All-Star Baseball

All-Star Baseball is a series of baseball video games that was developed and published by Acclaim Entertainment. The series began in 1997 with the release of All-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas, the successor to Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball. New York Yankees play-by-play announcers John Sterling and Michael Kay were the announcers for 1998-2000 editions of the game. The final game in the series is All-Star Baseball 2005. Another game in the series was cancelled, while Acclaim Entertainment ceased operations on September 1, 2004.

This article is about the video game series. For the tabletop game, see All Star Baseball.
All-Star Baseball
North American cover art for PlayStation 2 of All-Star Baseball 2005, the final game in the series
Genre(s)Sports
Developer(s)Console
Iguana Entertainment/Acclaim Studios Austin (All except 2001)
High Voltage Software (2001)
Handheld
Realtime Associates ('99, 2000)
KnowWonder (2001)
Creations/Acclaim Studios Manchester (2003 and 2004)
Publisher(s)Acclaim Entertainment/Acclaim Sports
Composer(s)Nelson Everhart
Platform(s)PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance
First releaseAll-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas
June 30, 1997
Latest releaseAll-Star Baseball 2005
April 8, 2004

Within the individual games, there are several different modes of play, such as exhibition, managing an existing Major League Baseball team or creating a team. Many cities around the world are available for "expansion," in addition to Mexico City and Puerto Rico.

Most of the games feature Derek Jeter on the cover.

Series
Title Year Platforms
All-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas1997PlayStation, Sega Saturn (Only the PS1 version was released in Europe)
All-Star Baseball '991998Nintendo 64, Game Boy (Only the N64 version was released in Europe)
All-Star Baseball 20001999Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color
All-Star Baseball 20012000Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color (Released exclusively in North America)
All-Star Baseball 20022001GameCube, PlayStation 2 (Only the PS2 version was released in Europe and Japan)
All-Star Baseball 20032002Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance (Only the PS2 and Xbox versions were released in Europe, and only the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox versions were released in Japan)
All-Star Baseball 20042003Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance (Only the PS2 version was released in Europe)
All-Star Baseball 20052004Xbox, PlayStation 2 (Released exclusively in North America)

1997

The first game in the series featured Frank Thomas and was released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn.

1999

The game also marked the debut of play-by-play commentary. This is done by two New York Yankees broadcasters: John Sterling and Michael Kay. Larry Walker appeared on the game's box.

2005

All-Star Baseball 2005 features a variety of things that most previous versions (except 2004) did not include, such as classic players like Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra and others. Apart from each of the MLB teams, the game also features MLB legends of different eras and the 2004 American and National league teams. One particular game characteristic is that it includes the Montreal Expos, who relocated from Montreal to Washington D.C. and changed their name to the Washington Nationals for the 2005 MLB season.

The game includes all thirty stadiums as of the 2004 season, as well as other fictional and non-fictional ball parks to bring the total to over eighty parks. Some of these parks include: the Polo Grounds used by the then New York Giants (the New York Yankees played their home games there as well from 1913-1922); Ebbets Field used by the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1913–1957, Houston Astrodome; Hiram Bithorn Stadium used by the Montreal Expos in their final season; retro, current and future versions of Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium and Dodger Stadium.

Reception

The Nintendo 64 versions received positive reviews, with an average score in the mid-to-high eighties according to GameRankings.[1][2][3] The Gamecube version of All-Star Baseball 2002 received the lowest reviews of all the home console games in the series, with an average score of 67%.[4] All-Star Baseball 2000 on the Game Boy Color has the lowest scores of the entire series, at 60%.[5]

The first game in the series, All-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas, received mediocre reviews upon its release for the PlayStation.

See also

References
  1. "All-Star Baseball 99 for Nintendo 64". GameRankings. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  2. "All-Star Baseball 2000 for Nintendo 64". GameRankings. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  3. "All-Star Baseball 2001 for Nintendo 64". GameRankings. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  4. "All-Star Baseball 2002 for GameCube". GameRankings. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  5. "All-Star Baseball 2001 for Game Boy Color". GameRankings. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
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