MLB video gamesThe MLB playoffs are well underway and all these returning sports got me thinking against the grain…are there any rare MLB video games out there?

Early MLB Games

For sure, there are some MLB Video Games that itch my nostalgia bone. Such as my all-time favorite MLB game: Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball. Certainly, a cringe-worthy, gaudy title. Though baseball had yet to find their “Madden." They seem to have in more recent years with many continuous successes over on the PlayStation in the form of MLB The Show.

Outside of Ken Griffey on the SNES, and a few MLB iterations on the Nintendo Wii, it was a rough couple of decades for MLB video games. At least in this blogger’s humble opinion.

The SNES brought us the lovable, top-down vista of the MLB diamond. As a child, the “exceptional” 16-bit graphics and simplistic yet rewarding gameplay that Ken Griffey offered seemed to never get old. Hours upon hours, over the course of a hefty chunk of years were spent battling my brother on the living room carpet – me as the Dodgers and him as…I can’t remember. As a Braves fan now watching the Dodgers make yet another attempt at a World Series crown (with the Braves currently in their path) I can’t fathom why that was my digital team choice of the 90s, but as I didn’t even like real sports at the time, I probably just liked the Dodgers’ sharp blue and white unis.

Back to today, one mere day after me and my fellow Braves super fan watched the Braves put away the Dodgers late in game one of the 2020 NLCS, here I sit wondering if my brother and I didn’t play that same contest against one another countless times in my parents’ living room: Dodgers vs. Braves.

I hope we did.

MLB Games - Today

Years past the SNES’s glory days, the Nintendo Wii arrived. It offered something new and even more addictive to the growing youth of America. Or those that refused to grow out of it, like me. Motion controls. What specific MLB game we played? I can’t recollect. I'm sure many hours were spent on Wii Sports baseball, though. I do know that having aged several years since the SNES, at some point the anger of the devil got in me and made me extremely unaccepting of loss. Which also helped to spoil that innocent joy of old.

However, the once-again simplistic design and graphics of the Wii, along with the new motion controls, is as close as I’ve come to once again experiencing what Ken Griffey on the SNES did: mindless, pure baseball joy. Maybe we'll get a VR iteration someday soon that will tempt me once more? I've heard worse ideas.

MLB Video GamesOnce or twice I’ve experienced The Show on PlayStation, and once or twice I’ve even considered keeping a PlayStation around just to have video game baseball available again. But as a long-time Xbox, and now PC gamer, the exclusivity has been a barrier and nuisance I haven’t been willing to overlook.

 

MLB Video Games Wrap Up

With sports games releasing in various forms it’s likely there’s no value to many if any of them. Especially under various licenses and player names, and seemingly scattered at random across every game console since the beginning of time.

But my favorite, Ken Griffey on the SNES, will fetch over $20 loose! Do you have any MLB video game gems stashed away that you haven’t checked out in a while? Do you know of any rare baseball games? Drop us a comment!