Review: Super Mega Baseball 4 (Nintendo Switch)
Super Mega Baseball is back after a 3 year hiatus with a bevy of new features added to the mix. Super Mega Baseball 4 follows in the footsteps of its predecessors by focusing on arcade baseball action but, don’t be fooled, the game still houses a tremendous amount of depth. Alongside six new stadiums (a total of 20), the game features more than 200 former pro baseball players for the first time, a new Shuffle Draft deck building mode and many visual / audio upgrades across the board. Let’s take a look at how it stacks up!
The gameplay in Super Mega Baseball 4 is largely the same great gameplay you’ve come to expect from the series, but there are some notable additions. For one, the game now features the option to optimize for graphics or performance. By default, the game will start off in a ‘Favor Graphics’ mode, but I would recommend changing that to ‘Favor Performance’. Favoring graphics results in a less than ideal hitting experience, at least on the Nintendo Switch version of the game. The lower frame rate meant it was much harder to time my swings while batting. I know the visuals have gotten some upgrades with Super Mega Baseball 4 but it’s really not quite as apparent on the Switch. To me, the gameplay is just that much better with the higher frame rate, which is what I was used to from Super Mega Baseball 3. So if you get the game and are wondering about the frame rate, try the performance mode before getting too far. Adding to the gameplay variation, SMB 4 incorporates 55 new ‘Team Chemistry’ traits. Traits were already a part of the series but these should allow even greater customization to your team rosters. An example of some traits might be ‘good at hitting offspeed pitches’ or ‘good at hitting fast balls’, that type of thing. It might sound like a lot but if you don’t care about that kind of depth, it isn’t really obtrusive. You can still play and enjoy the game without delving into those systems. I enjoy the fun quirks/traits but it’s not something I’m that attuned to in moment to moment gameplay. I’m also that too into ‘deck building’ in games but fans of that feature in MLB The Show will feel right at home here.
One of the big new additions this year is the over 200 new ‘Legends’ characters. These are players from MLB’s past like Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron with a wide variety of eras represented. This is a really cool new feature. One of the things I’ve wanted for awhile was to play as some of the licensed MLB players in Super Mega Baseball 4, so this is a nice step in that direction. You can obviously still create your own leagues and your own teams with the pantheon of classic SMB players you’re used to seeing but now you can mix in some of the Legends players too. For those who want some of that ‘licensed’ baseball feel, you could name the players on your team based off of real world players, or even name your teams after MLB teams. I was actually playing a team online that was called the Blue Jays and that person had added some current players to that roster, so you can get some semblance of playing with these real-world players if you want. And then why not also add Hank Aaron in the middle of your lineup? If I had to sum up SMB 4 in one word it would be ‘customizability’. The player can truly customize so much about how they play – it really is quite remarkable.
The graphics have definitely improved in Super Mega Baseball 4. Animations, character models and stadiums especially have all seen a glow up. Again, I tend to favor the performance rather than the graphics but there is quite a bit of polish that’s been added. With 20 ballparks now, they now have a stadium that corresponds to each team in the league which gives each team a ‘home’ ballpark now. The audio side of things has had a major focus as well. The soundtrack is quite robust and varied. Stadium sounds and audio from the crowd are more apparent as well. The umpire voices are still as zany as ever – you’ve got to hear some of the fun strikeout calls. It’s pretty funny. There’s quite a bit here that baseball fans will enjoy.
The multiplayer modes and online capabilities are really unmatched for even a lot of multiplayer games on the Switch. Super Mega Baseball 4 continues that legacy with giving players lots of party options both local and online or a mix between the two. Want to play with 4 people online where 2 are local and 2 are remote? You can do that. You also have cross play amongst all the platforms, even the latest generation consoles like the PS5 and the Xbox Series systems, so there’s quite a bit of replayability to enjoy with the multiplayer. The online Pennant Race is still one of my go-to favorite online modes. You can do these weekly and it’s still such a great way just to hop in and play a few quick games. For those that aren’t aware, the online games are 5 innings in length instead of 9 innings, so you can really cruise through a lot of baseball in a small amount of time.
