The World Series is on the horizon, meaning the world is talking about baseball once again. When you aren't watching the sport's most important series, you might still want to indulge in some baseball and there are some fantastic video games to do that with.
While most people will look at MLB The Show, since it's the most prominent baseball game out there, it's far from the only good one released throughout history. MLB The Show might be the only major game in town these days, which has made fans forget about these other classics from the past few decades.
Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr. (1998)
It's not often that a sports game gets named after one individual player. Of course, Ken Griffey Jr. wasn't the average player as he was one of the greatest to ever compete and there was just something about him that stood out and made him the coolest guy on the baseball diamond.
Giving him his own video game made a ton of sense. This was a blast of a game that focused more on delivering a wacky arcade style of play rather than trying to emulate what actually happens on the field, paving the way for future similar video games.
Bases Loaded (1987-1995)
Obviously, a game released on the original Nintendo isn't going to wow anyone with the capability of its graphics, since that just wasn't how things went back then. Thankfully, Bases Loaded was boosted by the fact that it featured some enjoyable gameplay.
Since very few games were licensed by MLB at the time, Bases Loaded was filled with fictional teams and players. Though it has been somewhat forgotten, it did spawn multiple sequels all the way down to the PlayStation era.
R.B.I. Baseball (1987-1995)
Some modern fans might know R.B.I. Baseball because new installments were released from 2014 through 2021. However, it's much less known that the series actually dates back to the late '80s and made history when it debuted.
R.B.I. Baseball was the first console game of its kind to get the official MLBPA license, meaning it used real players but not legitimate team names or logos. Even decades after its initial release, some longtime fans still played it for how groundbreaking it was.
MLB Slugfest (2002-2006)
The NFL Blitz series became a huge hit for its over-the-top concepts. Gamers could deliver big hits and use absurd animations on the football field and surprisingly, the idea translated well to baseball despite the sport being much calmer on the surface.
That's where the MLB Slugfest series came into play. The arcade games featured monstrous home runs, trash talking among players, and charging the mound to start fights. There was even a time when you could play with Mortal Kombat characters since the game was made by Midway.
The Bigs (2007-2009)
Once MLB Slugfest ended, gamers were looking for something fun to play once more. They got their chance with The Bigs, which came from 2K Sports. It wasn't quite as outlandish as the franchise it borrowed ideas from but it still worked.
With power-ups, player models that looked hilariously ridiculous, and wacky animations, gamers had a blast. 2009's The Bigs 2 took it even further and allowed players to engage in a full 162-game season, meaning there was even more time for outrageous interactions.
Triple Play Baseball (1995-2002)
Ask almost any longtime player of baseball video games which is the best and they'll likely say one of the MLB The Show entries or MVP Baseball. The MVP series is no longer active and while there's no doubt that it's memorable, it was preceded by something else.
The original name for the franchise was Triple Play and it had a strong run during the late '90s and early '00s. While it was a realistic take on baseball, there were also goofy aspects to make it fun like playing home run derby in weird locations or outfielders colliding with each other and falling over.
Inside Pitch (2003)
Around the time that Microsoft launched Xbox, many releases were exclusive to Nintendo and Sony, including sports games. Microsoft released its own sports franchises including Inside Drive for the NBA and Inside PItch for baseball.
Ultimately, Inside Pitch was met with mixed reviews at best but it was a welcome attempt at a new series. It just didn't really do anything new to make it stand out and it didn't sur other existing baseball games for most of its aspects.
All-Star Baseball (1997-2004)
The late '90s and early '00s were basically the golden age to be a player of baseball video games. There were just so many to choose from and one that flew under the radar of sorts was All-Star Baseball, which is mostly ed for having Derek Jeter on the cover most years.
The games often received better reviews than most other games from the same era. It was also ahead of its time with features like creating a team and relocating a franchise to o places like Mexico City and Puerto Rico, which some games still don't even allow.
MLB 2K (2005-2013)
Speaking of Derek Jeter, All-Star Baseball wasn't the only game he was a cover athlete for. He did the honors for the first three installments of the MLB 2K franchise. Considering 2K's stranglehold on NBA games and its ownership of the WWE name, it's hard to believe people would forget their baseball entries.
However, MLB The Show did for baseball games what NBA 2K did for basketball, which was to dominate the competition. The last few editions of MLB 2K were fine but couldn't match up to Sony's game and the developers eventually chose to discontinue things.
High Heat Major League Baseball (1999-2003)
These days, MLB The Show gets all the love for being a realistic depiction of the baseball that fans watch on TV. While that's true, it's still hard to top the High Heat Major League Baseball franchise in of realism as this simulation was unmatched.
You were more likely to engage in a 1-0 struggle for nine innings than a 10-9 home run slugfest. It lagged behind other games in of graphics but for anyone who loved to replicate actual games, this was the way to go. The series ended when the company behind it filed for bankruptcy.