''Super Mega Baseball'' is a baseball

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

series developed by the independent studio Metalhead Software in Victoria, BC, Canada.

''Super Mega Baseball''

History

The first game, ''Super Mega Baseball'', was released on December 16, 2014 as a

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

cross-buy Cross-buy is a feature of some digital distribution systems available across multiple device platforms, where users who purchase a license to a specific piece of software are able to use the versions of the software for different device classes at ...

title on the U.S.

PlayStation Store The PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital media store available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable content ...

. It was released on the European

on April 1, 2015. An updated version called ''Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings'' was released on

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

on August 14, 2015 and it was released on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

for PC on August 21, 2015. The extra features from this version were released as free DLC for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in 2016. ''Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings'' was released on

Shield Android TV The Nvidia Shield TV (Shield Android TV or just Nvidia Shield) is an Android TV-based digital media player produced by Nvidia as part of its Shield brand of Android devices. First released in May 2015, the Shield was initially marketed by Nvid ...

on March 24, 2016. ''Super Mega Baseball'' was a critical success, earning an average score of 85/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on 14

reviews A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indic ...

. Gaming-Age gave the game a grade of "A," saying that "Because really, Super Mega Baseball is the sort of fun, easy to pick up diversion that video game baseball was at the very beginning of its lifespan — and if it's as great as it is here, there's every reason to believe it can still fulfill that function."

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

, meanwhile, gave the game an 8.1 "Great" rating, praising the game's sense of humor and easy pick-up-and-play gameplay, but criticising its presentation. It was named "Sports Game of the Year" by

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...

Features

''Super Mega Baseball'' supports 1 – 4 players in local competitive or co-operative play. Primary game modes include Exhibition and Season. The game has 216 customizable players and 24 umpires, as well as four different ballparks (6 in the ''Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings'' version).

''Super Mega Baseball 2''

History

Developer Metalhead Software announced the second installment in the series, ''Super Mega Baseball 2'', on September 28, 2016. ''Super Mega Baseball 2'' was released in 2018 as it had been delayed, and includes updated art, online

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

, and full customization. On April 20, 2018, Metalhead Software announced that the game would be released on May 1, 2018. It released into Xbox One's Games with Gold for the month of May 2018. ''Super Mega Baseball 2: Ultimate Edition'' was then announced to be released on July 25, 2019 on

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

. "Metalhead Software is bringing the critically acclaimed baseball game Super Mega Baseball 2 to the Nintendo Switch for the first time as Super Mega Baseball 2: Ultimate Edition, which includes the complete set of Super Mega Baseball 2 content (game, DLC), fully featured online play, and runs at 60 fps in both docked and handheld modes" - Operation Sports. ''Super Mega Baseball 2'' earned an 81

score for Xbox One based on 21 reviews. Forbes gave it an 8.6/10 saying "While it's not a full-fledged AAA title, SMB 2 blurs the lines with its fantastic gameplay and mode depth." Gaming Age gave it an A−, saying "There’s a good argument to be made that it’s the best baseball game of 2018."

Features

''Super Mega Baseball 2'' supports 1 - 4 players in local co-op or online multiplayer. Primary game modes include Exhibition, Season, Elimination, and Pennant Race. Pennant Race is the 1v1 online matchmaking mode, while the remaining modes can be played locally or online in arranged games. ''Super Mega Baseball 2'' also has three DLC packs containing additional customization content: Wild Team Customization Pack, Wicked Team Customization Pack, Bold Player Customization Pack. In season mode, it has deep, multi-

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

tracking of stats. All

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

versions of the game can be matched with one another in the

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

multiplayer (Pennant Race) mode.

Awards

The game won the award for "Game, Franchise Sports" at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards.

''Super Mega Baseball 3''

History

Metalhead Software announced the launch of their latest game in the baseball series, ''Super Mega Baseball 3'', on March 11, 2020. The game was set for release in April 2020, but Metalhead announced on April 23, 2020 that due to industry-wide delays from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the release date was revised to May 13, 2020. New features include an all-new Franchise mode, and importation of custom teams from ''Super Mega Baseball 2''. ''Super Mega Baseball 3'' was released on May 13, 2020 on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, and on January 11, 2021 for Amazon Luna. It earned an 83 Metacritc score for Xbox One based on 12 critic reviews with one critic saying “The SMB series has become one of the most consistent, and well-developed sports gaming franchises available.” ''Super Mega Baseball 3'' also earned an 87 score on Metacritic for Switch based on 8 critic reviews with another critic saying “Super Mega Baseball 3 is our new all-time leader for the title of the greatest baseball video game I have ever played.”

Features

''Super Mega Baseball 3'' features Exhibition, Pennant Race, Season and Elimination modes, as well as a brand-new Franchise mode. The Franchise mode includes such features as signing free agents and Player Development. In a post-launch update, Metalhead also released a brand-new cross-platform online mode for ''Super Mega Baseball 3'' called Online Leagues. The mode was released on September 29 and allows users to create and join custom leagues online with friends. Leagues can range from casual to competitive play and each league can have up to 32 players.

''Super Mega Baseball 4''

''Super Mega Baseball 4'' was announced on May 2, 2023 for release on June 2, 2023. Its pre-orders released on May 30, 2023. ''Super Mega Baseball 4'' is the first entry in the series published by EA Sports.

Notes

References

{{italic title Android (operating system) games Baseball video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games PlayStation Network games Windows games Xbox One games Xbox One X enhanced games Video game franchises introduced in 2014 Video games developed in Canada Video games with cross-platform play PhyreEngine games Video game franchises