Super Mega Baseball 2

[Jason]

I had no interest in this game until I saw this video:

[Jason]

This will probably be a day one purchase for me with that $30 price tag, especially since I recently got my $50 PSN credit from my PlayStation Visa card.

[Brad Company]

The first one is quite good, the core gameplay is tight and intuitive.

[Jason]

The first one is quite good, the core gameplay is tight and intuitive.

SMB was one of the first PS4 games I bought but I never gave it a fair shot, so I decided to play it again last night and got hooked. I ended up playing 4 games in a row and can't wait to play some more tonight. The pitching and batting mechanics are a nice switch from The Show. I especially like how you power-up your power swing. It really makes you work for that power shot.

[Jason]

Full Game Video:

I'm buying this as soon as it's available tomorrow.

[Brad Company]

Did you get the Show this year? I'm not sensing much buzz one way or the other.

[Jason]

I held strong and didn't buy The Show with no intention of doing so even after the price drops.

I've been playing a lot of the first SMB the past two weeks after not giving it much of a chance when I first bought it years ago. I like the more realistic gameplay speed and graphics on the new one. This will be a game I buy AND play as soon as it's downloaded and installed on my PS4 tomorrow morning.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

[Jason]

What an amazingly fun game. It improves on the first game in every area, including CPU baserunning, which was one of the only complaints I had with the first game.

[Jason]

SMB 2 is currently 30% off and 40% off for Plus members. That's a great deal for a great game.

[Jason]

New update out today.
Added to the store:

   
• New Stadium DLC: Red Rock Park.
• New Boss Player Customization DLC. Adds new hair styles, helmets, gloves, tattoos, and cleats.
• New Fierce Team Customization DLC. Adds many new logos and team designs.

Pennant Race makeover:

   
• Players are now locked to a single team for each one-week race.
• Added ability to edit starting lineups (starting pitcher still chosen randomly and fairly for both teams).
• Team statistics are tracked throughout each one-week race.  They can be viewed from the new Pennant Race Hub and appear in-game similar to Season/Elimination modes.
• Added ability to use visually customized standard teams, with an option to disable seeing your opponent's customizations and to report offensive user content.
• Made it easier to browse profiles of other Pennant Race players.

Major additions:

   
• Added more logos to the base game.
• Added ability to visually customize standard Super Mega League teams.
• Added a chat wheel for sending short text-only messages during online play, along with the ability to mute incoming messages.
• Added ability to watch AI vs. AI Exhibition games (local party only).

Balancing:

   
• Reduced the difference between high-power and low-power hitters (power up significantly for low-power hitters).
• Reduced the difference between high-velocity and low-velocity pitchers (in-game pitch speed up significantly for low-velocity pitchers).
• Slightly reduced the difference between high-speed and low-speed players (speed down slightly for high-speed players).
• Baserunner jump times when stealing are now more random.
• Increased the difference between high-fielding and low-fielding players (much fewer dropped balls for high-fielding players, slightly more dropped balls for low-fielding players).
• Increased the difference between high-arm and low-arm players (faster throws for high-arm players, slower throws for low-arm players).
• Slightly reduced real-time pitch speed, particularly when batting at high Ego.
• Tweaked AI pitch targeting and strike/ball rates relative to pitcher's accuracy.
• Tweaked AI intentional walk decisions.
• Improved AI baserunner decisions when choosing whether or not to steal.
• Improved AI fielder decisions at high Ego when choosing between a force out and a tag out.
• Made AI infielders more errant when timing their dives and jumps.
• Improved AI substitution decisions to not leave tired/hurt pitchers in too long, and to be more willing to remove fielders out of position.
• AI-controlled fielders on human-controlled teams now perform better, particularly when switching selected fielders.
• Add variation to AI fielding routes so that AI outfielders do not always take the most aggressive route to the ball.
• When pitching vs. the AI, the pitcher's velocity and junk skills more realistically affect the AI's ability to hit fastballs and breaking balls respectively.
• Increased pitch target sensitivity when performing a normal pitch.
• Improved ability for catchers to throw out base stealers after a pitchout.
• Improved fielder behavior when backing up catches.
• Tweaked batting reticle assist to provide an equal amount of assist to different pitch speeds.

