All Sega did here is join in with numerous other companies and enhance a Genesis game for the 32X. The improvements are minor to say the least. The various modes of play stay the same including the standard season, playoff, and exhibition games plus two different types of homerun derbies. Both the MLBPA and MLB endorse this one so everything is true to the professional game.
This is a fairly realistic representation of the game, which means it moves very slowly. Pitching not only requires the player to select a type of pitch, but the location and speed as well. Batting is a bit easier with only a press of a button and a swing direction. Fielding can be put in the control of the AI, but it's not very intelligent. You'll be better off handling it yourself.
Improvements here are minor and are mostly graphical. The giant batter sprite this series is known for is retained here, but it looks exactly the same no matter who the player is. It hardly looks improved from any of the Genesis version either. Stadiums feature a little more detail, but picking out the changes will require a keen eye. The only advertised improvement is a zoom-in feature that keeps a close eye on a fielder when they make a spectacular play. Oddly, it causes slowdown. Not a way to show off new hardware.
Though it makes little sense, the sound here is actually worse than the Genesis game. The crowd noise that redundantly repeats sounds worse than some 2600 games, and those were mostly static. Pitches are accompanied by an awful sound effect that seems completely out of place. The only positive here is a clean and clear stadium announcer along with some vendors in the crowd.
With only two baseball games on the system, it's not hard to choose. "RBI" is an absolute mess and this one is a fine game, it just takes no advantage of the added processing power. In all honestly, with the proper programming, the Genesis alone could have handled the scaling effect and likely without slowing down to a crawl. This series would really take off on the Saturn and that's how it should be played.
