Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball is a
Super NESbaseball game that was released in 1994. The game has a
Major League Baseball (MLB) license but not a
Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) license, meaning that the game has real
stadiums and real teams, but not real players (except
Ken Griffey Jr.). The fictitious players have the same statistics as their real-world counterparts, and the game comes with a name-changing feature that allows players to change the athletes' names.
Nintendo released a portable version of the game in 1997 for the
Game Boy with real players and stats from the 1996 season. The gameplay is similar to its predecessors, though it is sometimes sluggish due to hardware restrictions. The SNES version came with a promotional Griffey collector's card packed inside.[1] It is often rated by the public as one of the best baseball games of all time.[2][3][4][5]
The game was groundbreaking and had a long list of features for its time. The game featured statistics from the real-life
1993 MLB 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. The team rosters are based on the 1993 MLB season, with stats included.
Nearly every team has its own venue, sometimes complete with unique features, including
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. Due to cartridge space limitations, some stadiums could not be added, and in those cases a generic stadium with green or blue walls is used (this layout was mostly used for the
concrete donuts such as
Riverfront Stadium and
Three Rivers Stadium, themselves noted for being generic). Some of the stadiums are particularly realistic;
Fenway Park's trademark
Green Monster is in the game, as is
Joe Robbie Stadium's teal wall and
Oriole Park at Camden Yards' trademark Warehouse in right field. The
Cincinnati Reds have a blue outfield wall as opposed to their signature green wall at Riverfront Stadium.
The
Kansas City Royals and
Chicago White Sox are the only two teams to play night games at their respective ball parks.
Kauffman Stadium features its signature water falls in the outfield and signature scoreboard in Center Field. Both
Yankee Stadium and
Tiger Stadium are almost identical except that Yankee Stadium has shorter right field bleachers and the ball can be hit out of the park while Tiger Stadium has an upper deck all the way around. Toronto's
SkyDome hotel/restaurant are visible in play if a homerun heads to center field.
Wrigley Field has its signature Ivy on the outfield wall but is missing the apartment houses in left and right field respectively and the manual operated scoreboard in center field. The
Kingdome has its signature large right field wall as does the
Metrodome.
The
Chicago White Sox wear their black alternate top as their home uniform in the game. The
Los Angeles Dodgers have a player on the bench, Lou Graves (actually
Darryl Strawberry), who is known for timely home runs in clutch situations; he is often substituted in at shortstop.
Pitching is one of the simplest elements in this game. 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 play in the
World Series. Unique to the game was the ability to choose playing a season using a system of either four or six divisions, as the game was released after the six division system was proposed for MLB, but before the first MLB season with six divisions (1994).
The
Chicago Cubs has game director Brian Ullrich standing in for second baseman
Ryne Sandberg. The bullpen has some seemingly generic names, such as P. Drifter who fills in for pitcher
Jose Guzman, T. Yokel who fills in for pitcher
Frank Castillo, E. Crash stands in for outfielder
Sammy Sosa, D. Liscombe stands in for first baseman
Mark Grace, M. Bettah stands in for catcher
Rick Wilkins, E. Larouche stands in for closer
Randy Myers, B. Bambam stands in for outfielder
Kevin Roberson, S. Flash stands in for infielder/outfielder
Eric Yelding, K. Costello stands in for third baseman
Steve Buechele, P. Denton stands in for outfielder
Willie Wilson and R. Steel filling in for middle relief pitcher
Dan Plesac. An Athletic interview with Brian Ullrich from April 2020 revealed the Cubs' names came from "players that Ullrich and his buddies had created in TV Sports: Football."[6]
The
Florida Marlins roster has random names with no known common bond or claim to fame. R. Harrison fills in for third baseman
Gary Sheffield, H. Lo fills in for utility player
Gus Polidor, R. Crombie fills in for outfielder
Greg Briley, R. Thompson stands in for pitcher
Jack Armstrong (baseball), R. Richards fills in for
Matias Carrillo and L. Vogelman fills in for outfielder
Jeff Conine. The pitching staff includes S. McDonald standing in for middle reliever
Robb Nen, J. Bafus standing in for knuckleballer
Charlie Hough, and G. Valkenar standing in for closer
Bryan Harvey. An Athletic article from April 2020 with the game's director, Brian Ullrich, revealed the Marlins are named after Ullrich's elementary school classmates from
Spokane, Washington.[6]
The
San Francisco Giants are members of Software Creations, the team that developed the game. Michael Webb stands in for outfielder
Willie McGee, Richard Kay stands in for catcher
Kirt Manwaring, Ste Pickford stands in for power-slugger
Barry Bonds. John Pickford stands in for ace pitcher
John Burkett. Stephen Ruddy stands in for first baseman
Will Clark, Kevin Edwards stands in for third baseman
Matt Williams, John Tatlock stands in for utility infielder
Rikkert Faneyte, Mark Daglish stands in for closer
Rod Beck, and Martin Holland stands in for infielder
Mike Benjamin.