Improvements:

   
• Made progress towards smoother and more stable online play, particularly when experiencing intermittent spikes in latency.
• Made Pennant Race Rating changes for experienced players more driven by win/loss outcomes and less driven by run differentials.
• Added a +100/+50/+25 Rating bonus for finishing 1st/2nd/3rd in a Pennant Race.
• Tweaked Pennant Race Ego assignments to drive better 5-inning scores at various skill levels.
• Reduce maximum change in Pennant Race Rating for experienced players after playing against an inexperienced player.
• Additional unranked games are now required to become Ranked again in Pennant Race after being inactive for multiple weeks.
• Reaching the max walks/beanballs or max auto balls limit in Pennant Race now results in a forfeit instead of a disconnect.
• When entering the pause menu in an online game while batting, the batter automatically steps out when possible.
• Added slow motion when baserunning vs. the AI in situations requiring a quick advance or retreat decision.
• User-controlled baserunners at third base now auto tag up immediately on fly balls hit to the outfield with less than 2 outs.
• Baserunners now ignore individual runner commands that tell them to run back to a base prior to their last safe base (except when they need to tag-up).
• Improved throw power scores so that all throw scores are possible at every fielding Ego, with a 99 score always being awarded for a perfect release.
• Improved realism of deflection physics after a fielder misses a diving catch.
• Added additional pitchout feedback.
• Made the color of the power swing score text consistent with the swing reticle load colors: red on the way up, blue on the way down.
• After an intentional walk, the batter's Mojo can no longer increase and the pitcher's Mojo can no longer decrease.
• Improved readability of online user left-side panels that display role, Ego, and connection quality.
• Throw power bar now remains visible above a fielder while a throw is still queued, and disappears once the throw has timed out.
• Better cameras when previewing customization and DLC items.
• Cleats look more detailed.
• Season schedule now viewable after completing the regular season in Season Mode.
• Added new item notifications and additional shortcuts to DLC content.
• Added 158 names to the pools of randomly generated player names.

Issues addressed:

