A fan-favorite baseball video game like Metalhead’s Super Mega Baseball should know something about fan-favorite players. The studio has created dozens of these players over the past decade for three critically acclaimed games, from Ham Slamous to Beefcake McStevens, Joseph Broseph to Johnson Swanson. The thing is, they’ve all been fictional.
Good, Super Mega Baseball 4, which launches on June 2 is finally getting real MLB stars, not least because Electronic Arts acquired Metalhead two years ago. It’s not the full current membership in the MLB Players Association, or any of the 30 teams in the national or US leagues – just a free pool of 200 guys that you can play on one of the Super Mega Baseball 4‘s quirky teams (or not; your choice). Instead, they’re past pros that fit the Super Mega style, says Metalhead studio director Scott Drader.
The marketing copy with Tuesday’s announcement lists such all-timers as Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth, as well as two of the Boston Red Sox’s gang of “Idiots” from 2004, Johnny Damon and David Ortiz, the latter of whom stars on the cover of the game . in Super Mega style. (His opponent is the fictional Hammer Longballo of the Sirloins.)
“We’re trying to figure out the right match for licensed players in Super Mega, we’re not just looking for big names; we’re looking for a good spread of positions and eras so that it fits from a game design perspective,” Drader told me last week.
“Of course we’re looking for all those things,” he continued. “We’re also looking for, say, Super Mega personalities and players who felt like they just had to be in this take on baseball, right?”
As?
“Bartolo Colon “Big Sexy,” Drader said, his smile wide open, the way a person’s mouth usually does when saying the name. “Is there anyone more Super Mega than him?”
No there isn’t.
Colón was a four-time All-Star and winner of the 2005 American League Cy Young Award. But after a 21-year career spent almost entirely in the American League, he joined the New York Mets, whose fans celebrated him both for his, well, zafty proportions and his goofy batting performances, which ranged from slapstick ridiculous Unpleasant hall of fame sublime and little in between. And he was never a joke on the hill. The 44-year-old Colón ended his career in Texas damn almost pitched a perfect game.
The roster tease – and Colón’s inclusion in it – is, for Super Mega Baseball fans since the indie days of Metalhead, part celebration and part reassurance. Getting a license for real, well-known ballplayers is a moment where it seems like we made it for fans who have been with the series since 2014 and can’t believe an unlicensed indie sport- video game has come this far.
And it’s reassuring that the game, its appeal and its tone won’t be corrupted or co-opted by a huge publisher accustomed to writing massive checks for sports licensing.
“They recognized the same things that you just did,” Drader said, talking about when EA bought its studio in May 2021. “The most important thing was [EA saying]”We’re not going to tell you what you’re going to do now, but we’re going to talk about what the right next step is, for the IP and the studio.”
So you get something like Super Mega Baseball 4, which will be the first console baseball title to be published by Electronic Arts since its veneration Baseball MVP 2005: A play with the mass appeal of real stars that don’t lose the heady spirit that makes Super Mega Baseball so unique.
“What we’ve tried to do here is allow, Do you want to play with the legends? Is that what resonates with you? Well then that’s thereDrader said. “Want to stick with the classic content? That’s cool too. Are you all about customization and want to get all your friends and family and make your own version of our game? That experience is also there.”
Super Mega Baseball 4 isn’t just 200-plus big names skinning a mild update of 2020’s exceptionally Super Mega Baseball 3Drader promised. There are six more stadiums, again Super Mega style for players to storm through. But with a total of 26 locations, each team in the game can now have its own ballpark, Drader noted.
Players will also be able to see and use some of baseball’s modern advancements, such as two-way runners and the new extra-innings baserunner. Broadly speaking, the new features follow something every sports developer, big or small, must respond to: requests from fans.
The largest led to a kind of deck-building feature, Shuffle Draft, which players can use to quickly create their own leagues based on various parameters – with (or without) legends, Super Mega rosters or custom players – and start a career playing through. There are also several out-of-the-box competition types for those who just want to join the fun and leave the workforce management to the CPU.
“The classic Super Mega League exists, so if you just want to play with the classic content, it’s there,” said Drader. “There’s a Legends League, roughly based on an era, which is the easiest way to get in touch with the licensed legend players.” Players can also start a league purely with the Super Mega gang and have a pool of legends.
Super Mega Baseball 4 launches on June 2nd on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One and Xbox Series X, supporting cross-generation and cross-platform play.