I began playing Bases Loaded II: Second Season on the NES (never had the first one). Then I got the SNES and played some Super Bases Loaded and Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball. With Roger Clemens' Baseball I was always fascinated with controlling your slide/tag when it came to a close play. The game I really enjoyed however was Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB. I remember looking up who was on the Red Sox that year and editing the names because everyone but Griffey had different names. I was never a fan of Winning Run though.
Getting to the N64, I played MLB featuring Ken Griffey Jr. for a bit. I played more of the second game, Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest. The smoother graphics, updated rosters and create-a-player were an improvement. This was around when I wanted to start having updated rosters. Sometimes I would create some of the new Red Sox players and add them on. Every other team would still be inaccurate but I didn't care. This got old after a year or so.
A buddy of mine got me into All Star Baseball 2000. This was where it got confusing because the ASB games were always a year off (ASB 2005 was really 2004 season etc). Unlike the Griffey games, I didn't do full seasons, just exhibition games here and there. I dipped back into playing Slugfest for a bit. In between I played Microsoft Baseball 2001 for the computer. I did play some ASB 2003 afterwards.
It wasn't until ASB 2004 where I started playing a full 162 game season. I actually had 2 seasons going - a usual Red Sox season and my created team in expansion mode. With expansion mode I had a blast. I created a team in my hometown, and the starting 9 were created players of myself and my friends. My rotation, bullpen and bench consisted of players who were retired or weren't assigned to any teams. I always felt weird having a player on my team who was playing elsewhere. Chuck Finley was my ace, and he did surprisingly well. Chris Nichting, who I never heard of, was a reliable bullpen arm for me. My closer, Kasahiro (sp?) Sasaki was lights out. I would go to baseball almanac and see what players wore what numbers, and assign whatever uniform number they wore the most, or one that I felt appropriate. Hey, I was a 15-17 year old with a dinky 15-20 hour a week part time job, I had time to kill lol. I heard the main theme to ASB 2004 on youtube and became extremely nostalgic. We ended up getting to the World Series and beat the Cardinals in I think 6 games. Granted everyone was overrated, but it was so much fun. It was awesome that when you created players, you could assign certain walk up songs, which was a first at the time. I remember walking up to Jump Around. The intro to ASB 2004 was awesome, and actually got me pumped up to play a game. The special features were fantastic as well - I loved scenario mode!
ASB 2005 came out, and did the same - Red Sox season and my own created team with my friends. 2005's version didn't feel the same though, it just seemed "off". It just didn't capture that magic that 2004 had. I ended up switching over to MVP Baseball.
MVP Baseball was where it was at. I played 2004 and 2005, full 162 game season, playoffs included. This is when I started to go along with the 162 game schedule. I would play one game a day. So the season opener in real life, I would be playing the season opener in my game. I just seem comfortable doing that, it feels like I'm not overdoing it. One game a day, 45 minutes a day isn't that bad. I would play the Red Sox of course, then create myself and put myself on the Pawsox. I would play as them as well because they are local (if only they had a player lock option).
MVP NCAA Baseball 2006 came out. I did the same thing as I did in ASB 2004 - created me and my friends as the starting 9. Unfortunately we lost in the playoffs. I still played MVP 05 on the Xbox with updated rosters from MVP Mods. I think I had to get the rosters by a USB stick or something, because I didn't have my Xbox setup to the internet. I switched to MVP on the computer because they had so many mods to make the game much more realistic. I played MVP to about 2007 or 2008. I remember 2006 David Ortiz had very similar stats in the game as he did in real life.
Now to MLB The Show, I have been playing since 2010. Since 2010, I think there was about 2 or 3 seasons I didn't completely finish, mainly because of my work schedule. I still play the same way - one game a day, going along with the season. Last year was tough with a full time job and part time job 2 nights a week. Now that I quit the part time job its much easier to enjoy this game, and play my usual one game a day. I play the Red Sox of course, and do player lock as myself on the Pawsox (player lock is clutch now).
So yea, sorry this was real long. I just kinda became a bit nostalgic over the weekend. I actually am looking to buy ASB 2004 just to fool around with it and see if I remember my old team, so to speak lol. Granted I love MVP Baseball, that was a much better game then ASB was, in my opinion. I would choose MVP over ASB. It was just having a created team in your hometown, having all your friends playing on the same team was special.
Now with playing The Show all these years, if MVP came back, I would stick with The Show. MVP was great, but it was great at that time. Now its The Show's time. Plus having my last name (finally) in a game helps..
So what games did you play?
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