A playthrough of Sega's 1989 baseball game for the Sega Genesis, Tommy Lasorda Baseball.
RIP, Tommy Lasorda.
Truth be told, I would've never known who he was without Sega's Tommy Lasorda Baseball, but in reading what people had to say about him, it seems like he was a nice, hard-working guy - something like what you might infer from a glance at his winsome 16-bit visage, beaming at you in an expression of warm welcome at the title screen.
So, as a symbolic candle of sorts, here you go, Tommy.
I play a single game in the Open Game mode as the Dodgers, because really, it would've felt wrong to play as anyone else.
The game was a launch-day title for North America's Genesis launch, making it the very first sports game for system in America. Just imagine, for the juggernaut that the Genesis became in sports, it all started right here.
Tommy Lasorda's Baseball was a pretty good game too, for its time. It feels like a modern-for-1989 baseball game. Curiously, it also bears an incredible resemblance to Hudson's World Class Baseball on the TurboGrafx-16, and it came out about a year after the initial PC Engine release of Hudson's game. They're similar enough that I have to wonder if Sega's is maybe a touched-up, reskinned port under a contract, or perhaps just a straight-up unauthorized clone.
Its design is taken straight from the traditional gameplay template established by Nintendo's Baseball, so you get an overhead perspective for fielding (with the d-pad choosing the base you're throwing to), and it plays exceedingly well for a game of its age thanks to the brilliant minimap.
The behind-the-batter stuff works just fine, too. The controls are simple - C to swing, A to bunt, B to lead off or steal, and pressing Start allows you to make substitutions whenever you see fit. The AI can be a bit dumb when it's pitching (and it tries to bean you sometimes), but the weight of the swing feels good and timing your swing is surprisingly intuitive.
(Just be aware that this is a game that becomes virtually unplayable with a long input lag. I wouldn't recommend trying to play it without switching your TV to game mode.)
I also really loved the graphics and the sound. They look like early Genesis graphics - it is from the 8-to-16-bit transition period, after all - but for as folksy as it is, there's a charming quality to the spritework and the enthusiastic music. Those voice samples are pretty sweet, too.
Even though it's outclassed later on by far more lavishly produced games, Tommy Lasorda is to the Genesis what Baseball was to the NES. It's old-fashioned, it's plain, and it's shallow, but it gets the basics right and it's fun. It nails the important stuff.
So, thanks for the cool game, Tommy!
PS. Your outfit on the title screen was amazing, and I want it.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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