Baseball Advance

Did You Know?

• The Japanese version features teams such as the Swallows, Giants, Baystars, Carp, Dragons, Tigers, Bufaloes, Hawks, Lions, Bluewave, Marines, and Fighters.
• Japanese version stadiums include Tokyo Dome, Hanshin Koshien Stadium, Seibu Dome, and Green Stadium Kobe.
• The Japanese version has changed menu art, layout, and some music and sound effects.

Game mechanics

Baseball Advance offers four modes of play. In Exhibition mode, the player selects a Major League Baseball team and an opposing computer-controlled team, and can choose the number of innings and other factors. Season mode lets the player control one team through the 2001 season, with each team's schedule and the All-Star Game matching the actual 2001 draw. Records set in baseball history for seasons and single games are listed, and if the player's team breaks one, the new record is recorded as set in 2001. If the player's team finishes in the top four, it proceeds to the playoffs and the World Series. Playoffs mode allows the player to choose a team and play through the playoffs to the World Series, with other teams selected randomly. The All-Star Game mode uses the selections from the 2001 season. All thirty Major League teams are available. Only four stadiums are included: Safeco Field, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Pacific Bell Park; every team uses one of these as its home ground regardless of its actual location. A planned Sega-themed stadium was created but not included because it did not fit the game's more serious tone. In Exhibition, Playoffs, and All-Star modes, player statistics are those of the 2001 season. In Season mode, statistics depend entirely on game results, and the player controls them. The game tracks batting average, ERA, RBI, season strikeouts, and other stats, and maintains a history of seasonal and single-game records that the player can break.