links

• Sega of America webpage: Saturn
• Sega of Japan catalogue page (Japanese): Saturn