Longest RBI games?

[chicobo329]

I remember playing a 17 inning game against the CPU on Medium when I was playing RBI 3 on the Genesis. I was 8 or so back then, and man I had fun X^D I believe my opponent was '90 Oakland but I forgot what team I used.

I never played against human opponents before, but I doubt I'd hold up very well in a game with extra frames.

[BeefMaster]

I was about to say that RBI 3 would be much easier for long games because of the larger pitching staff, but it's limited to 5 per game, and only 2 starters, so it really would just be one reliever more than the original.  It makes them less debilitating to your team in a no-reset series, though, since you still have two remaining starters for the next game.

[chicobo329]

But most starters last longer than 5 innings anyway in RBI 3, some pitchers can get you complete games without losing a beat if you don't abuse fastballs and slow pitches. '87 Jack Morris can get 96 mph fastballs all the way to the 9th inning and it's so amazing that you don't really need any other pitcher from start to finish.

[BeefMaster]

But most starters last longer than 5 innings anyway in RBI 3, some pitchers can get you complete games without losing a beat if you don't abuse fastballs and slow pitches. '87 Jack Morris can get 96 mph fastballs all the way to the 9th inning and it's so amazing that you don't really need any other pitcher from start to finish.

It's a different beast in a human vs. human game, though - one of the prime strategies at the highest levels of RBI is to wear down the pitcher, taking and fouling off lots of pitches.  Most of the pitchers in RBI 3 have pretty similar stamina ratings to those in the original, so I'd guess they wouldn't last much longer in that type of game (I'll have to look up what Morris has for a rating).

I do agree, though, that 5 pitchers is plenty, especially against the computer and if you have a DH (so you're not pinch hitting for a guy who's not completely worn out).  I virtually never use a second starter.

[chicobo329]

Well you probably have me there, I've never really played RBI in a game against humans before (until I get my new Windows laptop this May to get a netplay Genesis emulator it'll stay that way too). I do foul off a lot of hits from the computer though, and it leads to switch pitchers more around the 7th inning or so. I do tend to think the Genesis version and the NES version of RBI 3 run on different stats for the players (that's why I wanted the Genesis RBI 3 manual to check on the stats). And yes, I never use a second starter, especially since the relief corps is well populated for each time.

'87 Morris is a beast X^D I haven't used his '84 iteration but I think he throws even faster, I'll have to check on that. 

[fathedX]

Chico, do you still need that manual?  I think I have it, but it's buried in the basement.  I'll dig it out if you haven't found one.

[BeefMaster]

I'm going to have to grab a Genesis emulator and try out that version of RBI 3 to see how similar/different it actually is.

[chicobo329]

Fathed, I found a shop that sells secondhand genesis games and within it a Genesis RBI 3 complete with manual, should come this week. But by all means, look for the manual, if in the event I get screwed (or if you have the NES version manual which I can also take for the sake of comparison).

Beefmaster, I am pretty sure Genesis RBI 3 is different in several respects, not just in stats. I also notice the Genesis version is a truly unique RBI game because it doesn't seem to share the style or engine of other games. RBI 4, '93, and '94 all use different stats from RBI 3 and share the same graphics and fielding (and badly nerfed benches). We know RBI 1 shares with Vs. RBI and RBI 2 shares with NES RBI 3.

[BeefMaster]

You may be able to glean some of the actual player ratings from the stats in the manual - we've managed to get the player ratings extracted from the RBI 3 data, and I found that the speed rating was a direct translation (I think a rating of 10 in the manual was equivalent to 132 actual rating, with every manual point being worth two in-game rating points), while average and homers appear to be a pretty direct correlation to contact and power, respectively - for the '90 teams, the top homer guy in each league (Fielder and Sandberg) got 945 power, and it went down from there, I think in increments of 5 power (not positive about that, though).

[chicobo329]

Not necessarily (although it is a good general guide). A good example of how this doesn't always apply is '90 Rickey Henderson. He is the most powerful player on the team, bar none. In a 15 game run, he had the most homers in the whole team: Canseco was second and various people tied for third. '90 McGwire had the most in the team, 39 homeruns, but within the 15 games he hit mostly line drives (which isn't good for him being among the slowest in the team) and huge, epic pop ups and fly balls in play.

[BeefMaster]

In the NES version, Rickey has 876 power, and McGwire has 942.  Now I'm really curious about the Genesis version, both the ratings and the gameplay.

[chicobo329]

I'll do another 15 game playthrough of RBI 3 with the '90 A's and this time record homeruns. I recall at least 3 games in my last playthrough where Rickey hit 2 HRs in a single game.

[fathedX]

In the NES version, Rickey has 876 power, and McGwire has 942.  Now I'm really curious about the Genesis version, both the ratings and the gameplay.

You've played the Genesis version, haven't you?

I haven't played it in a number of years, but it was so different from the NES version I couldn't believe they had the same name.

[fathedX]

I went spelunking in the basement and came up empty.  Sorry.  I have RBI 4 and RBI '94 manuals, but no RBI 3 for the Genesis.  Hopefully you'll get what you paid for and it will come with the manual.

[chicobo329]

Not a problem, thanks anyway fathed :^D

[BeefMaster]

In the NES version, Rickey has 876 power, and McGwire has 942.  Now I'm really curious about the Genesis version, both the ratings and the gameplay.

You've played the Genesis version, haven't you?

If I have, I don't recall any specifics.  I have a vague recollection of maybe trying to get a Genesis emulator working, but I don't know for sure.  I am certain I never played the real thing - I only had one friend with a Genesis, and the only baseball game he had was Sports Talk Baseball (I think that was the name; I remember that the speech was its gimmick).

I have also never seen RBI 4.  I tried out RBI '94 once on a SNES emulator, and lasted about an inning before turning it off in disgust - too big a change for me.

[chicobo329]

RBI 4 and '93 share mostly the same graphics, '94 (it's a Genesis only game btw) takes some from those and has new ones. All three games share the same fielding scheme and autofielding options though. The fielding is the worst part of these games though, everything's too big and it's hard to manage fielding without any computer assistance. The game is notorious for line drives down third base you can't ever seem to catch and ground balls that bounce over the shortstop or secondbaseman and into the outfield >_o

[fathedX]

Get ready to be disgusted, it will bring a tear to your eye to see what happened to RBI.  That's not to say it isn't playable, but it's completely different in every respect.

Come over and I'll break out the Genesis and 32X.  We can play 3, 4, '94, and '95 on the 32X.  Then we'll play Super RBI on the SNES and RBI '94 on the Game Gear.

[fathedX]

Oh yeah, I think I have RBI '93 as well.  I have a lot of baseball games.

[chicobo329]

I definitely have to say RBI 3 on the Genesis is the better of the Genesis installments in the series, because it has an easy to manage fielding scheme (it's the only game in the series that lets you slide in six directions) and generally the same batting and pitching. If '94 had better fielding, I would've liked it more, I didn't mind the music or the rosters that much.