Super Baseball 2020

Timed SNK exclusive

Different from real baseball and other baseball video games, this game consists of both male and female characters, as well as robots. All three types of players have the same basic abilities and vary only on their personal strengths. In many cases, human players are better than their robot counterparts. One major difference between the human and robot characters is that the robot characters can blow up (or lose all their power) if they are worked too hard during a game.

Released: 12 March 1993
Platforms: Arcade Neo Geo Neo Geo CD Nintendo Switch SNES Sega Genesis Wii Xbox One
Genres: Arcade Baseball Sports
Developers: SNK
Publishers: SNK
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Science fiction
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB E
Languages: English, Japanese

About

Super Baseball 2020 is a 1991 baseball video game developed by Pallas and published by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms. It was ported to the Neo Geo AES console a month after its release, followed by ports for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The North American Genesis and European Mega Drive versions feature a package illustration by Electronic Arts artist Marc Ericksen.

The gameplay and rules build upon its predecessors Baseball Stars Professional and Baseball Stars with futuristic upgrades befitting of the year 2020 AD, including robot players and technological upgrades for the humans, including powerful armor, computer sensors, jet-packs.

›Story

The game takes place in the year 2020. The most obvious difference from real baseball is that some of the characters in this game are robots. All the human characters are equipped with powerful armor, computer sensors, and jet-packs for improved offense and defensive skills.

Apart from the futuristic characters, the field has also been revamped and redesigned for the future. There is only one stadium in this game, known as Cyber Egg Stadium.

Keywords

retroachievements
wii virtual console
previously on - gametap

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In addition to the futuristic characters, the field has been jazzed up in the form of Cyber Egg Stadium. The bleachers are covered by glass so beyond the playing surface, it's as if the spectators are sitting under an elevated portion of the field. To balance the overly powerful hitters, the only opening for home-runs is in dead center. Foul territory has been reduced to the area behind first base, home and third base, not extending past the second-based lines into the outfield increasing the opportunities for hits.

New on-field features include stop zones near first and third bases that cause a batted ball to stop dead, jump zones that give an acrobatic boosts to fielders (located in front of the home run window on the Super SNES version). On all releases except the Super SNES version, landmines called crackers are thrown on the field to inhibit the defence.

Reception

RePlay reported Super Baseball 2020 to be the third most popular arcade game of October 1991. In Japan, Game Machine listed it as the ninth most successful table arcade unit of that month.

On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the Neo Geo version of the game a 24 out of 40.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Platform	Released	Regions
Arcade	20 September 1991	Japan
Neo Geo	25 October 1991	Japan · North America 25 October 1991
SNES	12 March 1993	Japan · North America 1 July 1993
Neo Geo CD	25 February 1995	Japan
Wii	4 October 2011	Japan · North America 5 July 2012 · Europe 23 August 2012

Editions and related releases

Included in: ACA NeoGeo Selection Vol. 10
Ported as: ACA Neo Geo: 2020 Super BaseballSuper Baseball 2020ACA Neo Geo: Super Baseball 2020
Built on it: Super Baseball 2020