''MLB ‘98'' is a 1997

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Sony Interactive Studios America 989 Studios was a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) that developed games for PlayStation consoles and Microsoft Windows, Windows personal computers. Their games include ''EverQuest'', ''Twiste ...

and published by

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

. It precedes '' MLB '99'' and is the sequel to ''

MLB Pennant Race ''MLB Pennant Race'' is a baseball video game developed by Sony Interactive Studios America and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. The game takes place during the 1996 Major League Baseball season ...

''.

Gameplay

Games are called by public address announcer Mike Carlucci.

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

Bernie Williams Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr. (born September 13, 1968) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and current musician. He played his entire 16-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees from 1991 through ...

was featured on the cover. Some of its features are the 30

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

clubs, six playing modes, complete statistic tracking, and creating players. It has been succeeded by '' MLB '99'', where

Vin Scully Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster, best known for his broadcast work in Major League Baseball. Scully was the play-by-play announcer for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for sixty-se ...

began calling the games. Starting with ''MLB 2000'', joining him is infielder Dave Campbell on color commentary.

Reception

''MLB '98'' received above-average reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

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. Most critics praised the fluid animation, comprehensive licensing, extensive features, and the usually fast pace of the games. The two sports reviewers of ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...

'' both gave it a 9 out of 10, with Kraig Kujawa describing it as "fast-paced, straightforward and (most importantly) fun." ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

''s

Glenn Rubenstein Glenn Rubenstein (born March 2, 1976) is a writer, director, and journalist based in Northern California. Journalism Rubenstein has been a columnist for the ''San Francisco Examiner'', ''Sports Illustrated'' for Kids, CNET's (now defunct) GameCen ...

was much less enthusiastic, commenting that while the game has all the expected features, it fails to truly stand out in any area, leaving him certain that a superior baseball game would come out by Christmas. ''

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' said, "There's no denying that ''MLB '98'' is a good, solid baseball game that surpasses '' Triple Play '98'' in many respects. However, in the grander scheme of console baseball, ''MLB '98'' does nothing to advance the genre and can't even clean the cleats of

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

's '' World Series Baseball '98'' for

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

." ''

GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...

'' concluded that it "gets rookies into the action right away and can definitely keep the most seasoned veteran hooked for an entire season. If you like your baseball served up arcade-style, ''MLB '98'' is the only game you need to order." Just a few months after ''MLB '98'' was released, ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' listed it as number 97 on their "100 Best Games of All Time", saying it "has its minor flaws and bugs, but overall it's the best 32-Bit baseball game." Note: Contrary to the title, the intro to the article explicitly states that the list covers console video games only, meaning PC games and arcade games were not eligible.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mlb '98 1997 video games 989 Studios games MLB video games Multiplayer and single-player video games North America-exclusive video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation (console)-only games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Video games developed in the United States