   
• Fixed: Auto ball is incorrectly ruled during online Exhibition play shortly after the pitching user leaves or is disconnected.
• Fixed: Various crashes and exploits occurring in online play through unexpected use of the substitution menu.
• Fixed: Pitcher is unable to pitch at the start of an online game when transitioning from another game mode in some circumstances.
• Fixed: Some rare occurrences of a pitch in online play resulting in a giant reticle and an invisible ball.
• Fixed: Wrong pitch type thrown in online play after switching pitch types while opponent is in the substitution menu.
• Fixed: When pitching in an online game, after a hit, the camera can sometimes snap in a jarring fashion.
• Fixed: Ball changes position in unexpected ways at the time of pitch release during online co-op play vs. the AI.
• Fixed: No batting reticle appearing in online play if attempting to start the play stepped out, but the step out is rejected.
• Fixed: Rare crash that can occur during online play when a user is disconnected at an inopportune time.
• Fixed: Rare game corruption that can occur when the home and away teams are both the Wideloads.
• Fixed: Game can hang for a 4th player trying to join a 2v1 Exhibition game.
• Fixed: In online play, a pitch could fail to register following a batter substitution in some circumstances.
• Fixed: In online co-op play, the fielder can experience an invisible ball and/or pitcher following a forced pitcher substitution at the start of a half inning.
• Fixed: In online co-op season, game can crash for non Party Leader during simulation of CPU games in some instances.
• Fixed: Online user left-side panels can get stuck showing "Waiting" after all players are done waiting.
• Fixed: Users can sometimes be placed in incorrect division upon becoming Ranked in Pennant Race.
• Fixed: Team picker pop-up in Pennant Race can get stuck on the screen.
• Fixed: Pennant Race results can fail to appear upon completion of a race, or incorrectly appear more than once.
• Fixed: Pennant Race Rating not increasing after being awarded a win from an opponent forfeit or disconnect.
• Fixed: Pennant Race Rating not correctly decaying over time due to inactivity.
• Fixed: Pennant Race games ending in a forfeit or disconnect are not always recorded correctly.
• Fixed: Win Streak award in Pennant Race can incorrectly reset to zero after an opponent disconnects.
• Fixed: Win Streak and No Surrender awards in Pennant Race are incorrectly tallied for the current race only.
• Fixed: Third Base is a Charm award in Pennant Race is not awarded properly.
• Fixed: Pitching minigame score often inconsistent with the actual distance between pitch target and reticle.
• Fixed: AI batters have a major advantage against pitchers with small pitch arsenals.
• Fixed: Baserunners sliding after being told to retreat (leading to the game crashing in certain cases when sliding at home).
• Fixed: Baserunners fail to process a command after completing a slide in some circumstances.
• Fixed: Baserunners incorrectly ignoring a command issued right as they are tagging up.
• Fixed: AI baserunners can forget to tag up after their progress was blocked by another runner.
• Fixed: Pitcher does not always face the ball on plays in the infield.
• Fixed: Catcher fails to tend home plate on soft rollers with a runner at third base.
• Fixed: Catcher attempts to field fly balls in the infield that are nowhere near home plate in some circumstances.
• Fixed: A forced out fails to be ruled when a fielder is touching the base while in the process of throwing the ball.
• Fixed: In rare circumstances, an infield fly can be ruled on a sharp line drive.
• Fixed: Fielder can fail to attempt a catch on balls that appear catchable in some cases.
• Fixed: Fielder can fail to throw the ball when a throw is queued slightly too early.
• Fixed: (PS4) Throw power bar not appearing when throwing the ball with a fielder standing near the bottom of the screen.
• Fixed: Fielder info often appears during strikeout cinematic.
• Fixed: Ball appears to glide above the ground on some foul balls.
• Fixed: Umpire fails to make a safe call on certain close plays.
• Fixed: Pause menu stays visible when a forced pitcher substitution is triggered.
• Fixed: Batting power score being shown after a hit when the batter is a remote user.
• Fixed: Announcer calling the next batter the "Designated Hitter" instead of the "Right Fielder" when the batter wears jersey number 34.
• Fixed: Crash can occur when proceeding too quickly through the pregame lineup menu after resetting to the default lineup.
• Fixed: Unable to properly navigate Pennant row in Pennant Race Awards screen.
• Fixed: Starpoints get incorrectly reset when viewing historical seasons.
• Fixed: Game crashes in rare circumstances when proceeding past the Team Roster screen.
• Fixed: Pitch arsenal editor's selected pitches could be displayed incorrectly.
• Fixed: Deformed armpits when wearing a sleeveless jersey.
• Fixed: Eyebrows clipping through eyewear.
• Fixed: Ankle guard not rendering correctly on the boot cut pant style.
• Fixed: Pennant Race status not refreshing correctly when entering the Play Menu in some circumstances.
• Fixed: Pitcher can appear on 3-stars after a good offensive performance, but poor pitching statistics are shown.
• Fixed: Various minor issues with some front end and lineup screens.
• Fixed: (Steam) Potential crash when entering the substitution menu with a gamepad after previously exiting the menu with the mouse.
• Fixed: (PS4) Soft lock can occur when swapping users during a game.

[Ted]

I picked this up on PC when it first came out, but bounced off it pretty hard.

[Jason]

I had the same issue with the first one. I played it a few times and never touched it again until a few weeks before the second one came out. Once I gave it a fair shot, I was hooked. The second one hooked me right away. I have to start playing it again now that all these improvements have been added to the game.