Friday Starter is a weekly column of news and tidbits from the world of baseball video games—past and present, domestic and foreign.
An Earl Weaver Baseball prototype for Genesis
I did some digging this week on a Sega Genesis prototype of Earl Weaver Baseball, dated January 17th 1992. The video above from Retro Rulez shows a dumped version of the prototype running in emulation, looking reasonably polished, albeit without sound. Unfortunately, this dumped ROM doesn’t seem to exist online.
What appears to be the exact same prototype cart surfaced online in February 2016, when a user named GenesisGamer posted about it on a few message boards. GenesisGamer gave this story for the cart’s provenance:
“Back in the early 90’s I used to go to this local thrift store with my mom and occasionally buy Sega games when they had them. All of the games were relatively cheap maybe a few bucks at the time. I came across this weird looking thing pictured below. As a kid I’d never seen anything like it, played it a few times, didn’t really pique my interest because at that age I was much more interested in fighting games. So it sat in my closet and collected dust. Fast forward 20 years later: Last week I cleaned out my storage unit and started feeling nostalgic looking through all of my neglected Sega Genesis games. I saw this one and noticed that it said “Preliminary Version”
The same user says he talked with an unnamed EA Sports game designer who started work there in Spring 1992, but he had no idea about the prototype.
GenesisGamer also uploaded his own handheld cam video of the prototype, which matches the Retro Rulez video best I can tell:
The batter and pitcher sprites are clearly derived from 1991’s Earl Weaver Baseball II, a DOS PC game:
Otherwise, there aren’t many obvious similarities. There’s no attempt at the simple 3D parks in the PC version, and the stars under players make me think more of EA’s other console sports games like NHL or Madden. The menu mentions a “Stats Only” option, which maybe suggests quick simulations of games, a key feature for the PC series.
The Genesis version of Earl Weaver appeared at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in 1991, but it was later canceled for unknown reasons. A Genesis version of EA’s other computer baseball franchise Tony La Russa Baseball would release in March 1993. It’s unclear if that game included any DNA from this canceled title or not.
The Earl Weaver Baseball series is revered among computer gamers of its time. When the original released in ’87 it was an audiovisual leap over its competitors, and along with the Commissioner’s Disk it included incredible customization features for rosters.
I’ve tried a few ways to reach out to Retro Rulez about the game, though his website and email address are no longer functional. Fingers crossed.
A Famista ’91 LCD game
Please enjoy this recording of the LCD game version of Famista ’91, which includes a version of the R.B.I. Baseball standard and chance themes, though it hurts the ears a little to listen to.
Song of the Week
The Hanshin Tigers have already clinched the Central League this past week. They’re 15 wins ahead of second place at time of writing. This resulted in the typical celebration of jumping into the Dotonbori River.
To celebrate the occasion, here is a compilation of the Tigers cheer songs in the latest Pawapuro game: