Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

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VideoGameCritic
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Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 19th, 2021, 5:44 pm

My friend Eric and I just played this, and I think it was the most entertaining baseball game I've played in some time.

First off, the pacing is so fast! The action is non-stop, and there are so many cool/funny little animations, like:

- when a fielder runs into a fence, he falls back like he just ran into a brick wall
- third-base coach will continue to do the "wave him in" sign even after the play is over
- a batter will yell "aww c'mon!" at the ump, even after swinging at the third strike!
- batters breaking their bats over their knees after striking out
- second basemen jumping into the air to avoid sliding runners

When I first bought this in the 90's, do you know what sold me? Wriggley Field had ivy covering the fences.

Unfortunately while this game has an MLB license, it does not have the players... except one of course.

Zack Burner
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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby Zack Burner » June 19th, 2021, 7:08 pm

Ah yes, my friend and I played this game a lot in the 90's. So much fun....the famous line, "Aw come on!" never gets old. In fact it's a soundbyte from a movie believe it or not, "The Man with the One Red Shoe" spoken by Jim Belushi.

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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby Gentlegamer » June 20th, 2021, 9:00 am

How would you say this compares to the best of the Genesis baseball games?

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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 20th, 2021, 9:41 am

I would put this right up there with Sportstalk, which is probably the best Genesis baseball game.

Voor
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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby Voor » June 20th, 2021, 3:55 pm

My favorite baseball game of all time easily. Don’t forget the little Easter egg of not pitching, and after some time, the ump will knock on the “TV screen” and say “play the game, kid!”

Like you said, it comes down to pacing and a easy control scheme, which this game excels in.

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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 20th, 2021, 4:14 pm

As icing on the cake, the manual is awesome. It explains the history of every MLB franchise!

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MSR1701
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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby MSR1701 » June 21st, 2021, 6:06 am

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball on SNES was one of the first baseball games I ever owned, and one that I enjoyed immensely as a kid, and still to this day. Thanks to the arcade-like feel, I was able to have moments when playing against my sister (who did NOT care for baseball) where I could run around the outfield like a chicken with my head cut off (and smack the wall a dozen times) to give her time to catch up. Great music, great fun, to me it is a classic.

Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run, while decent, just could not hold a candle to what came before. From what I've read, Rare was awarded doing the second game from some internal reasons, and the developer of the first game was given a Super Scope title as a replacement title (which the developer turned into Tinstar, I think).

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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby MSR1701 » June 21st, 2021, 6:07 am

Voor wrote:My favorite baseball game of all time easily. Don’t forget the little Easter egg of not pitching, and after some time, the ump will knock on the “TV screen” and say “play the game, kid!”

Like you said, it comes down to pacing and a easy control scheme, which this game excels in.


WOW, I never found that voice clip... Need to fire this up.

Oh Come ON!!! *Bat Snap*

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JustLikeHeaven
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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby JustLikeHeaven » June 21st, 2021, 11:00 am

The lack of the MLB license is disappointing, but the game is so good that you won’t notice after a few innings. It’s definitely one of the best 16-bit baseball games.

I think I prefer the World Series Baseball games on the Genesis. The amount of time I sunk into those games as a teenager was ridiculous.

I’m also a fan of the futuristic Super Baseball 2020. Another enjoyable action style baseball game.

For the SNES be sure to check out Super Baseball Simulator 1000. A sequel to the NES game of the same name. It looks terrible, but the teams in the ultra league of crazy super powers that are a blast. You can actual play this on the Nintendo Switch SNES online service.

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Re: Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (SNES)

Postby Teddybear » June 21st, 2021, 1:02 pm

JustLikeHeaven wrote:I think I prefer the World Series Baseball games on the Genesis. The amount of time I sunk into those games as a teenager was ridiculous.


Me too. I think the Sega World Series titles are head & shoulders above any and all baseball offerings on the Genesis. I never got the love for Sports Talk (it's OK) and let's be honest....there are so many dogs (Tony LaRussa, Hardball, Cal Ripken, MLBPA, etc) that I feel sorry for those who shelled out $60 seeking a good baseball game in the 1990's.

I did have both Ken Griffey Jr. baseball games for the SNES. They were both pretty good and I especially appreciated how you could view both the left & right fields of actual MLB stadiums on Winning Run.


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