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| All-Star Baseball | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art forPlayStation 2 ofAll-Star Baseball 2005, the final game in the series | |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Developer(s) | Console Iguana Entertainment/Acclaim Studios Austin (All except 2001) High Voltage Software (2001) Handheld Realtime Associates ('99, 2000) KnowWonder (2001) Creations/Acclaim Studios Manchester (2003 and 2004) |
| Publisher(s) | Acclaim Entertainment/Acclaim Sports |
| Composer(s) | Nelson Everhart |
| Platform(s) | |
| First release | All-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas June 30, 1997 |
| Latest release | All-Star Baseball 2005 April 8, 2004 |
All-Star Baseball is a series ofbaseballvideo games that was developed and published byAcclaim Entertainment. The series began in 1997 with the release ofAll-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas, the successor toFrank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball.New York Yankees play-by-play announcersJohn Sterling andMichael Kay were the announcers for 1998-2000 editions of the game.
The final game in the series isAll-Star Baseball 2005, released in April 2004. The following month,Major League Baseball ended its licensing agreement with Acclaim for the franchise due to unpaid royalties.[1] The franchise went inactive following Acclaim's bankruptcy in September 2004.
Within the individual games, there are several different modes of play, such as exhibition, managing an existingMajor League Baseball team or creating a team. Many cities around the world are available for "expansion", in addition toMexico City andPuerto Rico.
With the exception ofAll-Star Baseball '97 andAll-Star Baseball '99 (which featureFrank Thomas of theChicago White Sox andLarry Walker of theColorado Rockies respectively), all of the games featureDerek Jeter of theNew York Yankees on the cover.
| Title | Year | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas | 1997 | PlayStation,Sega Saturn (released exclusively in North America) |
| All-Star Baseball '99 | 1998 | Nintendo 64,Game Boy (only the Game Boy version released exclusively in North America) |
| All-Star Baseball 2000 | 1999 | Nintendo 64,Game Boy Color |
| All-Star Baseball 2001 | 2000 | Nintendo 64,Game Boy Color (released exclusively in North America) |
| All-Star Baseball 2002 | 2001 | GameCube,PlayStation 2 (only the GameCube version was released exclusively in North America) |
| All-Star Baseball 2003 | 2002 | Xbox,GameCube,PlayStation 2,Game Boy Advance (only the PS2 and Xbox versions were released in Europe, and only the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox versions were released in Japan) |
| All-Star Baseball 2004 | 2003 | Xbox,GameCube,PlayStation 2,Game Boy Advance (only the PS2 version was released in Europe) |
| All-Star Baseball 2005 | 2004 | Xbox,PlayStation 2 (released exclusively in North America) |
The first game in the series featuredFrank Thomas and was released for thePlayStation andSega Saturn.
The game also marked the debut of play-by-play commentary. This is done by twoNew York Yankees broadcasters:John Sterling andMichael Kay.Larry Walker appeared on the game's box.
All-Star Baseball 2005 features a variety of things that most previous versions (except 2004) did not include, such as classic players likeBabe Ruth,Yogi Berra and others. Apart from each of the MLB teams, the game also features MLB legends of different eras and the 2004American andNational league teams. One particular game characteristic is that it includes theMontreal Expos, who relocated fromMontreal toWashington, D.C., and changed their name to theWashington Nationals for the 2005 MLB season because despite the year 2005 in the name, the game was released in 2004 with 2004 Rosters and Teams.
The game includes all thirty stadiums as of the 2004 season, as well as other fictional and non-fictional ball parks to bring the total to over eighty parks. Some of these parks include: thePolo Grounds used by the then New York Giants (the New York Yankees played their home games there as well from 1913 to 1922);Ebbets Field used by the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1913 to 1957,Houston Astrodome;Hiram Bithorn Stadium used by the Montreal Expos in their final season; retro, current and future versions ofFenway Park,Yankee Stadium,Shea Stadium andDodger Stadium.
TheNintendo 64 versions received positive reviews, with an average score in the mid-to-high eighties according toGameRankings.[2][3][4] The Gamecube version ofAll-Star Baseball 2002 received the lowest reviews of all the home console games in the series, with an average score of 67%.[5]All-Star Baseball 2000 on theGame Boy Color has the lowest scores of the entire series, at 60%.[6]
The first game in the series,All-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas, received mediocre reviews upon its release for the PlayStation.
