Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball

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Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball is a classic Super NES baseball game that was released in 1994. The game has a Major League Baseball license but not a Major League Baseball Players Association license, meaning that the game has real stadiums and real teams, but not real players. Fortunately, 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 the Game Boy with real players and stats from the 1996 season. The gameplay is similar to its predecessor's, though it is sometimes sluggish due to hardware restrictions.

Contents 1 Features 2 Gameplay 3 Errors 4 Game Boy version

[edit] Features

"Imaginary" players in the game are themed with their teammates. Some of the themes include:

• The Cincinnati Reds are writers (B. Stoker, P. Dick, E. Queen).
• The Detroit Tigers are famous Motown singers, (A. Franklin, G. Knight and R. Smokey).
• The Houston Astros are cartoonists (G. Larson, W. Eisner, S. Lee).
• The Milwaukee 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).
• The Los Angeles Dodgers are based on punk rock pioneers from Los Angeles and other areas around California including (Exene Cervenka, John Doe and DJ Bonebrake of X, Poison Ivy and Lux Interior of The Cramps, Jello Biafra and Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys, and Lee Ving of Fear).
• The San Diego Padres are based on punk rock pioneers from the UK including (Billy Idol, the members of The Damned, Johnny Rotten, and Sid Vicious).
• The New York Mets are based on punk rock pioneers from New York including (Johnny Thunders, Joey Ramone, Tom Verlaine, Jerry Nolan).
• The Kansas 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).
• The St. Louis Cardinals are comedians (H. Moe is actually Bob Tewksbury, O. Hardy is famous shortstop Ozzie Smith).
• The Oakland Athletics apparently hired more authors with H. Ernest (he replaces Mark McGwire), L. Byron, M. Twain, and L.Tolstoy.
• The Colorado Rockies contain famous names from horror movies (including G. Romero, B. Lugosi, and T. Savini) .
• The California Angels, unsurprisingly, have famous actors on their team (F. Astair, H. Bogart, J. Wayne).
• The Texas Rangers, appropriately, have a Western theme (their best pitcher, T. Mix, "fills in" for Kevin Brown).
• The Philadelphia Phillies feature a Rocky 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 by Phil Spector (D. Love, B. Medley).
• The Seattle Mariners have Nintendo of America employees on their team, except Ken Griffey Jr.
• The Baltimore 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 for Cal Ripken Jr.
• The Cleveland Indians have famous actresses and glamor girls on their team. (A. Margret, A. Hepburn, M. Monroe, G. Garbo).
• The Boston Red Sox contain members from the show Cheers. Cliff Claven, Norm Peterson, and Sam Malone are all present. Also included are Boston landmarks (B. Common, M. Harvard) and figures from early American history (J. Adams, J. Hancock, A. Hamilton).
• The Chicago White Sox are former basketball players from St. John's University (M. Sealy, C. Mullin, M. Jackson).
• The Atlanta Braves are famous dance DJ's, such as Sasha & Digweed.
• The Toronto Blue Jays are players from the Wigan Warriors rugby team (E. Hanley, M. Offiah, D. Betts).
• The Montreal Expos are people from the 1980s music scene in Manchester, UK, including members of New Order and The Smiths.

The only actual baseball player is (obviously) Ken Griffey Jr., although the New 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.

[edit] Gameplay

The game had many features for its time, such as statistics for the 1993 season and 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 trademark Green Monster is in the game, as is Joe Robbie Stadium's teal wall.

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 the Cincinnati Reds, Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox, four of the starting pitchers from the Atlanta Braves - John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, and Greg Maddux - and Juan Guzman of the then world champion Toronto Blue Jays.

There is also a battery-packed 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 1993 World Series.

[edit] Errors

The developers have a few players with their races for instance, Glenallen Hill and Lenny Webster are accidentally Caucasian, when they are actually African-American. Ben McDonald of the Baltimore 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).

[edit] 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- 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 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.