The
Seattle Mariners include Ken Griffey Jr. himself, the only active MLB player from the era to be included; his name cannot be changed. The other player names are of
Nintendo of America employees such as J. Tingdale who stands in for ace pitcher
Randy Johnson, D. Owsen who stands in for shortstop
Omar Vizquel, and J. Hutt filling in for outfielder
Jay Buhner. K. Tofte, a relative of Los Angeles realtor Tracy Tofte's ex-husband (formerly Tracy Wells of
Mr. Belvedere), fills in for pitcher
Erik Hanson.
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 several other features, including a
home run derby in which players practice their power hitting against either Ken Griffey Jr. or against one of five fictitious power batters - Warren Track, Barny Tater, Sammy Scrap, Can O' Corn and Nick Noheart.
The game features the voice of former MLB umpire
Steve Palermo for called strikes, balls and outs.[7]
The game's other vocal soundbite, that of a batter turning to the umpire and screaming "Oh come on!" after a called strike three was sampled from a
Jim Belushi line in the 1985 movie The Man With One Red Shoe.[8]
Bugs
Due to a bug, during a full season some home run totals for players reset to zero after the All-Star game. A Nintendo Customer Service representative acknowledged this bug, further claimed that sometimes during the World Series players are prevented from using their best pitchers, and bluntly summarized, "Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball sports some pretty serious bugs."[9]
Saved information, such as edited player names or seasons, are known to erase unexpectedly.
Game Boy version
The game was released in 1997 for the Game Boy, with
Super 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 a
Major League Baseball and a
Major 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, so gamers can select any non-pitcher MLB player. 1997 Rookies of the Year
Scott Rolen and
Nomar Garciaparra debut in this game, along with
Deivi Cruz.
The Game Boy and Game Boy Color versions of the game were developed by programmer Brian Beuken, who was working freelance for Software Creations at the time.
Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball received generally mixed reviews. GamePro heavily criticized the game's lack of realism, citing the fictitious players, inaccurate ballparks, inability to adjust defense, "stylized" player sprites, and the ability to control the ball even after it leaves the pitcher's hand. However, they acknowledged the game has good music, "one of the best manuals for a baseball game", and gameplay that is very accessible to beginners.[15]Electronic Gaming Monthly criticized that the computer is too difficult to beat in one-player mode, but praised the digitized voices of
Steve Palermo and
Jack Buck and the general playability. They scored the game a 6.6 out of 10.[11] In 2018,
Complex ranked the game 91st in their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time".[16]
By July 1994, the game sold 750,000 copies.[17] The game ultimately sold 1.2 million units.[18]
Legacy
Nintendo later published three more games featuring Ken Griffey Jr., one developed by
Rare and two developed by
Angel Studios.
^Nintendo Power scored Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball 4.3/5 for graphics/sound, 3.8 for challenge, and 3.5/5 twice for play control and theme/fun.[13]